INFLECTION

Research Fellow, RoRI

Josie Coburn is a Research Fellow in Metascience at RoRI at the Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy (STEaPP) at University College London (UCL). She is an interdisciplinary social scientist with a portfolio of interests including:

• Metascience (research on research / science of science), including how research is funded, organised, practiced and evaluated, and research and innovation funding experimentation;
• The desirability and feasibility of targeting research to address societal needs, how and why research directions evolve over time (e.g. serendipity, failure, and other aspects of research processes and research environments);
• Opening up decision-making in science, technology and innovation, and the appraisal and evaluation of research and innovation policies and strategies.

Josie works in a range of fields including health and biomedicine, energy and sustainability, and AI and ICTs. She uses a variety of methods including qualitative, scientometric, and hybrid methods. For example, Josie is skilled in Multicriteria Mapping (MCM), a hybrid quantitative-qualitative method for opening up complex decision making by mapping different perspectives on a range of options and taking into account uncertainty.

Before joining RoRI, Josie worked at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of Sussex as a Research Fellow. She has a PhD in Science and Technology Policy Studies funded by the ERC; MSc’s in Public Policies for Science, Technology and Innovation funded by the ESRC, and in Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems funded by the EPSRC; and a BA in Artificial Intelligence. She also has 4 years’ experience as an Analyst Programmer and Systems Analyst in large and small ICT firms.

Senior Research Fellow, RoRI and Professor, University of Sheffield

Tom Stafford is Professor of Cognitive Science at the University of Sheffield’s School of Psychology, where his work applies insights from neuroscience, experimental design, and data science to the study of learning, decision-making, and bias.

Until August 2026, he is on secondment at RoRI, and from 2026 to 2028, he will hold a Visiting Professorship in the Department of Computer Science and Technology at the University of Cambridge.

As a Senior Fellow at RoRI, Tom leads AFIRE (Accelerator For Innovation & Research Funding Experimentation), a programme dedicated to catalysing high-quality evidence on research processes.

His expertise in metaresearch is further reflected in his role on the PsyArXiv Scientific Advisory Board, where he chairs the Public Engagement Subcommittee.

Previously, Tom served as the University Research Practice Lead for the University of Sheffield (2020–2025), where he represented the institution in the UK Reproducibility Network (UKRN) and chaired the national UKRN Institutional Leads group. An experienced educator, he also designed and led Sheffield’s MSc in Psychological Research Methods with Data Science.

He shares regular updates on his work and writing projects via his Substack, tomstafford.substack.com.

Executive Director, RoRI and Professor of Research Policy at University College London (UCL)

James is one of the founders of RoRI and has been its director since 2019. He is also Professor of Research Policy at University College London (UCL), based in its Department of Science, Technology, Engineering & Public Policy (STEaPP). Since the late-1990s, as a researcher, writer, adviser and campaigner, James has worked at the heart of science and research policy in the UK and internationally. In addition to academic posts at the universities of Sheffield, Sussex and Lancaster, he has worked in think tanks, NGOs and as director of science policy for the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of sciences. 

In his work, James has advanced concepts such as upstream public engagement, science diplomacy, responsible metrics and responsible research assessment; and he has co-founded or chaired initiatives such as People & Planet; the Campaign for Social Science; International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA); UK Forum for Responsible Research Metrics; and the Research on Research Institute (RoRI).

In 2014, James was asked to chair 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, and in 2022, revisited these debates with colleagues in Harnessing the Metric Tide.

In 2015, he was elected a Fellow of the UK’s Academy of Social Sciences, and in 2022, of the International Science Council.

Head of Programmes, RoRI 

Pete is part of the core leadership team at RoRI. Current roles include leading the oversight of RoRI’s project portfolio and supporting leadership of the AFIRE and AGORRA projects. Pete is also involved in scoping and designing RoRi’s future portfolio of projects and programmes. 

Formerly a principal consultant at Technopolis, Pete has 12 years’ experience in the field of science and research policy, having managed or directed over 30 projects and worked as a researcher on many more. Highlights from this body of work include a major study on 38 modifications to peer review for grant funding, evaluating UKRI’s research funding response to Covid-19 (process and impact), a peer-learning initiative on partnered research programmes for the GRC, and two major impact assessments for the European Social Survey (ESS). Beyond the above, Pete has worked for clients including the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Research Council of Norway, Wellcome, the Academy of Finland, the Royal Society, the Human Frontier Science Program, and the Austrian Science Fund. 

Pete is a researcher, project manager, communicator and coach, with ample experience of sharing their expertise at several academic and professional conferences and at organisations including the OECD, the GRC, the German Data Forum (RatSWD) and the UK’s House of Lords. They hold a PhD in sociology from the University of Sussex and subsequently published a book on new directions for centre-left politics in the age of globalisation. Pete is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, an associate fellow of the Higher Education Academy/ Advance HE and a fluent speaker of English and German. 

Research Fellow, RoRI and Research Associate, University of Sheffield 

Anna is a Research Associate at the University of Sheffield. She joined RoRI in 2024 to work with Tom Stafford and Stephen Pinfield on the Distributed Peer Review project.

Her research interests include research improvement, data communication, researcher wellbeing and research evaluation. With a background in psychology, she is interested in applying psychological theory and approaches to understand and improve research practices and systems. 

Anna completed her PhD in Psychology (2025), having previously completed an MA in Social Research (2021) and BSc in Psychology with Foundation Year (2020).

UKRI AI Metascience Early Career Fellow, RoRI and Lecturer, University College London

Youyou Wu is an Associate Professor of Psychology at University College London, based in the Department of Psychology and Human Development at IOE.

Trained as a psychologist, her research applies computational methods, including machine learning and natural language processing, to the study of individual differences such as personality. More recently, her work has expanded into metascience, focusing on how AI can improve research systems.

She joined the Research on Research Institute (RoRI) in 2024 as part of the GRAIL project, developing best practices for the use of AI in research funding. She also contributes to the AFIRE project, which helps funders design AI-related experiments.

In 2025, she was awarded the UKRI Metascience AI Early Career Fellowship to study the influence of generative AI on the language of science. 

Youyou’s project will investigate whether generative AI is reinventing the language of science in research publications, and the implications for peer review. It builds on her previous work at RoRI, where she developed AI guidance for research funders worldwide. She will collaborate with the UK Metascience Unit to translate insights from her research into policy recommendations. The fellowship will connect her with international metascience researchers, including a parallel cohort in the US and Canada, creating opportunities to collaborate and contribute to global debates on AI and the future of research.

UKRI AI Metascience Early Career Fellow, RoRI

Basil is a Research Fellow at RoRI, where he leverages computational methods to understand how research informs policy. He is a UKRI AI Metascience Early Career Fellow investigating how AI systems will transform the way science reaches policymakers. 

This work builds upon his PhD in Science, Technology, Engineering & Public Policy at University College London (UCL), where he developed machine learning approaches to study how governments access and use research. 

Basil’s research has been supported by partnerships with Elsevier and visiting fellowships at Northwestern University’s Centre for Science of Science & Innovation and Harvard University’s Centre for International Development. His work has been published in journals including Patterns and Sustainable Development, and presented at major international conferences including MetaScience, the Annual International Conference on Science and Technology Indicator, and the Atlanta Conference on Science and Innovation Policy. 

Before academia, Basil co-founded SynSapien, a collective intelligence platform connecting innovators globally to tackle societal challenges. He also worked as a strategic communications consultant for universities and research organisations in Qatar. His interdisciplinary background spans environmental technology (MSc, Imperial College London) and international politics (BSc, Georgetown University). 

His research interests focus on how AI and technology can enhance science by making it more accessible and impactful for society. 

About the UKRI Fellowship 

Basil’s UKRI AI Metascience Fellowship investigates a fundamental question at the intersection of artificial intelligence and evidence-based policymaking: how will AI systems change which scientific evidence informs government decisions? As governments increasingly adopt AI-powered tools for evidence identification, this research will provide the first large-scale empirical analysis of whether AI recommendations systematically differ from human-selected evidence. In collaboration with Northwestern Centre for Science of Science and Innovation and Elsevier, the fellowship will compare what policymakers have historically cited in systematic reviews and policy documents against what AI would recommend for the same topics, at scale. This will reveal the ‘invisible college’ of researchers whose work AI consistently identifies as policy-relevant but who remain unrecognised in current evidence pathways. 

Research Fellow, RoRI and Data Scientist, the Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy (CFA), Aarhus University

Emer is a data scientist at the Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy (CFA) at the Department of Political Science, Aarhus University. She has previously worked as a postdoc and research assistant within the department, supporting various quantitative projects. She is currently responsible for managing RoRI’s Funder Data Platform and was a participant in the PORTFOLIOS project.

Senior Research Fellow, RoRI and Center Director, the Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy (CFA) at Aarhus University in Denmark

Carter is Professor and Center Director of the Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy (CFA) at Aarhus University in Denmark. Research areas  include research evaluation, economic analysis of the R&D, innovation and productivity, public sector innovation, quality work in higher education, and policy relevant indicators of science and innovation.

Most recently, Carter’s work has focused on how research and innovation funding programs are designed and how they shape research and its scientific and societal impacts. As part of this work, he has lead the PROSECON project funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and has contributed to a number of other studies of innovative funding programs such as ODIN, the Villum Experiment and the recently started Plant2Food project. Together with colleagues at CFA, Carter is coordinating and maintaining work on RoRI’s Funder Data Platform.