Philippe Van Nedervelde is the International Spokesperson and Director of the Informational Transparency Division for the Lifeboat Foundation, a nonprofit nongovernmental organization dedicated to encouraging scientific advancements while helping humanity survive existential risks and possible misuse of increasingly powerful technologies, including genetic engineering, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence. He has represented the Foresight Nanotech Institute in Europe since 1997. He does so primarily by means of multimedia presentations throughout Europe to audiences of all sizes and compositions (academic, business, governmental, civilian); by interfacing with the media; by representation at European Union level events such as EU parliamentary hearings and through assistance and support to US Foresight Executives when they visit Europe for presentations.
As a regular keynote speaker at conferences and other events/occasions, he focuses his public education and communication efforts on making these complex multi-faceted technologies understandable, especially to lay audiences. Reflecting his active concern for maximizing the upside and minimizing the possible downsides of powerful emerging technologies and nanotechnology in particular, in 1999, as an active member of the Monterey Working Group on Molecular Nanotechnology (MNT) Research Policy Guidelines, he coauthored the Foresight Guidelines on Molecular Nanotechnology, a proposed self-regulation tool for the nanoscience field and the burgeoning nanotechnology industry intended to assure that research, development and market deployments in this rapidly developing field proceed safely and responsibly.