Professor Jim Rollo
Professor Jim Rollo
Jim Rollo, Emeritus Professor, School of Law, Politics and Sociology, co-Director of the Sussex European Institute (1999-2011), and a founding deputy director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory (UKTPO) at the University of Sussex Business School, died on 25 September 2025 after a long illness.
His career combined both practice and analysis of economic policy-making, especially in international trade, and it was characterised by intellectual clarity, a deep commitment to public service, and effective communication of complex economic issues to decision-makers.
From agriculture to global economics
Jim’s route to becoming a leading international trade expert began in agriculture. After graduating with an Honours degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Glasgow in 1968, he worked for more than a decade as an economist at the UK Ministry of Agriculture (with a year’s secondment studying for an MSc in Economics at the London School of Economics). This period spanned the accession of the UK to the European Economic Community (as it then was); and agricultural policy was at the heart of the UK’s relationship with its new partners in Europe.
In 1979, Jim joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) as an Economic Adviser. His career progress in the FCO was interspersed with three years as a Senior Economic Adviser in the Overseas Development Administration (1981-84) and head of the International Economics programme at Chatham House (1989-94) and he returned to the FCO in 1994 as Chief Economic Adviser.
An FCO colleague who subsequently served as a UK Ambassador remembers Jim as generous, stimulating and insightful. Through Chatham House, his strategic insights were shared with the wider policy community in a number of papers discussing the developing economic relationship between the European Union and the countries of central and eastern Europe, which were in the process of accession to the EU.
In recognition of his public service, Jim was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1999 Queen’s Birthday Honours. As a proud Scot, he displayed the insignia with the St Michael side visible and the St George side hidden.
University of Sussex: SEI, InterAnalysis, and UKTPO
Jim joined the Sussex European Institute (SEI) as a Professor of European Economic Integration in 1999 and served as its Co-Director until his retirement in 2011. He was a member of the University's Politics Department and, from its formation in 2009, the School of Law, Politics and Sociology. During that time, Jim led a Diploma in Contemporary European Studies for high-flying practitioners from the then-EU candidate countries of post-communist Central and Eastern Europe, funded by Chevening Fellowships. Many of his former postgraduate students have gone on to hold very senior positions within European institutions, governments, international organisations, business, NGOs and research institutes and think tanks. His students remember him warmly: one describing him as “truly inspiring, a most sincere and kind person, one of those mentors I will cherish."
During his time at SEI, Jim was also Director of the ESRC ‘One Europe Or Several' Programme from 2001-2003, and between 2002-2010 served as editor of the Journal of Common Market Studies. His academic achievements were recognised by his election in 2009 as a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.
After his formal retirement in 2011, he became Professor Emeritus but remained as active as ever in teaching, mentoring, and policy engagement until his health began to decline around 2019.
He was a founding director of InterAnalysis Ltd, a Sussex spin-out which developed the TradeSift software package – a practical tool for the analysis of complex trade data. From 2009 to 2016, he was heavily and enthusiastically involved in training, based on TradeSift, for officials across Africa and Asia, including Ethiopia, Ghana, Myanmar and Vietnam, and in regional blocs such as Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the East African Community (EAC). This work was designed not just to provide advice, but to build sustainable analytical capacity for the long term, and included path-breaking cooperation between Indian and Pakistani officials.
At Sussex, his most recent institutional contribution was helping to establish the UK Trade Policy Observatory (UKTPO), which became a leading authority during and after Brexit, offering independent analysis to policymakers in the UK and beyond. He played a full role in the development of UKTPO’s publications and meetings programme.
Professor Jim Rollo’s career-long commitment to linking academic research to real-world policy needs was amply fulfilled in his years at Sussex, and he leaves a lasting legacy of distinguished contributions to international policy-making both in Europe and in the developing world. One European trade economist aptly described him as “the ultimate practitioner scholar.”
A mentor and colleague
Jim’s professional achievements were matched by his personal qualities. He was a supportive mentor, remembered by students and colleagues alike for the sharpness of his thinking as well as his humour, warmth, and intellectual generosity. His legacy lives on in the generations of students and colleagues whom he inspired and supported.
Jim enjoyed books, cooking, socialising, and travelling. He loved life, and he was fun to be with.
With his first wife, Sonia, he had a daughter, Jenny, and a son, Jack. In 2008, he married Rachel Thompson, who was a great support to him during his illness. They all survive him, and Jim’s colleagues at Sussex and elsewhere offer them our condolences in their loss.
Readers who knew Jim are warmly invited to share their own memories and reflections on the University of Sussex UKTPO memory page here.