Dr. Dirk Stemerding

Dr Dirk Stemerding (b. 1951) became a senior research with the Rathenau Institute's Technology Assessment division in October 2008. He is primarily concerned with developments in biotechnology, genomics and synthetic biology.

Dirk Stemerding has a special interest in the risks and societal implications of synthetic biology, an area in which the Rathenau Institute works closely alongside the Netherlands Commission on Genetic Modification (COGEM).

Academic background and career
Dirk Stemerding studied biology before going on to join the staff of the University of Groningen (department of Science and Society). He was awarded a doctorate by Maastricht University for his dissertation on the history of biology.

As associate professor and researcher at the University of Twente, he examined various aspects of the ways in which the biosciences will impact on society. Key themes of his research and publications include the imbedding and effects of genetics and genomics in health care. As a member of two advisory committees convened by the Netherlands Health Council, he helped to produce advisory reports on preconception care (2007) and population research (2008). Alongside his work for the Rathenau Institute, Dirk Stemerding is a researcher on various projects being undertaken by the Centre for Society and Genomics at Radboud University, Nijmegen.