Sir Ivor Crewe is Master of University College, Oxford and President of the Academy of Social Sciences. He was Vice Chancellor of the University of Essex from 1995 to 2007 and President of Universities UK from 2003 to 2005. In 2018, he was appointed to the Government’s Review of Post-18 Education and Funding. He is currently Chair of the Higher Education Policy Institute. Sir Ivor’s academic work focuses on British politics. He has written extensively on elections, public opinion and party politics in the UK. His books include Decade of Dealignment (with Bo Sarlvik), SDP: The Birth, Life and Death of the Social Democratic Party (with Anthony King) and The Blunders of our Governments (with Anthony King).

Professor Roger Goodman FAcSS is Nissan Professor of Modern Japanese studies, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Warden of St Antony’s College at the University of Oxford. Professor Goodman’s research is focussed on the social and educational policy of modern Japan. He was Head of the Social Sciences Division at Oxford between 2008-17 which, with around 1,000 academics, is one of the largest groupings of social scientists in the world. He became Chair of Council in July 2015.

Professor Cara Aitchison is President and Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Geography and Cultural Economy at Cardiff Metropolitan University. She was previously Vice-Chancellor at Plymouth Marjon University and has held senior leadership and Professorial positions at Edinburgh, Bedfordshire and UWE Bristol. Cara was Chair of the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) Sub-Panel for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Leisure and Tourism. She is an Honorary Professor in the Department of Health at the University of Bath, Council member of CBI Cymru/Wales, Senior Fellow of the World Leisure Academy and Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales, Royal Geographical Society and Higher Education Academy.

Stephen Aldridge is Director for Analysis and Data at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. A government economist by background, he was previously Chief Economist and then Director of the Strategy Unit in the Cabinet Office. He has also worked in the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, the Cabinet Secretariats and Her Majesty’s Treasury. He is a Continuing Policy Fellow at the Centre for Science and Policy at Cambridge and was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 2007.

Tim Allen is inaugural Director of the Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa and is Professor in Development Anthropology in the Department of International Development at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His research has focused on international criminal justice, non-formal accountability mechanisms, forced migration, reintegration following displacements, war and conflict, aid programmes, witchcraft and social healing, tropical diseases, HIV/AIDS and health programmes. He has carried out long-term field research in several African countries, mostly in East Africa.  He is currently the Principal Investigator for the five-year ESRC-funded Centre for Public Authority and International Development. His publications include the bestselling textbook, Poverty and Development (Oxford University Press 1992, 2000, and now in preparation for a third edition) and books on ethnic conflict in Europe and mass forced displacement in Africa.

Nic Beech is the Vice Principal, Provost of the University of Dundee, Chair of the British Academy of Management and was previously Dean of Arts and then Vice Principal at the University of St Andrews. His research interests are in the construction of identity, leadership, learning and change, particularly in creative industries and health care. His recent work includes a study of diversity in leadership in the FTSE100. He has held visiting chairs in the UK, the Netherlands and Australia. Nic is a companion of the Chartered Management Institute and, reflecting his interests, is a board member of CMI Race, NHS Tayside, V&A Dundee and Fife Cultural Trust.

Professor David Byrne FAcSS is a sociologist and Emeritus Professor in the School of Applied Social Sciences, University of Durham. He worked in the 1970s as an action researcher for the North Tyneside Community Development Project and has maintained an interest in the practical and challenging application of social science in society.  Research and scholarship interests include the implications of complexity theory for the methodology and practice of the social sciences, social inequality in all its aspects, and the consequences and potential of the transformation of our sort of society from an industrial to a post-industrial character. He is a member of the Social Policy Association, the British Sociological Association, and Radical Statistics.

Chris Caswill is a member of Council since 2016, Deputy Chair of the Academy’s Policy Working Group, and before that a member of the Audit Committee 2010 - 2015. He is Visiting Research Fellow at the Manchester University Institute of Innovation Research and has held visiting positions at Oxford, Exeter and UCL. A Cambridge History graduate, he is a Trustee of the Wiltshire Victoria County History. He was a District and County Councillor in Wiltshire for 10 years, retiring in May 2017. Previously Chris was ESRC Director of Research for 15 years, a member of the Wiltshire Police Authority, and policy adviser to the NORFACE ERA NET, the Norwegian Research Council, and the Universities of Middlesex, Limerick and the Highlands and Islands.

Dr Richard Collins is a retired academic. He sailed under various flags, latterly as Professor of (pick one) Journalism/Media Studies/Sociology. His academic career spanned the post 1992 sector and the Russell Group with agreeable and instructive excursions in Australian, Belgian, Canadian, South African and USA universities. He was also Head of Education and, subsequently, Deputy Director at the British Film Institute. His scholarly work has received recognition beyond the academy, notably in a twice renewed appointment as Specialist Advisor to House of Lords Select Committees on media matters; as a consultant to firms and government agencies in the UK and overseas and in giving invited evidence to Parliamentary enquiries in Australia, Sweden, the UK and to the European Parliament. He now exasperates himself and partners playing bridge; he watches cricket and serves as a Governor of Moorfields Eye Hospital.

Tony Crook is former Senior Pro-Vice Chancellor of The University of Sheffield and Emeritus Professor of Town & Regional Planning. He is currently Chair of the The Conservation Volunteers, Deputy Chair of the Orbit Housing Group; a member of the RTPI Trustee Board, chairing its Education Committee, and chair of the Construction Industry Council’s Housing Panel. Recent former non executive roles include: Construction Industry Council Deputy Chair; Rotherham MBC governance review independent chair; Shelter Trustee Board Chair; Coalfields Regeneration Trust trustee; Sheffield Homes Ltd chair; Lloyds Banking Group Housing Commission member; and Housing Commission for Northern England member. His current research includes private renting and planning obligations. His latest books are ‘Private rental housing: comparative perspective’ (Edward Elgar) and ‘Planning Gain: providing infrastructure and affordable housing’ (Wiley Blackwell) the latter winning the RTPI Research Excellence Award in 2016.

Professor Eileen Green is a sociologist and Emerita Professor at Teesside University, where she was founding Director of the Centre for Social and Policy Research, which specialised in community action projects. Before this, she was Reader and Head of Sociology at Sheffield Hallam University. Her research interests include gender studies, young people and risk, women’s health and leisure and digital sociology. She is a past Chair of the Leisure Studies Association and the British Sociological Association. She currently holds an Honorary Professorial Fellowship at the University of Warwick.

Andrew Jones is Professor and Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at City University London. He is a human geographer with strong interdisciplinary research interests and collaborations spanning several social science disciplines including sociology, politics, education and management studies and his research is focused on different theoretical and empirical aspects around globalisation. Previously he was Head of Geography, Environment and Development Studies at Birkbeck, University of London.

Lord Kerslake is Chair of Peabody, London Collective Investment Vehicle and the Centre for Public Scrutiny. He is also President of the Local Government Association, Chair of Be First, a regeneration company established by Barking and Dagenham Council, Chair of Sheffield Theatres and Chair of the Board of Governors for Sheffield Hallam University. He chaired the UPP Foundation’s Civic University Commission, a major independent inquiry in 2018/19 into the future of the civic university. A former Head of the Civil Service, he led the Department for Communities and Local Government from 2010 to 2015. Prior to this, he was the first Chief Executive of the Homes and Communities Agency. Before joining the Civil Service, he received a knighthood for his services to local government, spending eight years serving the London Borough of Hounslow and a further 11 years leading Sheffield Council.  In early 2015, he was made a life peer, taking the title Baron Kerslake of Endcliffe in the City of Sheffield.

Simon Marginson is Professor of Higher Education at the University of Oxford. He was previously Professor of International Higher Education at the UCL Institute of Education, Director of the ESRC Centre for Global Higher Education, and Editor-in-Chief of Higher Education. Simon focuses on global and international aspects of higher education, and higher education and social inequality. He was the Clark Kerr Lecturer on Higher Education at the University of California in 2014. He is a Lifetime Fellow of the Society for Research into Higher Education and a member of Academia Europaea. He co-chairs the Higher Education Commission Inquiry into Education Exports.

Jil Matheson served as National Statistician, Head of the Government Statistical Service and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority from 2009 until her retirement in 2014, following a career in social research and statistics. During that time Jil also Chaired the OECD's Committee on Statistics and Statistical Policy and the UN Statistical Commission. Jil has been a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences since 2001 and is a member of the Audit and Risk and Nominations Committees. She is a also a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society.

Tony McEnery is an applied linguist whose work has centred on the use of large volumes of language data to explore questions related to the use and manipulation of language in society. He has worked with a wide range of partner organisations in his career, including companies such as British Telecom, IBM and Research in Motion (Blackberry), as well as public sector organisations, including the Home Office and NHS England. He began his academic career in the Department of Computer Science at Liverpool University in 1988. In 1990, he joined Lancaster University, where he is currently Distinguished Professor of English Language and Linguistics. He was Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Lancaster (2008-2013) and Director of the ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science (2013-2016). From 2005-2008, he was the founding Director of Research at the Arts and Humanities Research Council and, from 2016-2018, he was Director of Research at the Economic and Social Research Council, where he also acted as interim Chief Executive from 2017 to 2018. 

Judith Phillips is Deputy Principal (Research) at the University of Stirling and Professor of Gerontology. Her research interests are in the social, behavioural and environmental aspects of ageing and she has published widely on environmental aspects of ageing, social care and caregiving. She was previously Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor and Director of the Research Institute for Applied Social Sciences at Swansea University. She was also Director of the Centre for Ageing and Dementia Research for Wales and the School for Social Care Research in Wales. She has been highly active in shaping the UK’s gerontological research landscape and her applied research has impacted on government policy. Between 2008 and 2010, she was President of the British Society of Gerontology. In 2016, she chaired the Welsh Government Expert Group on Housing an Ageing Population. She was part of the Futureage group developing the roadmap for ageing research under EU Horizon 2020.

Professor Vicky Pryce FAcSS is Chief Economic Adviser and board member at the Centre for Economics and Business Research. Previously, Managing Director FTI Consulting, Director General for Economics at Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and Joint Head of the Government Economic Service. She was a KPMG partner following a career in banking and business. Fellow of the Society of Professional Economists, she’s served on Kent University’s Council, RSA’s board of trustees, Court of the London School of Economics, IFS Executive Committee and held visiting professorships at Cass Business School, Nuffield College, Birmingham City, Imperial College, Aston and Queen Mary. She is on the IFS Council, Advisory Board of OMFIF and BCC Advisory Group. Patron of ‘Pro-bono Economics’ co-founder of GoodCorporation promoting Corporate Social Responsibility, a Freeman and Liveryman of the City of London, she’s served as Master of a Livery Company. Books include: ‘Greekonomics’; ‘It's the Economy, Stupid’; ‘Redesigning Manufacturing’; ‘Prisonomics’; and ‘Why Women Need Quotas’.

Sasha Roseneil is a sociologist, gender studies scholar, and a group analyst and psychoanalytic psychotherapist. She is the Dean of the Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences at UCL, and Professor of Interdisciplinary Social Science in the Institute of Advanced Studies. She has worked at the University of Leeds, where she was Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies and founding Director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies, and at Birkbeck, University of London, where she was Director of the Birkbeck Institute for Social Research, and Professor of Sociology and Social Theory, Head of the Department of Psychosocial Studies and Assistant Dean (Research) for the School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy.

Gill Valentine is Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Sheffield. Working closely with the Vice-Chancellor, she undertakes a wide range of portfolio roles in the university. She was previously Pro Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Social Sciences with responsibility for 13 academic departments. Her main research interests include diversity and inclusion, intergenerational relations and family life and urban cultures and consumption. Although trained as a geographer, much of her work has been interdisciplinary involving collaboration with social sciences colleagues from other disciplines. She has published 17 books and over 170 articles.

Professor James Wilsdon is Professor of Research Policy and Director of Impact and Engagement in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Sheffield, an Associate Fellow of NESTA and the Cambridge Centre for Science and Policy, having previously been the Founding Director of the Science Policy Centre at the Royal Society. He is a former Chair of the Campaign for Social Science and is currently its interim Chair.