His research and writing concern the meeting place between science, culture and politics in particular in Europe, focusing most recently on value theory and digital technologies.

Burgess was born in Munich, Germany and grew up in the U.S. Midwest and studied mechanical engineering and applied physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, graduating with a B.S.

During this period he also began a collaborative project on security identity at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO).

His research in this period focused on theoretical and ethical issues connected to risk, uncertainty, security and insecurity, with a particular attention to European politics.

In 2015 he was named director of the AXA Chair in Geopolitics of Risk at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, a 10-year research programme that seeks to join a range of disciplinary approach to the politics of uncertainty in the global age, in particular the relation of societal values to resilience and the rise of digital technologies.

Burgess has held adjunct positions at the Centre for Development and the Environment at the University of Oslo (2003–2004), as visiting professor at the Fondation national de sciences politiques (Sciences Po) (2004–2005), Adjunct Professor at Collegium Civitas, Warsaw (2007–2010), Adjunct Professor at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) (2008–2010), and Senior Researcher at the Institute for European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (2009–2011) and the Neubauer Collegium of the University of Chicago (2015).

He was an active participant in ESRIF, the European Security Research and Innovation Forum, contributing directly to the main elements of its final report, published in 2009.