Joost Van Loon

graduate

• Risk Society (269955) - Lecturer in charge

Professor Dr. Joost van Loon (b. 11 March 1967, Dordrecht, Netherlands) is Professor of General Sociology and Sociological Theory at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, where he has been based since 2010. From 2015 to 2021, he served as the elected Dean of the Faculty of Historical and Social Sciences.

He holds a PhD in Sociology from Lancaster University (1996, supervised by Scott Lash), an MA in Sociology from Carleton University, Ottawa (1991, with distinction), and a Doctorandus in Sociology from Erasmus University Rotterdam (cum laude, 1991).

Before joining KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Professor van Loon held academic positions at Nottingham Trent University (1997–2010), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (as guest professor replacing Ulrich Beck), Cardiff University, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and Lancaster University.

His teaching and supervision career spans over three decades, during which he has supervised 19 completed PhD dissertations. He played a central role in designing and developing international undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in sociology at KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt.

Professor van Loon is the author of Risk and Technological Culture (Routledge, 2002) and Media Technologies (Open University Press, 2008), and co-editor of The Risk Society and Beyond (Sage, 2000) with Ulrich Beck and Barbara Adam. His research interests include sociological theory, media and technology studies, risk, and materiality, with over 100 publications in leading journals such as Theory, Culture & Society, Body & Society, and Space and Culture.

He has served as Editor-in-Chief of Space and Culture since 2006 and as a member of editorial and advisory boards of international journals including Qualitative Research and Theory, Culture & Society. His research has been supported by institutions such as the DFG, DAAD, and British Council.

Van Loon has been Visiting Professor at the University of Zagreb (2024) and Sogang University, Seoul (2014), and is an active member of the European Sociological Association’s Research Network 07 “Sociology of Culture”.