Nigel Shadbolt leads the Web and Internet Science Group at the University of Southampton. Comprising 140 members it is part of Electronics and Computer Science. He researches the next generation of the World Wide Web and is a Director of the Web Science Trust, and of the Web Foundation - both organisations have a common commitment to advance our understanding of the Web and promote the Web's positive impact on society.
In 2009 the Prime Minister appointed him and Sir Tim Berners-Lee as Information Advisors to the UK Government to transform access to Public Sector Information. This work led to the highly acclaimed data.gov.uk site that now provides a portal to over 7500 datasets. In 2010 the Coalition Government appointed him to the UK Public Sector Transparency Board that oversees the continuing release of Government data. He Chairs CLG's Local Public Data Panel and the "midata" project located in BIS. He also advises Government in a number of other roles.
With over 350 publications he has researched on topics ranging from cognitive psychology to computational neuroscience, Artificial Intelligence to the Semantic Web. He was one of the originators of interdisciplinary field of Web Science.
He is the co-author of The Spy in the Coffee Machine and is an authority on issues to do with privacy and trust in the Digital age. He was overall series consultant to the BBC’s landmark documentary series The Virtual Revolution. He has also been heavily involved with the commercial exploitation of his research. In its 50th Anniversary year 2006-2007, Nigel was President of the British Computer Society. He is a Fellow of both the Royal Academy of Engineering and the British Computer Society. In 2011 he was awarded an Honorary DSc by the University of Nottingham.
