Ragnar E. 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.

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 building public trust in regulators and industry through proactive risk communication, and argues that high regulatory/industry trust is equivalent to low public perceived risk.

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). He is the author/editor of 10 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.

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