About

Prof. Dr. Dennis P. Petri is a political scientist, researcher, and international consultant, with extensive experience in Latin America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. He has worked in academic and policy roles for various universities, international NGOs, and multilateral organizations.

Currently, Petri is Visiting Professor at the UN mandated University for Peace and Professor in International Relations and Humanities at the Latin American University of Science and Technology of Costa Rica. He also lectures at the Central American Public Administration Institute, the UNESCO mandated Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO), and The Hague University of Applied Sciences. He has been a visiting scholar at the University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands), the Interamerican Center for Social Security Studies, Bar-Ilan University (Israel), and Regent’s Park College, University of Oxford (UK).

Furthermore, Petri holds the position of International Director at the International Institute for Religious Freedom, where he leads two major data collection projects: the Violent Incidents Database and the Global Religious Freedom Index (in partnership with the Religion and State Project at Bar-Ilan University). He is also the Executive Director of the Foundation Platform for Social Transformation and the founder and scholar-at-large of the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Latin America.

Previously, he worked for the Interamerican Center for Social Security Studies, The Hague University of Applied Sciences, Open Doors International, the European Office of the Inter-American Development Bank, the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress in Costa Rica, the Economic and Social Council of the Netherlands, and the Strategic Research Program of Bolivia.

Petri earned his PhD in Political Philosophy from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His dissertation, The Specific Vulnerability of Religious Minorities, addresses undetected religious freedom challenges in Latin America. Petri also holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from the Institute of Political Studies in Paris (Sciences Po) and a Research Master in Comparative Politics specializing in Latin America from the same institution. Petri conducted postdoctoral research at the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam and at the Religion and State Project at Bar-Ilan University.

As a Mexican-Dutch-Costa Rican author, Petri has published extensively on freedom of religion, religion and politics, social dialogue, parliamentary reform, and democracy assistance. He has authored nine books and over 100 journal articles, book chapters, and policy reports. He has also edited several collaborative volumes and research projects, and served as guest editor of a special issue of the International Journal for Religious Freedom. At the Latin American University of Science and Technology he currently holds the position of editor-in-chief of Derecho en Sociedad.

Petri’s multicultural background as a Dutchman who was born in Mexico, raised in Indonesia, Mali, Romania and Bolivia, and has lived in France, The Netherlands and Costa Rica provides a unique capacity to adapt quickly to different cultural environments and to function as a bridge between cultures. Combining his academic expertise with professional experience in policy influencing, electoral observation, capacity building, empowerment of vulnerable groups, conflict resolution, conference organization, project management, and fundraising, Petri possesses a profound knowledge of and network within international public organizations. He has testified as an expert in various parliaments and international forums, including the United Nations Human Rights Council and the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.