Professor Derrick-Philippe GOSSELIN holds MSc degrees in electrical engineering and industrial engineering and a PhD in economic sciences from Ghent University. He is a postgraduate alumnus from INSEAD and from the University of Oxford (Saïd Business School, Green Templeton College). He is an Auditor of both the Royal Higher Institute for Defence and the European Security and Defence College in security, defence, and geopolitics.
His research focuses on long term decision-making (futures studies) in uncertain, complex, and turbulent environments with multidisciplinary applications at the intersection of society and technology (energy, defence, medical).
Currently he is the chairman of the Belgian Nuclear Sciences Research Centre (SCK CEN) and vice-chairman of the Royal Higher Institute for Defence (RHID) and Belgonucléaire. He is, furthermore, member of the board of the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (VKI) and on the investment board of PMV’s innovation fund TINA. On a European level he is member of the Energy Steering Panel of the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (EASAC) and member of the advisory group on Emerging & Disruptive Technologies of NATO. He is, since 2006, an associate fellow at Green Templeton College, University of Oxford. In 2021 he became emeritus professor at the School of Economics, Ghent University.
He was from 1980 till 2023, active in academics, government, and business. As senior full professor at Ghent University’s school of economics until 2021. Between 2006 and 2010 he was an associate fellow at the Institute for Science Innovation & Society and an associate fellow at the Oxford Martin School from 2010 till 2022, both at the University of Oxford.
He started his career as an attaché in the science policy programming department (BELSPO) between 1981 and 1984. He returned to government as chief of staff to the Prime Minister of Flanders in 2009.
As of 1990 he was active in international business. Het jointed the group Alcatel Alsthom where he became vice-president for Northern and Central Europe and the MEAA region in 1996. He was appointed senior executive vice president at Suez Energy International in 2001 and became afterwards corporate vice president at group level of GDF-Suez located Paris.
Professor Gosselin is member of Academia Europaea, fellow of the Royal Academy for Science and the Arts of Belgium (KVAB) and a professional fellow of the Institute for Engineering and Technology (FIET). He is a former adviser on foreign trade to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium (1995-2012) and former member of the global future councils of the World Economic Forum (WEF) (2008-2015).
Key Publications
Gosselin, D.-P., & Tindemans, B. (2016). Thinking futures: strategy at the edge of complexity and uncertainty. Lannoo Campus Publishers, Leuven, Belgium.
Dentchev, N., Heene, A., & Gosselin, D.-P. (2011). Corporate social responsibility and the strategic management process. In D. von der Oelsnitz & W. Güttel (Eds.), Jahrbuch Strategisches Kompetenz-management (Vol. 5, pp. 79–101). https://doi.org/10.1688/978-3866187481
Fassin, Y., & Gosselin, D.-P. (2011). The collapse of a European bank in the financial crisis: an analysis from stakeholder and ethical perspectives. Journal of Business Ethics, 102(2), 169–191. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-0812-2
Gosselin, D.-P., & Huerre, T. (2010). A quoi pourraient ressembler les 2030’s et les Au-delà? In P. Duclos & L. Tribot la Spière (Eds.), L’Europe sous tension énergétique (pp. 179–190). Centre d’Étude et de Prospective Stratégique (CEPS), Paris, France.
Gosselin, D.-P., & LEYSEN, J. (2008). Vision of evolutions in the petroleum market. European Review of Energy Markets, 2(3), 131–163. https://doi.org/1854/11052
Gosselin, D.-P., Leysen, J., & Verbeke, T. (2007). Protecting a nation’s economic potential: proposal for a scientific research agenda. European Journal of Intelligence Studies, 1(1), 3–21.