Peter Taylor-Gooby is Professor of Social Policy at the University of Kent and Director of the ESRC Social Contexts and Responses to Risk Programme.  He is a Fellow of the British Academy, a Founding Academician at AcSS, a participant in the Prime Minister’s No 10 ‘progressive consensus’ Round Table and Advisor to Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, 2009 onwards, President of the Sociology and Social Policy section of the BAAS, 2005-6, a Fellow of the RSA, co-director of the Risk Research Centre at Beijing Normal University, 2008 onwards, State-appointed Visiting Foreign Expert to China 2008-11, Distinguished Visitor, Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Central Policy Unit Special Advisor, 2008-9 and Chair of the Social Policy and Social Work Research Assessment Exercise Panel 2001 and 2008, and member of the Research Excellence Framework Expert Advisory Group, 2004-9.