Joel is an academic pollster and military reservist, with hats including the Academic Director at YouGov, Captain in the British Army, Co-director of the YouGov-Cambridge Centre at Cambridge University, senior member of Clare Hall College Cambridge, UK Government advisor, Associate Fellow at the RUSI defence think-tank, and comment-writer for the national press, including the Times, Guardian, Telegraph and Huffington Post.

He started his career after undergrad as a Washington ghost-writer, producing bestselling books on foreign affairs. His education includes a masters, doctorate and post-doctoral studies at Cambridge University, an undergraduate First from Birmingham University, and an officer commission from Sandhurst Royal Military Academy.

He writes in a personal capacity.