David Voas (born 1955) is a quantitative social scientist. He is currently Emeritus Professor of Social Science at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, where he led the Social Research Institute from 2016 to 2020. He was previously Professor of Population Studies at the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

and Simon Professor of Population Studies at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

. Voas served on the executive committee of the

European Values Study The World Values Survey (WVS) is a global research project that explores people's values and beliefs, how they change over time, and what social and political impact they have. Since 1981 a worldwide network of social scientists have conducted ...

and on the council of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion. He is co-director of British Religion in Numbers, an online centre for British data on religion. He is on the editorial boards of the ''British Journal of Sociology'' and the ''

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion The ''Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion'' (''JSSR'') is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell in the United States under the auspices of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, dedicated to ...

''. His research concerns religious change and value change in modern societies, the intergenerational transmission of religion and values, and attitudes of and towards ethno-religious minorities.

Early life

David Voas was born in the United States. His father is

Robert B. Voas The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...

, a psychologist who had a key role in selecting and training the first group of NASA astronauts and in recent decades has been a leader in policy research on alcohol and highway safety. David Voas left the US at the age of 15 to attend

Atlantic College UWC Atlantic (formally the United World College of the Atlantic, and often referred to by its original name, Atlantic College) is an Private schools in the United Kingdom, independent boarding school in the Vale of Glamorgan in south Wales. Fo ...

, an international school in South Wales. He subsequently received bachelor's and master's degrees from

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

and a PhD from

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

Career

Voas worked in the private sector for a number of years and also spent extended periods outside the UK, particularly in France, the United States, and Bulgaria.

Academic career

He returned to academic life in 1998, first as a researcher at the University of Liverpool and subsequently as a lecturer at the University of Sheffield. He was awarded a Simon Research Fellowship at the University of Manchester in 2003 and remained there for eight years, first in the Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research and later in the Institute for Social Change. In 2007, he was promoted to

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

and given a chair in the Institute for Social Change, later merged into the Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research. Voas was Professor of Population Studies in the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex from November 2011 to January 2016. He took up his present position at UCL in February 2016.

References

1955 births Living people British sociologists Alumni of the London School of Economics Alumni of the University of Cambridge Academics of the University of Manchester People educated at Atlantic College Academics of the University of Sheffield {{UK-academic-bio-stub