Helen Margetts

Helen Zerlina Margetts (born 15 September 1961) is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Director of the LSE Data Science Institute. Prior to LSE, she was Professor of Internet and Society at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), University of Oxford and from 2011 to 2018 was Director of the OII. She was formerly Director of the Public Policy Programme at The Alan Turing Institute. She is a political scientist specialising in digital era governance and politics, and has published over a hundred books, journal articles and research reports in this field.

Career Margetts obtained her first degree, a BSc in mathematics, from the University of Bristol. There she earned a MSc in Politics and Public Policy (awarded in 1990) and a PhD in Government (in 1996). a fellow of Mansfield College and from 2011 to 2018 was Director of the Oxford Internet Institute (OII). Prior to joining the OII in October 2004, she was a Professor in Political Science and Director of the Public Policy Programme at University College London.

Amongst her research projects at the OII, she has used a variety of methods to investigate how the Internet can affect the relationship between citizens and government, and how informational cues can affect the success of online petitions and charity fundraising. In March 2011 she was an expert witness for the UK Parliament's Public Administration Select Committee's investigation into the cost of publicly funded information technology projects.

Margetts was a Fellow of The Alan Turing Institute and Director of the Public Policy Programme at the from 2018-2025.

Margetts sits on the UK Government's Digital Economy Council, the Home Office Scientific Advisory Council, the board of the Ada Lovelace Institute, and (from 2011-2015) the Government Digital Advisory Board.

She was appointed to the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours. In 2019, she was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy.