Ragnar Löfstedt

Ragnar E. Löfstedt is Professor of Risk Management and the Director of King’s Centre for Risk Management, King’s College London, UK where he teaches and conducts research on risk communication and management.

Previously he was a Reader in Social Geography at the University of Surrey, UK. He is also an adjunct Faculty at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, Harvard School of Public Health where he directs the Risk Communication Challenge Course for continuing education professionals. He is Adjunct Professor at the Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University and a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Public Sector Research, Gothenburg University, Sweden.

Dr Löfstedt earned his BA and MA degrees at University of California Los Angeles (1988) and Clark University (1991), respectively, before completing his PhD in geography at Clark University (1993). After a post-doctorate position at the Risk, Society and Policy Group at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) (Laxenburg, Austria), he joined the University of Surrey as a lecturer in social geography before coming to Kings in 2002.

He has conducted research in risk communication and management in such areas as renewable energy policy, transboundary environmental issues (acid rain and nuclear power), health and safety, telecommunications, biosafety, pharmaceuticals, and the siting of building of incinerators, fuel policy, nuclear waste installations and railways. He is a believer in the building of public trust in regulators and industry via proactive risk communication and argues that high regulatory/industry trust is equivalent to low public perceived risk.

From March - November 2011 Professor Löfstedt served as the Chair of an independent Government review of health and safety legislation. The Lofstedt Review "Reclaiming health and safety for all" was launched 28 November 2011 and the UK Government response accepted all of the 26 recommendations.

Dr Löfstedt is the author/editor of ten books and over 90 peer reviewed articles/book chapters. He is the editor-in-chief for Journal of Risk Research and editor of the Risk in Society book series from Earthscan. He also serves on the editorial boards of International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management, European Journal of Risk Regulation, Journal of Health Communication, Risk Management, and SAPIENS.

He was previously on the Academic Advisory Board of the UK National Patient Safety Agency, as well as a member of the European Food Safety Authority’s Advisory Group on Risk Communications. He has served as a senior advisor to the City of Vienna on risk communication and nuclear power and to the City of Gothenburg on climate change.

His work has been funded by the European Science Foundation, European Commission, the US National Science Foundation, the Swedish Research Council, UK ESRC, and UK EPSRC and an array of private institutions. He has given invited lectures on risk communication and management issues at Cambridge, Harvard Business School, Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Law School, Jet Propulsion Laboratories-Cal Tech, MIT, UC Berkeley, NASA Head Quarters, Finnish Parliament, Oxford, Princeton, and Yale School of Management. He has given evidence to the House of Commons and given invited lectures to the European Parliament and the German Bundestag. He has consulted widely for industry and regulators including Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA), NASA, National Grid plc, Shell Oil, the State of Baden Wurttemberg (Germany), Swedish Chemical Industry Association, the Swedish Chemical Inspectorate, and Vattenfall AB.

In December 2000 Ragnar Löfstedt was awarded (as the first non American) the Chauncey Starr Award for exceptional contributions to the field of risk analysis for someone under the age of 40 by the Society for Risk Analysis and in 2005 he was elected a Fellow of the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA). In 2006 he was presented with the Outstanding Service Award from the SRA.

Home | Social Science & Public Policy | Geography | People | Academic Staff in the Department of Geography | Professor Ragnar Lofstedt PROFESSOR RAGNAR LOFSTEDT Professor Ragnar Löfstedt Ragnar LofstedtProfessor Director, King's Centre for Risk Management Email: ragnar.lofstedt@kcl.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0)20 7848 1404 Department of Geography King's College London K7.45 Strand Campus London
WC2R 2LS

Biography Ragnar E. Löfstedt is Professor of Risk Management and the Director of King’s Centre for Risk Management, King’s College London, UK where he teaches and conducts research on risk communication and management.

Previously he was a Reader in Social Geography at the University of Surrey, UK. He is also an adjunct Faculty at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, Harvard School of Public Health where he directs the Risk Communication Challenge Course for continuing education professionals. He is Adjunct Professor at the Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University and a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Public Sector Research, Gothenburg University, Sweden.

Dr Löfstedt earned his BA and MA degrees at University of California Los Angeles (1988) and Clark University (1991), respectively, before completing his PhD in geography at Clark University (1993). After a post-doctorate position at the Risk, Society and Policy Group at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) (Laxenburg, Austria), he joined the University of Surrey as a lecturer in social geography before coming to Kings in 2002.

He has conducted research in risk communication and management in such areas as renewable energy policy, transboundary environmental issues (acid rain and nuclear power), health and safety, telecommunications, biosafety, pharmaceuticals, and the siting of building of incinerators, fuel policy, nuclear waste installations and railways. He is a believer in the building of public trust in regulators and industry via proactive risk communication and argues that high regulatory/industry trust is equivalent to low public perceived risk.

From March - November 2011 Professor Löfstedt served as the Chair of an independent Government review of health and safety legislation. The Lofstedt Review "Reclaiming health and safety for all" was launched 28 November 2011 and the UK Government response accepted all of the 26 recommendations.

Dr Löfstedt is the author/editor of ten books and over 90 peer reviewed articles/book chapters. He is the editor-in-chief for Journal of Risk Research and editor of the Risk in Society book series from Earthscan. He also serves on the editorial boards of International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management, European Journal of Risk Regulation, Journal of Health Communication, Risk Management, and SAPIENS.

He was previously on the Academic Advisory Board of the UK National Patient Safety Agency, as well as a member of the European Food Safety Authority’s Advisory Group on Risk Communications. He has served as a senior advisor to the City of Vienna on risk communication and nuclear power and to the City of Gothenburg on climate change.

His work has been funded by the European Science Foundation, European Commission, the US National Science Foundation, the Swedish Research Council, UK ESRC, and UK EPSRC and an array of private institutions. He has given invited lectures on risk communication and management issues at Cambridge, Harvard Business School, Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Law School, Jet Propulsion Laboratories-Cal Tech, MIT, UC Berkeley, NASA Head Quarters, Finnish Parliament, Oxford, Princeton, and Yale School of Management. He has given evidence to the House of Commons and given invited lectures to the European Parliament and the German Bundestag. He has consulted widely for industry and regulators including Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA), NASA, National Grid plc, Shell Oil, the State of Baden Wurttemberg (Germany), Swedish Chemical Industry Association, the Swedish Chemical Inspectorate, and Vattenfall AB.

In December 2000 Ragnar Löfstedt was awarded (as the first non American) the Chauncey Starr Award for exceptional contributions to the field of risk analysis for someone under the age of 40 by the Society for Risk Analysis and in 2005 he was elected a Fellow of the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA). In 2006 he was presented with the Outstanding Service Award from the SRA.

Research interests

• The development of evidence based health and safety policies
• Risk communication (with a specific focus on the chemical, environment, food, and pharmaceutical areas)
• The role of transparency in policy making
• Evidence based policy making in Europe

Teaching

Programme Director MSc/MA Risk Analysis

Core course on MSc/MA Risk Analysis: Risk Communication, Risk Assessment