About Richard Jones

I am a physicist who also writes about science and innovation policy.  I am currently Emeritus Professor of Materials Physics and Innovation Policy at the University of Manchester, having retired in September 2025. Previously, I was Vice-President for Regional Innovation and Civic Engagement.  I moved to Manchester in 2020, having previously been at Sheffield University since 1998, where I was Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation between 2009 and 2016.

I have a first degree and a PhD in physics from Cambridge University.  I was a postdoc at Cornell University for a couple of years, before being appointed lecturer at Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory in 1989.

My research in experimental physics focused on the properties of polymer molecules at interfaces and ultrathin polymer films.  My full publication list can be found at my Orcid page ; in addition I have written two technical books – a monograph: Polymers at Surfaces and Interfaces (with Randal Richards, CUP), and a textbook: Soft Condensed Matter (OUP, 2002). I was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2006, and in 2009 I was awarded the Tabor Medal of the Institute of Physics for contributions to nanoscience.

I also have an interest in public engagement with science, especially around nanotechnology, which I explored in my book Soft Machines: nanotechnology and life (OUP 2003), and in the wider issues surrounding the relationships between science, innovation and society.

Richard Jones