Simon Anderson

Simon Anderson is a social research consultant, based in the United Kingdom, with more than three decades’ experience as a practitioner, commissioner, senior manager/director and strategist across a range of sectors and settings, including academia, government and the private and not for profit sectors. During that time, he has commissioned, designed and managed projects involving diverse topics and methods and ranging in scale from a few thousand to several million pounds. He was the (founding) Director of ScotCen Social Research (2003-14) in Scotland, and also spent time based in London as the Acting Chief Executive of NatCen Social Research, its parent organisation.

Simon has a deep understanding of human research ethics, based on his experience as a research practitioner, his 2010-19 role as Chair of the University Research Ethics Committee at Stirling University (with responsibility for the governance and assurance of all research ethics activity within the institution), his current role as an independent member of the University Research Ethics Committee at Robert Gordon University, and his work as an Expert Ethics Advisor for the European Research Council.

Since 2021, Simon has been a Consultant for AHRECS in the UK and Ireland. Simon and Mark Israel have collaborated on a review of research ethics arrangements for a large, research-intensive third sector organisation (Samaritans UK – see Anderson and Scowcroft, 2022), a project for the European Commission to devise guidelines for researchers on the development and use of disclosure policies in human subject research, and a review of human research ethics arrangements at the University of Galway in Ireland. He also has extensive consultancy experience in a range of related areas, including social research methods, project design and organisational research strategy.

Human Research Ethics

Social Research Ethics

Social research methods

Anderson, S. & Scowcroft, E. (11 March 2022) Samaritans UK: Developing ‘fit for purpose’ research ethics processes within a large third sector organisation. Research Ethics Monthly. Retrieved from: https://ahrecs.com/samaritans-uk-developing-fit-for-purpose-research-ethics-processes-within-a-large-third-sector-organisation/

 

Anderson, S., Israel, M. & Morrow, V. (forthcoming) Guidance Note on Unexpected Findings and Limits to Confidentiality in the Social Sciences. European Commission: Brussels.