Alison Park

Professor Alison Park is Deputy Executive Chair of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), where she oversees ESRC’s data infrastructure portfolio (including ADR UK, SDR UK, Understanding Society, the birth cohort studies and the UK Data Service). She also oversees ESRC’s talent and skills funding and is the SRO for UKRI’s new pilot scheme for interdisciplinary research, the cross research council responsive mode fund. 

She joined ESRC in 2019 having previously led CLOSER (Cohort and Longitudinal Studies Enhancement Resources), an ESRC-funded collaboration based at UCL Institute of Education focused on maximising the use, value and impact of longitudinal studies. 

Alison’s career prior to joining UCL was spent at the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), where she led various research teams focused on designing, implementing and analysing government and academic studies and evaluations. She was awarded a CBE for services to social sciences in the 2018 New Year Honours and is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.

Alison will be taking up her role on NatCen's Board of Trustees from mid-November 2025.