Alex Nicholls is University Lecturer in Social Entrepreneurship within the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. His research interests range across several key areas within social entrepreneurship, including: the interface between the public and social sectors; organizational legitimacy and governance; the development of social finance markets; and impact measurement and innovation. He is widely published in peer reviewed journals and has done consultancy work for not-for-profits, social enterprises, and the UK government. He is the co-author of a major research book on Fair Trade (with Charlotte Opal, Sage, 2005). His ground-breaking 2006 edition of a collection of key papers on the state of the art of social entrepreneurship globally was published in paperback edition by Oxford University Press in 2008. It is the best selling academic book on the subject globally. In 2010, Nicholls edited a Special Edition of Entrepreneurship, Theory and Practice on social entrepreneurship – the first time a top tier management journal had recognized the topic in this way. He is also the General Editor of the Skoll Working Papers series and the Editor of the Journal of Social Entrepreneurship. In 2011, Nicholls published a co-edited volume on social innovation. In 2012, he will publish a co-edited volume on social investment and a monograph on the politics of social entrepreneurship.