Currently, Ian Richard Barkshire occupies the position of Chief Executive Officer & Executive Director at Oxford Instruments Plc and Chief Operating Officer & Director at Oxford Instruments Overseas Marketing Ltd. (a subsidiary of Oxford Instruments Plc). Dr. Barkshire is also Member of Institute of Physics (United Kingdom) and on the board of 10 other companies.

In his past career Ian Richard Barkshire occupied the position of Senior Principal Scientist at GEC Marconi Materials Technology Ltd.

He received an undergraduate degree and a doctorate from The University of York.