Doug Wilson was a sociologist specialising in the sociology of science and governance drawing on cases from fisheries and the implementation of an ecosystem approach to fisheries management.
He served as a pioneer in ICES introducing a research based reflection on the role of marine scientists as policy advisers. He did this as a founding member and Chair (2006-2008) of the Working Group on Fisheries Systems and its follow up, the Working Group on Maritime Systems, and as coordinator and active researcher in a long range of research projects studying how science, and specifically ICES, interacts with stakeholders and policy makers.
He published the results of some of these studies, focusing on the development of an ecosystem approach in ICES, in a book The Paradoxes of Transparency - Science and the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management in Europe, which is a core reference on the issue today.
Doug Wilson will be missed in the ICES community and our thoughts are with his wife during this difficult time.