Bio
Bob van der Zwaan is Adjunct Professor at SAIS Europe
Professor of Sustainable Energy Technology, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam
Principal Scientist, TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research)
Bob van der Zwaan is also co-director of the International Energy Workshop, was member of the Council of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs (2007-2022), and lead author for Working Group III of the IPCC (AR4 and AR5). Trained in physics, economics, and international relations, he held visiting professorships at KTH and the Kiel Institute, and research positions at Columbia University, Harvard University, Stanford University, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, IFRI, and CERN. His research includes the fields of energy and climate change, integrated assessment modelling, environmental economics, and technological innovation. He is co-author of close to 200 peer-reviewed scientific articles and contributor to a dozen books. For a full list of publications click
here
Courses
- Energy and Climate Change
This course will focus on the inseparable links between energy use and climate change and, consequently, the unavoidable connection between energy and environmental policy. Through an examination of the subject, we also hope to explore three closely-related themes that exemplify the complexity of the interaction between science and technology on the one hand and public policy on the other hand: the challenges of achieving political acceptance, both nationally and internationally, of scientific consensus in the face of ever-present scientific uncertainty; the extent and the limitations of science as a driving force for public policy; and the role of technological development in influencing political choices.
