About Haroon Sheikh
Haroon Sheikh (1980) is a Dutch philosopher with Pakistani and Surinamese roots. He conducts multidisciplinary research on issues relating to international order and new technologies like AI. His work is characterized by a broad orientation on different disciplines and schools of thought, combining empirical research and abstraction, orthodox as well as unorthodox thinking.
Sheikh has written several books. The Rise of the East: Eurasia and the New World Order (2016, in Dutch) is about the new connections and clashes on the landmass that stretches from Europe to Asia. His second book EmbeddingTechnopolis: Turning Modernity into a Home (2017 English) is a philosophical study of the relationship between tradition and modernity. Hisbook Hydropolitics: cooperation and conflict on seven seas (2019, in Dutch) investigates the new order that is emerging on the world’s seas and oceans.
With colleagues he has written Mission AI (2022) and Navigating a Fragmenting World Order (2025), published at Springer. In Dutch he wrote the essays De Overwinning van de Politiek (2022) and Atlas van de Digitale Wereld(2024).
Sheikh is a senior scientist at the WRR ( the Dutch Scientific Council for Government Policy) and endowed professor of philosophy at VU University in Amsterdam.
He is also a regular columnist at Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, he is aGlobal Eisenhower Fellow, columnist for Forum (VNO-NCW), member of the Philosophical Team at newspaper Trouw, member of the Advisory Committee for the International AI Safety Report, jury member of the Comenius Prize, member of the supervisory board of NedPho orchestra, the advisory board of the Netherlands Atlantic Association, thinktank DenkWerk, chair of the strategy sounding board of SIDN and a volunteer teacher at the IMC Weekendschool.
In the past he was jury member for the Human Rights Tulip (awarded by the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs), member of the expert panel for MSI-AI of the Council of Europe, member of the advisory board of the international REAIM conference on AI in the military domain, a member of the Supervisory Board at the humanist broadcaster Omroep Human, of the foundation Socires and the Brainwash Festival, member of the Working Group Public Values in Education of the VSNU, the board of Stichting Maand van de Filosofie and of art foundation Framer Framed, he was a jury member of a competition organized by the Dutch Chief Government Architect.
“If thinking is to be more than a caprice or a stubbornness, the thinker has to elevate himself to the level of a medium. Haroon Sheikh, raised in the midst of different cultural and philosophical currents has be said to be such a medium” – Peter Sloterdijk
Academic and Policy Positions
Haroon Sheikh is Senior Researcher and Project Coordinator at the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR), where he advises the Dutch government, ministers, parliament, and the National Security Council on strategic issues related to artificial intelligence, international order, and emerging technologies.
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He is also Endowed Professor of Strategic Governance of Global Technologies at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, where he teaches and conducts research at the intersection of philosophy, technology, and governance.
Education
His doctoral committee included the renowned philosophers Peter Sloterdijk and Peter Weibel
Background
After finished the gymnasium at the Sint Maartenscollege in Voorburg, Sheikh studied philosophy, public administration and political science at Leiden and Oxford University. He wrote his PhD dissertation at VU University in Amsterdam on the influence of old traditions on modern societies. The renowned German philosophers Peter Sloterdijk and Peter Weibel were members of his PhD committee.
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Simultaneous with writing his PhD dissertation, Sheikh worked as a researcher of emerging markets at Cyrte Investments. After his PhD he became head of research at investment firm Dasym in 2013. In 2016 he set up Freedomlab Thinktank, a thinktank focused on the intersection of international relations and new technology, which he headed until 2018. In that role he built up a knowledge infrastructure, set up collaborations with other research institutes and he advised clients in both the private and the public sector.
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Since 2018 Sheikh works at the WRR where he was responsible for an advice report on artificial intelligence (Opgave AI), following a request for advice from the Dutch government and an advice report on the changing global order (Nederland in een fragmenterende wereldorde).
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Since 2015 he is a member of Centre Ethos that delivers the master programme Philosophy of Culture and Administration at VU University. He teaches on globalization, the philosophy of technology, philosophy East-West and philosophy of culture. Since 2018 he also teaches a course at the bachelor programme Politics, Philosophy and Economics at VU University. In 2021 he became an endowed professor of philosophy at VU University with a chair in The Strategic Governance of Global Technologies. He has published internationally in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Digital Society and EMBO Reports. He is also part of the Eurostack initiative, contributing to an international report and advising governments on digital sovereignty.
Sheikh regularly contributes to the Dutch quality newspaper NRC Handelsblad where he has been a colmunist since 2017. His work has appeared in diverse national and international journals and newpapers.
He has contributed to television programs like Nieuwsuur, EenVandaag, Bureau Buitenland, de Societeit and Het Filosofisch Kwintet. He regularly gives lecture on a diverse range of topics. He has delivered lectures for hundreds of educational institutions, public and private organisations. Since 2019 he is proclaimed to be one of the 200 most influential people in the Netherlands according to newspaper De Volkskrant.