Jim Dratwa‘s research and publications address issues of transnational or multi-level expertise, legitimacy, and governance — probing the interfaces between policy making, science, and other knowledge-claims. In particular, building on ethnographic inquiries into international organizations to unpack and enrich notions such as ‘responsibility’, ‘proof’, ‘ethics’, or ‘experimentation’, he pursues the import of the precautionary principle in risk regulation and of impact assessment in better regulation.

Jim received his Ph.D. in socio-economics of innovation from the Ecole des Mines de Paris, and in philosophy of science from the Université Libre de Bruxelles, in 2003, having benefited from the support of the Fulbright program, the Frank Boas Foundation, the Belgian American Educational Foundation, and the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique.

For the last 10 years Jim has combined research and policy making activities. He has worked at CELINE-IRCEL (the Interregional Cell for the Environment, the Belgian National Focal Point of the European Environmental Agency), at the European Commission (in the team coordinating environmental and consumer policy), and in the Scientific and Technological Options Assessment (STOA) unit of the European Parliament. He received the Fulbright Scholar Award in 2001 and was pre- and post-doctoral Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard, with the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program in the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and with the program on Science, Technology, and Society. He has taught at Tampere University, Harvard University, and the Facultés universitaires Saint-Louis, where he is currently Invited Professor. As of 2004, he is also a civil servant with the European Commission, at the department for research policy, in the team working on Prospective Analysis and Impact Assessment of Community Actions.

Publications

A New Deal? For an effective European research policy, The Hague and New York: Springer, 2007. (with Ugur Muldur, Fabienne Corvers, Henri Delanghe, Daniela Heimberger, Brian Sloan, Sandrijn Vanslembrouck)

“Risque, Rixe, Rhizome: Analyse des Risques et Organisations Internationales”, Techniques et Philosophies des Risques, ed. G.Hottois & C.Kermisch, Paris: Vrin, 2007.

“Impact Assessment: What For?” – “Analyse d’Impact: Pour quoi faire ?”, Cahier du GRASPE (Groupe de Réflexion sur l’Avenir du Service Public Européen), no. 8, June 2006. (with Ugur Muldur)

“Social learning at the European Commission and the Codex Alimentarius”, Decision Making within International Organizations, ed. B.Reinalda & B.Verbeek, London and New York: Routledge, 2004.

“Le Statut de la Philosophie dans le Politique”, Revue de Philosophie Ancienne, No. 21, 2003, pp.23-50.

“Taking Risks with the Precautionary Principle: Food (and the Environment) for Thought at the European Commission”,Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning (Special Issue on Risk and Governance), Vol. 4 No. 3, 2002, pp. 97-213.