Filippa Lentzos is a Norwegian social scientist researching threats posed by

biological agent A biological agent (also called bio-agent, biological threat agent, biological warfare agent, biological weapon, or bioweapon) is a bacterium, virus, protozoan, parasite, fungus, or toxin that can be used purposefully as a weapon in bioterroris ...

s. She is a senior research fellow at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

, holding a joint appointment in the Department of Global Health & Social Medicine and the Department of War Studies. Lentzos also holds the position of associate senior researcher at the Armament and Disarmament Programme at the

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) is an international institute based in Stockholm. It was founded in 1966 and provides data, analysis and recommendations for armed conflict, military expenditure and arms trade as well a ...

(SIPRI). Moreover, she is the NGO Coordinator for the

Biological Weapons Convention The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), or Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), is a disarmament treaty that effectively bans biological and toxin weapons by prohibiting their development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpil ...

since 2017, the biosecurity columnist at the

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists The ''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists'' is a nonprofit organization concerning science and global security issues resulting from accelerating technological advances that have negative consequences for humanity. The ''Bulletin'' publishes conte ...

since 2018, and an associate editor of the social science journal ''

BioSocieties ''BioSocieties'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the scholarly exploration of the crucial social, ethical and policy implications of developments in the life sciences and biomedicine. It was established in 2006 and was or ...

''.

Career

With a background in human sciences, Lentzos obtained a PhD in sociology from the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

, England. She then spent 10 years as a researcher at the

London School of Economics and Political Science , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

(LSE) before joining the Department of Global Health & Social Medicine at King's College London in 2012. In 2017, she became cross-appointed to King’s Department of War Studies.

Research and policy work

Lentzos' research focuses on the international governance of biological threats, especially in relation to the 1975 Biological Weapons Convention, an international treaty prohibiting the development, stockpiling, and use of biological weapons. She has published widely on biodefence, compliance assessment in the context of multilateral biological arms control efforts, and the governance of emerging life science technologies, such as synthetic biology and gene editing. In her role as the NGO Coordinator for the Biological Weapons Convention, Lentzos has regularly delivered statements at the United Nations since 2017, in particular at the annual Meeting of States Parties, the Meeting of Experts and the First Committee of the UN General Assembly. The work of Lentzos has been featured in various media outlets, including the BBC, The New Yorker, The Economist, The Telegraph, the Atlantic and Der Spiegel. In July 2021 ''Scientific American'' quoted her concerns that the same artificially created proteins utilized for modern experimental vaccines could easily end up being misused as bioweapons. Lentzos also taught the module on biological weapons in the EU's Non-proliferation and Disarmament e-learning course.

Selected publications

Books * * Journal articles * * *

References

External links

Official website

Module on Biological Weapons in the EU Non-Proliferation and Disarmament e-learning course
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lentzos, Filippa Living people Norwegian social scientists Academics of King's College London Alumni of the University of Nottingham Academics of the London School of Economics Year of birth missing (living people)