James Wilsdon is Digital Science Professor of Research Policy at the University of Sheffield and founding Director of the Research on Research Institute (RoRI), which launched in 2019 with a mission to accelerate transformational research on research systems, cultures and decision-making.
Over a 25 year career, in addition to academic posts at the universities of Sheffield, Sussex and Lancaster, James has worked in think tanks, NGOs and as director of science policy for the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of sciences. He has advanced concepts such as upstream public engagement, science diplomacy and responsible metrics; and has co-founded or contributed to initiatives such as the International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA); People & Planet; the Campaign for Social Science; and the UK Forum for Responsible Research Metrics. In 2014-15, he chaired an independent UK government review of research metrics, published as ‘The Metric Tide’. He subsequently chaired a European Commission expert group on ‘Next Generation Metrics’. In 2015, he was elected a Fellow of the UK’s Academy of Social Sciences.