Filippa Lentzos

Filippa Lentzos is a Norwegian social scientist researching threats posed by biological agents. She is a senior research fellow at King's College London, holding a joint appointment in the Department of Global Health & Social Medicine and the Department of War Studies.[1] Lentzos also holds the position of associate senior researcher at the Armament and Disarmament Programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).[2] Moreover, she is the NGO Coordinator for the Biological Weapons Convention since 2017,[3] the biosecurity columnist at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 2018,[4] and an associate editor of the social science journal BioSocieties.[2]

Filippa Lentzos
NationalityNorwegian
OccupationSenior Research Fellow at King’s College London
Academic background
EducationPhD in Sociology, University of Nottingham
Academic work
DisciplineBiosecurity
Main interestsBiological disarmament and non-proliferation, biodefence, emerging technologies
Websitefilippalentzos.com

Career

With a background in human sciences, Lentzos obtained a PhD in sociology from the University of Nottingham, England.[2] She then spent 10 years as a researcher at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) before joining the Department of Global Health & Social Medicine at King's College London in 2012.[3] In 2017, she became cross-appointed to King’s Department of War Studies.[2]

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.[3]

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.[5]

The work of Lentzos has been featured in various media outlets, including the BBC,[6] The New Yorker,[7] The Economist,[8] The Telegraph,[9] the Atlantic[10] and Der Spiegel.[11] 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.[12]

Lentzos also taught the module on biological weapons in the EU's Non-proliferation and Disarmament e-learning course.[13]

Selected publications

Books

  • Lentzos, Filippa; Jefferson, Catherine; Marris, Claire; Rose, Nikolas. Synthetic Biology & Bioweapons. forthcoming: World Scientific.
  • Lentzos, Filippa (2016). Biological Threats in the 21st Century. Imperial College Press. doi:10.1142/p1081. ISBN 978-1-78326-947-1.

Journal articles

References
  1. "Dr Filippa Lentzos". King's College London. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  2. "Dr Filippa Lentzos | SIPRI". Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  3. "Filippa Lentzos - Biography - Research Portal, King's College, London". King's College London Research Portal. 2020-10-20. Archived from the original on 2020-10-20. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  4. "Filippa Lentzos". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  5. "BWC NGO Coordinator – Dr Filippa Lentzos". Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  6. "Coronavirus: Is there any evidence for lab release theory?". BBC News. 2020-05-01. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  7. Eaves, Elisabeth. "The Risks of Building Too Many Bio Labs". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  8. "The pieces of the puzzle of covid-19's origin are coming to light". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  9. Newey, Sarah (2019-09-19). "Russian lab blast: smallpox facility passed WHO biosecurity inspection in January". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  10. Yong, Ed (2018-10-04). "A Controversial Virus Study Reveals a Critical Flaw in How Science Is Done". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  11. SPIEGEL, Alexander Mäder, DER (27 May 2020). "Krankheiten aus dem Labor: Wie sicher ist die Virenforschung? - DER SPIEGEL - Wissenschaft". Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved 2020-10-20.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. Jacobsen, Rowan (July 2021). "Artificial Proteins Never Seen in the Natural World Are Becoming New COVID Vaccines and Medicines". Scientific American. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  13. "3: Biological Weapons". EU Non-proliferation and Disarmament eLearning Course. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
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