John has over 20 years' experience working in economic development. His main areas of expertise are economic appraisal and evaluation, economic impact assessments, sector studies, business cases and the development of economic development strategies for clients across the UK. John's main policy interests are spatial development, innovation and business competitiveness.

In recent years John has played a key role in the SQW team overseeing the evaluation of devolved investment funds across 13 UK city regions for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. He has also led major innovation and business support evaluations – including our multi-annual evaluation of UKRI’s Data to Early Diagnosis and Precision Medicine ISCF Challenge, and evaluations of trade and investment support programmes delivered by Scottish Enterprise and Invest NI. John is also interested in how we develop local innovation ecosystems to support emerging sectors, including understanding the role of universities.