Researcher's Profile

1967	University of Cambridge, BA
1968	London School of Economics, University of London, MSc
1968	Research Officer, University College London 1970 Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Nottingham
1981	Environmental Team Leader, International Energy Agency of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development 1986 Executive Director, UK Centre for Economic and Environmental Development, Cambridge
1997	Professor of Energy and Resource Economics, Department of Economics, Doshisha University
1998	Director, Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology of the UK Houses of Parliament (-2012)
2001	Ph.D, honoraris causa, London Metropolitan University
2008	Associate, Clare Hall, University of Cambridge
2013	Commonwealth Scholarships Commissioner, UK
2014	Foundation Fellow, Clare Hall, University of Cambridge
2014	Visiting Professor in Science and Technology Policy, Institute for Technology, Enterprise and Competitiveness, Doshisha University
2015	Visiting Professor, Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, University College London
2016	Fellow, RCAST, The University of Tokyo

Unsurprisingly, given that for 14 years, I was Director of the UK Parliament’s Science and Technology Office, my main research interests in recent years have related to ways of delivering concise, independent, analyses and interpretations of current ‘issues’ in science and technology. In particular, I have been concerned with methodological developments and output dissemination in the field of what is commonly called “technology assessment”. I am particularly interested in the role of ‘expertise’ and its juxtaposition with ‘deliberative’, ‘public engagement’ and similar contributions to technology assessment. I have a specific current research interest in “culpability” of expertise, given the constraints on ‘perfect’ knowledge which confront all experts. I have also conducted specific meta-analytical assessments related to numerous scientific and technological subjects, ranging from nuclear plant security and nuclear proliferation to air travel and health.
More recently, I have also been rekindling an older area of research interest – demographic change – and its social and economic consequences. Thus, I am working on a study, to be published by the Parliament of Finland’s “Committee for the Future” on ‘intergenerational relations’ and ‘obligations to the future’, in which I am especially concerned to inform relevant ethical dimensions with quantitative input from demographic analysis.
Besides my own research activities, I have in recent years become increasingly involved in encouraging – and seeking out research support for – bilateral research activities between Japan and the UK (and Europe more widely).