Alan is a member of Oxford’s sociology department and a fellow of Kellogg College. He has wide international experience teaching and working with senior officials and executives from China, USA, Latin America, Russia, India and elsewhere. He has wide experience in both quantitative and qualitative research and analysis and has acted as a consultant for the public, private, and voluntary sectors. His work centres on the changes in the relationship between state, market and citizen. This follows earlier work, primarily in the UK, on attitudes to work and identification, or lack of it, with political organisations. His current work is on the concept of ‘Creative cities’, with reference to Shanghai; and the international experience of public private partnerships.