John Thackara (born 6 August 1951, Newcastle upon Tyne) is a British-born writer, advisor and public speaker.

After his philosophy education and journalist training he worked for ten years as a book publisher and magazine editor.

Appointed a senior fellow at the RCA in 2011, Thackara is currently visiting professor at School of Visual Arts in New York, and an advisor to: Chora Connection (Denmark); Konstfack (Sweden); Cateran's Common Wealth (Scotland); The Nubian Vault Association (France); Unbox Festival (India); Upstarter (London); Participatory City (London); BITS Design School (India).

His great great grandfather, Alexander Montgomery Thackara (1848–1937), addressed as "Mont" in family correspondence,[4] married Sherman's daughter Eleanor Sherman (1859–1915) in 1880 [5] Thackara writes about live examples of what a sustainable future can be like with a special focus on social and ecological design.

He has published online since 1993 at thackara.com and in books; his most recent title is How To Thrive In the Next Economy (Thames & Hudson 2015).

The activities of this small London-based company included an International symposium on science, innovation and design for the Asahi Shimbun (Tokyo, 1987); exhibitions for Axis Gallery (Tokyo); a conference on Interactivity and Environments for the European Commission (Paris, 1989); An exhibition called Image and Object at the Centre Pompidou (Paris 1989); Mirror of Medicine, an exhibition for the 150th anniversary the British Medical Journal, curator Peter Dormer; research and commentary on the BBC Design Awards programmes in 1990 and 1992; T-Zone, an exhibition of Japanese architecture and video, with Riiche Miyake, for the Architectural Association (Brussels and London 1992); The Inventive Spirit, a touring art, technology and design exhibition for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Vienna, Leipzig, Turin, Brussels, 1992); and Sovereign, research and procurement (in ten months, from start to opening) of a national exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum to commemorate The Queen's 40th anniversary as sovereign.

The institute, which was founded by the Dutch government and the city of Amsterdam in 1993, was a think-and-do tank whose mission was to increase the economic and social contribution of design.

He was appointed to this newly created position by the RCA's then rector, Jocelyn Stevens, to develop a research strategy, and a programme of live, real-world projects, that would help the college take a leadership role as an outward-facing centre of innovation.