Robert Picciotto, a graduate of Princeton University (USA), is Visiting Professor at Kings College, London and a member of the Academy of Social Sciences. Since 2002, he has acted as senior adviser to several international institutions and development agencies. He currently serves on the International Advisory Committee on Development Impact set up by the UK Secretary of State for International Development. He is also a council member of the United Kingdom Evaluation Society, a board member of the European Evaluation Society and a trustee of the |Oxford Policy Institute. At the World Bank (where he worked for forty years) he held several senior mangement positions including Vice President for Corporate Planning and Budgeting and Director-General, Evaluation.