Alistair Forbes joined NPL in 1985 after studying mathematics at the University of Aberdeen, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and the University of Pennsylvania. He has carried out research in mathematical and statistical modelling, algorithm design, uncertainty evaluation, numerical software development and validation with applications to metrology. He is an NPL Fellow in the Department for Data Science and AI.
He is Visiting Professor at the University of Huddersfield (School of Computing and Engineering) and the University of Strathclyde (Department of Mathematics, Department of Computing and Information Sciences), Member of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications; a Chartered Mathematician; Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society; and Chairman of IMEKO TC21 'Mathematical Tools for Measurements'. He is on the Editorial Boards of Acta IMEKO and The International Journal of Metrology and Quality Engineering, and has co-edited over ten books, including the eight editions of Advanced Mathematical and Computational Tools for Metrology.
He received the Institute of Measurement and Control's Alex Hough-Grassby Award for the application of mathematics to measurement in 2014.