Jan Haverkamp was born in the Netherlands and graduated with a candidates (bachelors) degree in biochemistry at Leiden University and a bachelors and masters degree (ir. - academic engineer) in Environmental Sciences at Wageningen University. He specialised in energy policy, air quality, nuclear physics and social and communication psychology. He is a level 5 radiation protection specialist.

Nuclear energy is one of the central focuses in his work since his studies of nuclear physics brought him into contact with the opposition against the Kalkar fast breeder reactor in Germany and the Doodewaard nuclear power station in the Netherlands, and a former technical supervisor from the nuclear industry educated him in the difference between blueprint and reality.

In 1980, Jan Haverkamp was co-founder of the first local support group for Greenpeace in the Netherlands and was a volunteer until 1992.

Since 1987, he supported the build-up of independent environmental organisations in the socialist German Democratic Republic (East Germany), first over the churches, later as part of the Dutch foundation Milieukontakt Oost-Europa, which was founded by the Dutch environmental movement to facilitate co-operation between the Netherlands and Central and Eastern Europe. In 1992 he continued his work in Czecho-Slovakia, from 1993 to 1995 in Romania, from 1995 to 1997 in Ukraine and worked shorter periods in Croatia and Albania.

In 1997 he emigrated to the Czech Republic, where he supported NGOs in the strategic use of the upcoming Internet before he coordinated the International Energy Brigades, a network of energy efficiency organisations throughout Central and Eastern Europe.

From there he became nuclear / energy campaigner for Friends of the Earth Czech Republic / Hnutí DUHA and Greenpeace, where whistleblower information about a faulty repair to a central weld in Temelín nuclear power station unit 1 brought him in a long lasting conflict with the Czech nuclear establishment. After two years as Campaign

Director for Greenpeace in the Czech Republic, he worked for the organisations WISE / NIRS and Greenpeace as consultant on energy issues in Central Europe. Here he supported NGO coalitions dealing with nuclear power projects in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Croatia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. From 2007 until 2012, he was EU nuclear energy policy advisor for the Greenpeace EU Unit in Brussels, where he dealt among others with the Euratom Nuclear Safety Directive, the Nuclear Waste Directive and the post-Fukushima EU nuclear stress tests.

Since 2012, Jan Haverkamp works as expert consultant on nuclear energy and energy policy for Greenpeace International and Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe.

Next to this, Jan is a professional group facilitator and has introduced facilitation techniques to the social and environmental movements in Central and Eastern Europe.
He was co-founder of the ZHABA facilitators collective, that was active between 1994 and 2009. He is an active member of the International Association of Facilitators.

Since 2004, he teaches 'facilitation of environmental communication processes' and 'the role of environmental NGOs in society' at the Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic.

Jan lives in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and has an 19 year old daughter and a 22 year old son.