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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.