Professor of Politics and Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Westminster. He is a specialist in democratic theory and practice, with particular expertise in democratic innovations (new forms of public participation in political decision-making).

His publications include Democratic Innovations: Designing Institutions for Citizen Participation (Cambridge, 2009) and Can Democracy Safeguard the Future? (Polity, 2021). He is currently working with the participation charity Involve on the project A Democratic Response to Covid19. He was one of the organisers of the Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit which proved influential in the development of citizens’ assemblies in the UK.

He is an investigator on a number of international research projects on democratic engagement, including Participedia, a Global Knowledge Platform on Participatory Governance, and Scholio, Testing Argument Visualization Platforms to Improve Public Discourse on Online News Comments. He is Chair of the Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development.