Meet the Research Accreditation Panel

The Research Accreditation Panel is chaired by independent member Professor Paul Boyle CBE. Professor Boyle is currently Vice-Chancellor of Swansea University and was previously President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leicester from 2014 to 2019. Prior to that, he was Chief Executive of the Economic and Social Research Council from 2010 to 2014 and President of Science Europe, representing over 50 European funding agencies. Paul is Chair of the Scottish Science Advisory Council, which is Scotland’s highest level science advisory body; a Board Member of Universities UK, who provide leadership and support to executive heads of 133 UK University institutions as well as Chair of their Research Policy Network; Vice-President of the European University Association which represents over 800 universities in 48 countries; a Council Member and Trustee of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, which has over 500 member institutions in 37 Commonwealth countries and an ‘impact champion’ for the United Nations HeForShe global solidarity movement for gender equality.

Independent member Professor Chris Dibben is Chair in Geography at the University of Edinburgh, specialising in health and environment. He is also Director of the Longitudinal Studies Centre Scotland, Principal-Investigator on the Census & Administrative Data Longitudinal Hub and Director of the Administrative Data Liaison Service. Chris also leads the Scottish Centre for Administrative Data Research hosted by the University of Edinburgh.

Independent member Tricia Dodd is a freelance statistical consultant working mainly with national survey organisations, charities and government departments. She previously held a number of Senior Civil Service positions within the Office for National Statistics including: Chief Methodology Officer at ONS (2016-2018), Deputy Director responsible for Crime and Regional Statistics, ONS (2013-2016) and Deputy Director responsible for Health Statistics and Life Events, ONS (2011-2013).

Independent member Andrew Garrett is Executive Vice President-Scientific Operations at ICON Plc. Between 1995 and 2016 he was Vice President-Clinical Analysis and Reporting Services at Quintiles, Inc. He has previously served on the Board of Directors at Cenduit LLC (2015) and the Administrative Data Research Network (2014-2017). Between 2017 and 2019 he was Chair of the Royal Statistical Society’s Data Science Section and is a member of the UK Data Forum.

Independent member Alex Singleton is a Professor of Geographic Information Science at the University of Liverpool, where he was appointed as a Lecturer in 2010. Previously he held research positions at University College London, where he was also awarded a PhD in 2007.

Independent member Ann Berrington is Professor in Demography and Social Statistics at the University of Southampton, with expertise in the area of family demography and life course inequalities. She is currently joint Head of the Department of Social Statistics and Demography and leads the Fertility and Family Strand of the Centre for Population Change. Ann is a member of the ESRC Strategic Advisory Network, the ESRC Expert Advisory Group on Data, Methods and Infrastructure, and the UKRI Population Research UK Programme Board.

Roger Halliday is Chief Executive of Research Data Scotland, which was established in 2020 to enable innovation in the public good through access and linkage of data around people, places and businesses. Roger was Scotland’s Chief Statistician from 2011 to April 2022. During that time he was also Scottish Government Chief Data Officer (2017-20), and jointly led Scottish Government Covid Analytical Team during the pandemic. Before that, he worked in the Department of Health in England as a policy analyst managing evidence for decision making across NHS issues.

He qualified with a degree in statistics in 1993 from St. Andrews University and joined the Government fast stream as an assistant statistician. He worked for various UK Government Departments and at the Scottish Government in a number of statistical and policy making roles. He became an honorary Professor at the University of Glasgow in 2019.

Independent member Andrew McHugh leads the Research Computing Service at the University of Glasgow, a role he has held since November 2022. Andrew has been an employee and student at the University of Glasgow for over twenty-five years, completing an undergraduate degree in Law and PhD in Computing Science and working in a range of research and research supporting roles. Prior to his current position Andrew provided leadership as Senior Data Science Manager at the ESRC funded Urban Big Data Centre, delivering a wide range of data services to research communities across the UK.

Independent member Mark Brewin is Deputy Director for Data Sharing & Acquisition at HM Revenue & Customs. He has previously held various positions within the Civil Service, including serving as Head of Knowledge, Analysis and Intelligence’s Technology Management within HMRC’s Datalab & Transparency team.

Emma Gordon is Director of the Strategic Hub for ADR UK. Emma joined ADR UK from HM Treasury, where she led the team supporting government economists and social researchers across government. Prior to this, Emma was Head of Health Analysis at the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Sarah Henry represents the National Statistician on the Panel. Sarah is the Director of Methods, Data and Research at the Office for National Statistics. She was previously Head of Intelligence and Performance at Manchester City Council.

Paul Lodge is the Chief Data Officer for the Department for Work and Pensions. Paul was previously responsible for the identification and development of new capability to address the cyber threat to the UK in the National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU) at the National Crime Agency.

Michael Chapman is the Director of Research and Clinical Trials at NHS Digital. He joined NHS Digital in 2021 from Health Data Research UK’s Cambridge scientific site, where he was Director of Health Informatics. Prior to that he was Director of Information and Patient Involvement at Cancer Research UK.

Martin Bowyer leads a team of talented and creative digital and security experts in the Central Digital and Data Office, the functional centre for digital technology in the UK Government. Based in the Cabinet Office, he works with the National Cyber Security Centre, cyber experts and digital teams across the public sector to provide pragmatic solutions to digital and cyber challenges. A co-author of the UK Government’s Cyber Security and Digital & Data Strategies, Martin brings practical experience to help deliver great digital services that are secure by design. Martin is also responsible for critical technical infrastructure used by the UK public sector.

Martin’s background is in Consulting. Before joining the UK Government, Martin delivered technology transformation programmes, technology consulting and assurance engagements and grew a successful public sector cyber business in a top tier consultancy.

Philip Wales is the Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) and Registrar General for Northern Ireland. In these capacities, he is responsible for the statistics produced by NISRA and for the registration of births, deaths, civil partnerships and adoptions in Northern Ireland. He is the co-Director of Administrative Data Research Northern Ireland, part of the wider ADR UK partnership. Before joining NISRA, Philip worked in a range of senior statistical roles in the Office for National Statistics, including on the UK Public Finances and Productivity.

Ally McAlpine is the Chief Statistician at the Scottish Government. In this role he is responsible for the production of Official Statistics and advisor to the First Minister and Cabinet Secretaries in Scotland. Ally is also the co-director Administrative Data Research Scotland. Prior to taking up this post he has extensive experience in agriculture, environmental and social justice statistics and a background in crime statistics where he worked as Performance Manager in Central Scotland Police.

Stephanie Howarth is Chief Statistician at the Welsh Government. In this role she is responsible for the statistics produced by Welsh Government and is the senior statistical advisor to Welsh Ministers. She is also the co-Director of Administrative Data Research Wales, part of the wider ADR UK partnership. Prior to this, she worked in a range of statistical roles in both the Welsh Government and the Office for National Statistics.