Sir John Kevin Curtice (born 10 December 1953) is a British political scientist who is currently professor of politics at the
University of Strathclyde
The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...
and senior research fellow at the
National Centre for Social Research. He is particularly interested in electoral behaviour and researching political and social attitudes. He took a keen interest in the debate about
Scottish independence.
Early life
Curtice was born on 10 December 1953. He grew up in
St Austell and was educated at
Truro School
Truro School is a coeducational independent day and boarding school located in the city of Truro, Cornwall, England. It is the largest coeducational independent school in Cornwall with over 1050 pupils from pre-prep to sixth form. It is a membe ...
and
Magdalen College, Oxford, where he read
politics, philosophy and economics, and later transferred to
Nuffield College as a postgraduate.
Commitments and positions
He serves as president of the
British Polling Council
The British Polling Council (BPC) is an association of market research companies whose opinion polls are regularly published or broadcast in media in the United Kingdom.
The BPC was established in 2004, twelve years after the perceived failure ...
, vice-chair of the
Economic and Social Data Service's Advisory Committee and is a member of the editorial board of the ''
Journal of Elections'', the Executive Committee of the British Politics Section of the
American Political Science Association, and the Policy Advisory Committee of the
Institute for Public Policy Research
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is a progressive think tank based in London. It was founded in 1988 and is an independent registered charity. IPPR has offices in Newcastle upon Tyne, Manchester, and Edinburgh. Funding comes from ...
.
He was formerly a Fellow at the
Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study
The Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS) in Amsterdam, Netherlands, is an independent research institute in the field of the humanities and social and behavioural sciences founded in 1970. The instit ...
and a member of the steering committee of the
Comparative Study of Electoral Systems Project.
Curtice has frequently appeared on the BBC during broadcast coverage of general elections in the United Kingdom, giving his accurate predictions of the results in
2005,
2010,
2015 and
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...
. He has picked up a strong following on
social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
, and was mentioned frequently on
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
during the
2017 election, though he shuns this attention, adding "I've no wish to become a media celebrity".
Awards and honours
Curtice was elected Fellow of the
Royal Society of Arts in 1992 and a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2004.
In 2014 he was elected a
Fellow of the British Academy, the United Kingdom's
national academy
A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with State (polity), state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but ...
for the humanities and social sciences.
Curtice was appointed a
Knight Bachelor
The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are th ...
in the
2018 New Year Honours
The 2018 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...
for services to the Social Sciences and Politics.
Personal life
Curtice is married to a
medical sociologist
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practices ...
with one daughter.
Books
* ''British Social Attitudes: the 24th report'' (ed. with A. Park, K. Thomson, M. Phillips, M. Johnson and E. Clery), London: Sage, 2008
* ''British Social Attitudes: the 25th report'' (ed. with A. Park, K. Thomson, M. Phillips, and E. Clery), London: Sage, 2009
* ''Has Devolution Worked?'' (ed. with B. Seyd), Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009
* ''Revolution or Evolution?: The 2007 Scottish Elections'', (with D. McCrone, N. McEwen, M. Marsh and R.Ormston), Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009
* ''British Social Attitudes: the 26th report'' (ed. with A. Park, K. Thomson, M Phillips, and E. Clery), London: Sage, 2010.
* ''British Social Attitudes: the 27th report'' (ed. with A. Park, E. Clery and C. Bryson), London: Sage, 2010
References
External links
Centre for Research into Elections and Social Trends (CREST)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curtice, John
1953 births
Living people
People educated at Truro School
Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
British political scientists
Psephologists
Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Fellows of the British Academy
Alumni of Nuffield College, Oxford
Knights Bachelor