David Sweeney is Professor of Research Policy at the University of Birmingham. Previously he was founding Executive Chair of Research England within UKRI, the agency responsible for creating and sustaining the conditions for a healthy and dynamic research and knowledge exchange system in English universities.
After gaining First Class Honours in Statistics at the University of Aberdeen, David worked at two BBSRC research institute as a consultant statistician, and then developing mathematical models of plant growth. His work on the computational aspects of this led into broader applications of IT in education and research, and he was Director of Information Services at Royal Holloway, University of London, before moving into university leadership as Vice-Principal (Communications, Enterprise and Research) in 2004. In this role he was responsible for research strategy and for developing Royal Holloway’s research-led commercial and consultancy activities.
He joined HEFCE in 2008 as Director (Research, Innovation and Skills) and led the development and implementation of the first Research Excellence Framework including the new impact agenda element. At HEFCE was responsible for research policy and funding, knowledge exchange and university/business relations. David has been invited to visit many countries to advise on open access and on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact.
David was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Aberdeen in 2012, was Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Newcastle, NSW in 2015 and is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society.