Dr. Markku Lehtonen is an interdisciplinary social scientist, currently working at the University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, where he conducts research on public controversies and evaluation related to nuclear-sector megaprojects in Finland, France, Spain and the UK. As part of this project, he worked from May to September 2019 at the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, examining the ways in which the NEA addresses problems associated with nuclear-sector megaprojects. Markku is also adjunct professor at the University of Jyväskylä, associate researcher at the Groupe de Sociologie Pragmatique et Réflexive (GSPR), Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris, and Associate Faculty at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex. He worked as a Research Fellow at the Sussex Energy Group at SPRU in 2005-2015, at the Institute for Research and Innovation in Society – IFRIS, Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée, in 2012-2014, and at the ESSEC Business School in Cergy-Pontoise, France, in 2015-2018.

Markku holds a PhD in environmental economics (Université de Versailles, 2005) and an MSc in environmental studies (University of Helsinki 1994). His research focuses on policies and governance in the areas of energy, environment and sustainability. His recent research projects have analysed controversies and governance of energy policies (e.g. nuclear power, nuclear waste, biofuels), policy evaluation, role of experts and expert knowledge (e.g. indicators, evaluations and assessments) in policymaking, role of trust in policymaking, citizen participation, the role of international organisations in environmental and energy policies, and the social dimension of sustainable development.

Markku is co-editor of a forthcoming volume based on the findings of the recently completed EU Horizon 2020 funded HoNESt project (History of Nuclear Energy and Society: http://www.honest2020.eu/), which analysed the nuclear/society interaction in 19 European countries and the US.