Dr Filippa Lentzos is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Science & International Security in the Department of War Studies, where she also serves as Impact & Innovation Lead and as Dissertation Lead for the 500+ Masters students in the Department.

Alongside her role at King’s, she holds concurrent appointments as Associate Senior Researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in Sweden and as Non-Resident Scholar at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) in the United States.

Dr Lentzos chairs the WHO Technical Advisory Group on the responsible use of the life sciences and dual-use research (WHO RULS DUR) and serves as a member of the WHO Health Security Interface – Technical Advisory Group (WHO HSI-TAG). She is a rostered expert for the UN Secretary-General’s Mechanism for Investigation of Alleged Use of Chemical or Biological Weapons and acts as NGO Coordinator for the Biological Weapons Convention.

In addition, she is a columnist at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and an Editor of the social science journal BioSocieties.

Further information about her work is available at www.filippalentzos.com

Research

• Biological threats and biosecurity

• Global health security

• Biological weapons disarmament and non-proliferation

• Security and governance of emerging life science technologies and AI

• Responsible science and innovation

• Biological disinformation

Dr Lentzos’ research is theoretically informed, empirically grounded and policy-relevant, with a strong international profile. Bridging the life sciences and international security, she has developed a distinct and wide-ranging portfolio in biosecurity research. Her interdisciplinary work critically examines key dimensions of biosecurity, including the life sciences-technology nexus, pandemic-risk research, high-containment laboratories, treaty verification, and biological disinformation.

Methodologically, she employs a diverse set of qualitative and documentary methods—including desk and archival research, interviews, focus groups, participant observation and autoethnography—to ensure analytic depth and methodological rigour. Collaboration lies at the core of her work: she engages closely with governments, think tanks and international organisations, as well as with key policy fora and advisory bodies in international security. This proximity offers rare insights into decision-making processes and underpins the originality and policy-relevance of her research.

Through sustained engagement with policy and practitioner communities, Dr Lentzos ensures her research both informs and is informed by real-world security and governance challenges, contributing to the development of national and international biosecurity policies, guidance, and training.

Career Background

Originally trained in human sciences, Filippa completed her doctoral studies in sociology and spent the first ten years of her career at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She joined King’s College London in 2012 as part of the founding team of the Department of Global Health & Social Medicine, before becoming cross-appointed to the Department of War Studies in 2017, where she moved fully in 2025.

Teaching

Postgraduate

• Science, weapons and arms control

• The Future of War

PhD supervision

Principal supervisor: Henrietta Wilson

Further details

See Filippa's research profile