I'm Ben Johnson, a science policy person with a sideline in music-making, based in London. I co-direct Science Works, a research, policy and software studio working to improve the UK's science and technology landscape. My interests there are government policy, research analytics, metascience and institutional reform. I'm also a Professor of Practice at the University of Strathclyde, focusing on UK government policy, which is my main area of expertise and the subject of my Substack.

My background is in government policy. I started in research policy roles at public funding agencies, then spent several years advising Science Ministers, Business Secretaries and Technology Secretaries. I've also advised the Scottish Government on innovation. I'm a committed open science advocate, and I dabble in software engineering (I've been writing code for nearly 40 years).

I am a musician. My main instrument is violin, though I studied drums and percussion to degree level, I'm a keen singer (I once fronted a synth-pop band), and things with strings tend to make intuitive sense to me. I compose music, sometimes with my collaborator Jim Cornick (the other half of Ersatz). Most of my music-making now involves building patches and performances in Max/MSP, a visual programming language for algorithmic and process-driven music and art installations. My YouTube channel and Instagram seem to be quite popular in that community.

I'm always happy to hear from people interested in science or music. You can reach me at ben [at] science [dot] works, or ben [dot] johnson [at] strath.ac.uk. Views expressed here and on my other channels are my own.