Jan Willem Petersen is a Dutch urban planner, architect, and researcher specializing in post-conflict reconstruction. He graduated from the Architectural Association in London (AA Dipl. Hons, 2006) and the Gerrit Rietveld Academy (2003). In 2006, he founded Specialist Operations, an independent research and design office. Petersen is currently pursuing a PhD at Delft University of Technology, Urbanism Faculty, in collaboration with the Royal Netherlands Army and lectures at the Faculty of Military Sciences at the Netherlands Defence Academy.