January 17, 2012
Conrad Brunk is Professor of Philosophy and former Director of the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society at the University of Victoria (UVic).
Dr. Brunk is a regular consultant to the Canadian government and international organizations on environmental and health risk management and biotechnology. He is Vice-Chair of the Science Advisory Board of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and a founding member of the International Forum for TSE and Food Safety, now known as the International Forum for Transmissible Animal Diseases and Food Safety (TAFS). He has served as Co-Chair of the Royal Society of Canada’s Expert Panel on the Future of Food Biotechnology, a member of the Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Committee, and as a member of the Council of Canadian Academies’ Expert Panel on Nanotechnology. Dr. Brunk is co-author of Value Assumptions in Risk Assessment, a book exploring how moral and political values influence scientific judgments about technological risks, and author of numerous articles in journals and books on ethical issues in technology, the environment, law, and professional practice.
His areas of research and teaching include ethical aspects of environmental and health risk management, risk perception and communication, and value aspects of science in public policy. Professor Brunk holds a PhD in Philosophy from Northwestern University.