Richard Woolley is a sociologist and has been a research fellow at INGENIO (CSIC-UPV) since 2011. Previously he had ten years’ experience working on science and innovation policy and projects in Australia and SE Asia.
He first came to Spain in 2011-12 as a visiting researcher in the Estancias de Jóvenes Doctores Extranjeros en el Centros Españoles program of the Spanish Ministry of Education. In the past two years he has worked primarily on a European project (EUCERD Joint Action) focused on the organization of diagnosis, care and treatment for Rare Disease patients in Europe. He was responsible for conducting research with 11 Member States, synthesizing information, presenting results in multiple policy-focused contexts and writing final work package reports. Richard is currently working on the development of a conceptual framework and data infrastructure for understanding and monitoring research careers in Europe (RISIS project), and on the development of indicators of societal benefit associated with responsible research and innovation (RRI) (MoRRI project). He is also part of the research team on the Spanish national plan project EXTRA, which is investigating the institutional conditions and professional capacities conducive to the emergence of complementarity between scientific excellence, knowledge transfer and societal relevance.
In Australia, his policy-related work focused on technical occupations and innovation. He conducted a study of technical work in R&D for the Australian Department of Education and Training that became an input into the Australian Government’s Review of the Research Workforce. He also evaluated vocational education and training programs and policies for several government and industry stakeholders. Richard can be considered highly experienced working with government agencies, science organisations, policymakers and industry R&D managers, including in international contexts. His main methodological expertise is in conducting qualitative investigations, but he has also developed and conducted several large survey studies including one of over 10,000 scientists in the Asia-pacific region in collaboration with UNESCO Jakarta office. He has also participated in science policy networks in Asia-pacific. His most recent publications include a network analysis of flows of different types of information in scientific collaboration, an analysis of researchers’ motivations and barriers to collaboration with external partners and an overview of workforce skills and innovation.