Roger Jowell
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Sir Roger Mark Jowell,
CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(26 March 1942 – 25 December 2011) was a British social statistician and academic. He founded Social and Community Planning Research, now known as the National Centre for Social Research, and the Centre for Comparative Social Surveys at City University. He played a leading role in the establishment of several of the UK's leading social surveys, most famously the
British Social Attitudes The British Social Attitudes Survey (BSA) is an annual statistical survey conducted in Great Britain by National Centre for Social Research since 1983. The BSA involves in-depth interviews with over 3,300 respondents, selected using random probabi ...
and the British Election Study. He made a major contribution to the development of robust comparative research through the
International Social Survey Programme The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) is a collaboration between different nations conducting surveys covering topics which are useful for social science research. The ISSP researchers develop questions which are meaningful and relevant ...
and the
European Social Survey The European Social Survey (ESS) is a social scientific endeavour to map the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour patterns of the various populations in Europe. ESS is listed in the Registry of Research Data Repositories re3data.org. Prof Rory Fitzge ...
.


Early life

Roger Mark Jowell was born on 26 March 1942 in South Africa, the second son of Emily Katzenellenbogen and Jack Jowell. In his youth, he was active in
left-wing politics Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soc ...
becoming President of Cape Town's Student Representative Council and Vice-President of the
National Union of South African Students The National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) was an important force for liberalism and later radicalism in South African student anti-apartheid politics. Its mottos included non-racialism and non-sexism. Early history NUSAS was found ...
.
"As soon as I graduated from the
University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...
in 1964, I came to Britain – initially just to gain a broader perspective on my life. It wasn't that I had to leave, although as President of the Students' Union I'd been heavily involved in student politics and anti-apartheid activities. At that time students were more or less immune from prosecution. But then things changed, and a few months after I arrived in Britain I got word that many of my close friends had been arrested. I realised then that I couldn't go back – it wouldn't have been safe. Once I got my British passport, I was able to go back fairly regularly."


Research career

In Britain, Jowell was active in anti-apartheid activities and in the Labour Party, becoming Alderman in Camden. He began his research career at Research Services Limited, mentored by
Mark Abrams Mark Abrams (27 April 1906 – 25 September 1994) was a British social scientist and market research expert who pioneered new techniques in statistical surveying and opinion polling. Background and education Mark Abrams was born Max Alexander ...
. In 1969, with Gerald Hoinville he founded the London-based Social and Community Planning Research, which became the National Centre for Social Research, He led the organisation for over 30 years. At Social and Community Planning Research, Jowell established the long-running survey series
British Social Attitudes The British Social Attitudes Survey (BSA) is an annual statistical survey conducted in Great Britain by National Centre for Social Research since 1983. The BSA involves in-depth interviews with over 3,300 respondents, selected using random probabi ...
and was closely involved as author and editor in its first nineteen annual reports. He co-directed the
British Election Study The British Election Study is an academic project to analyse the results of British elections that has examined every general election in the United Kingdom since 1964. The lead researchers are based at the University of Oxford and the University o ...
from 1983 to 2000 and was the founding chair of the
International Social Survey Programme The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) is a collaboration between different nations conducting surveys covering topics which are useful for social science research. The ISSP researchers develop questions which are meaningful and relevant ...
from 1984 to 1989. His interest in high quality comparative research grew and in 2002, he and Max Kaase established the
European Social Survey The European Social Survey (ESS) is a social scientific endeavour to map the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour patterns of the various populations in Europe. ESS is listed in the Registry of Research Data Repositories re3data.org. Prof Rory Fitzge ...
alongside a group of leading international experts.


Academic life

In 2003, Jowell became Research Professor and Founder Director of the Centre for Comparative Social Surveys at City University (now City, University of London), London from where he continued to lead the Central Coordinating Team of the European Social Survey until his death. The success of this ambitious 34 nation comparative study was recognised in 2005 when it was awarded the
Descartes Prize The Descartes Prize was an annual award in science given by the European Union, named in honour of the French mathematician and philosopher, René Descartes. The prizes recognized Outstanding Scientific and Technological Achievements Resulting f ...
for excellence in collaborative scientific research, the first time a social science venture has won Europe's top annual science award. Jowell lectured and published widely.


Social science community

He made significant contributions to the social science community. In 1978 he initiated the establishment of the Social Research Association. In the 1980s he played a key role in developing a professional code of ethics through the International Statistical Institute. , insisting that it should be an educative rather than a prescriptive code. In 2008 he became Deputy Chair of the board of the
UK Statistics Authority cy, Y Bwrdd Ystadegau , seal = , logo = UK Statistics Authority logo.svg , formed = , jurisdiction = United Kingdom , headquarters = 1 Drummond Gate London SW1V 2QQ , employees = 3685 , budget = £256m (2018) , minister1_name = Jeremy ...
advising on the promotion and safeguarding of the publication of official statistics.


Recognition

Jowell was appointed a
CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
in 2001 and was knighted in the 2008 New Year Honours for services to social science. He served for two years as Vice-President of the
Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...
and was awarded the Market Research Society Gold Medal.
City, University of London City, University of London, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, and a member institution of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute, and became a university when The City Univ ...
holds the annual ''Professor Sir Roger Jowell Memorial Lecture'' in his honour. * 2015 lecturer: Professor John Curtice * 2016 lecturer: Professor Dame Anne Johnson * 2017 lecturer: Professor
Anand Menon Anand Menon (born September 1965) is Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at King's College London in the United Kingdom and was appointed in January 2014 as director of the UK in a Changing Europe initiative. He was a special advise ...
.


Personal life

In 1970 he married psychiatric social worker and fellow
Camden London Borough Council Camden London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Camden in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. Camden is divided into 18 wards, each electing th ...
lor, Tessa Palmer in Hampstead, London. She went on to become a member of parliament and minister in
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
's and
Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony B ...
's cabinets. They divorced in 1977. In 1979, he married Nighat (Rani) Gilani in Camden. They have two sons, Marco and Adam, and divorced in 1995. In 1996 he married Sharon Witherspoon, who was Director of the Nuffield Foundation, and had previously been a colleague at SCPR, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. Jowell's older brother is the lawyer Sir Jeffrey Jowell, who also settled in the UK.


External links


Roger Jowell – City University profile

Roger Jowell – ESRC biography

Roger Jowell – Guardian obituary


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jowell, Roger 1942 births 2011 deaths British sociologists University of Cape Town alumni Knights Bachelor Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Academics of City, University of London Spouses of life peers Councillors in the London Borough of Camden Labour Party (UK) councillors