People

Chair and Director, RoRI CIC and CEO, Digital Science

Daniel Hook has served as CEO of Digital Science since 2015.  He started his career as co-founder of Symplectic, a research information management provider. His career has centered around the creation of infrastructures that support researchers and the research ecosystem.  He is currently Chair of RoRI’s Community Interest Company. Daniel holds a PhD in theoretical physics.

Independent Director, RoRI CIC and President and Executive Director, Addgene

Chonnettia Jones is the President and Executive Director at Addgene, a life sciences repository dedicated to accelerating scientific discovery and innovation by providing researchers around the world with access to high-quality research materials.  

With over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, Chonnettia has held leadership roles in purpose-driven organizations in Canada, UK/Europe, and US, where she has made contributions to advancing science and health research. In her previous role at Michael Smith Health Research BC, Chonnettia directed strategic initiatives and funding programs to drive impactful outcomes in health research across British Columbia. Her tenure at the Wellcome Trust was marked by her role in evaluating the effectiveness of global health research funding. While at the Janelia Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, she managed an international collaborative program that developed cutting-edge tools for scientific exploration. 

As a co-founder of the Research on Research Institute, Chonnettia envisioned that research systems and research cultures can be positively transformed by evidence that can be used to inform how research funding, practices and policies can be made more effective, equitable, and inclusive. Her leadership in championing open science, responsible research assessment, and equitable research is reflected in her participation on various international advisory boards in science, technology, and scholarly communications. 

Chonnettia earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry, cell, and developmental biology from Emory University. Through her career and volunteer work she continues to advocate for transformative change in the global research ecosystem. 

Co-Chair, RoRI & Director, RoRI CIC and Co-Director, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)

Katrin is Co-Chair and Director of RoRI, and Co-Director at the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). Over the past decade, she has expanded strategic capabilities at the SNSF and promoted the development of research on research activities.

She has also built consensus on an inclusive model of research excellence, co-authored the Swiss National Open Research Data Strategy and contributed policy advice on research priorities to the Tunisian government. Katrin studied in Oxford and Brussels and earned her doctorate in Geneva in the field of discourse analysis and European politics.

Senior Research Fellow, RoRI and Assistant Professor at CWTS, Leiden University

Alex Rushforth is Assistant Professor at CWTS, Leiden University, the Netherlands. He works in the social studies of science, with particular focus on research evaluation. Alex has longstanding interests in the uses of indicators in research and evaluation settings and his current research interests focus on the emergence, implementation and (un)intended effects of reform policies for research assessment.

Alex is currently coordinator of RoRi’s AgoRRA Project, with James Wilsdon and Claire Fraser.

Executive Director, RoRI

James was 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.