Mulgan obtained a first-class degree from Balliol College, Oxford and a PhD in telecommunications from the University of Westminster. He was also a Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, trained as a Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka, and worked for a spell during the 1980s as a van driver for the "Labour-supporting collective of musicians and comedians known as Red Wedge", opting ultimately for a career in local government and academia in the UK and going on to become an influential writer on social and political issues in various newspapers and magazines in the 1990s, including The Independent, the Financial Times, The Guardian, and the New Statesman. He worked as a reporter for BBC television and radio, and was made a CBE in 2005. He has written a number of books, including Communication and Control: Networks and the New Economies of Communication, Politics in an Anti-Political Age, Connexity, Good and Bad Power: the Ideals and Betrayals of Government, The Art of Public Strategy, The Locust and the Bee, Big Mind: how collective intelligence can change our world ; and Social innovation: how societies find the power to change. His books have been translated into many languages including Chinese, Russian, Malay, Turkish, Punjabi, Italian, Korean, Hungarian and Arabic. He has written numerous reports and pamphlets for Demos, the Young Foundation, and Nesta. He has lectured and advised governments around the world on policy and strategy – including China, Australia, the United States, Japan, and Russia – and is seen as one of the pioneers of the global field of social innovation. He is profiled in two books: The New Alchemists, and Visionaries. He has been chair of various organisations including the Social Innovation Exchange; Involve; Nesta Italia and the Studio Schools Trust. He was co-chair of the London LEP Digital,Science, Technology and Arts group under then London Mayor Boris Johnson. He has been a board member of Big Society Capital and a trustee of charities including Action for Happiness; the Photographers Gallery; Luton Culture; the Design Council, the Work Foundation, Crime Concern, and Political Quarterly, and a member of various committees for bodies including the European Commission, World Economic Forum, OECD, SITRA and the Academy of Medical Science. He has given TED talks on the global economy, education, and happiness. In 2007-2008 Mulgan was an Adelaide Thinker in Residence, advising South Australian Premier Mike Rann on social innovation and social inclusion policies. As a result of Mulgan's recommendations, the Rann Government established The Australian Centre for Social Innovation. From 2016 to 2019, Mulgan was a senior visiting scholar at the Ash Center in the Kennedy School at Harvard University. From 2019 to 2022 he is a World Economic Forum Schwab Fellow. On 19 July 2010, he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Social Science by Nottingham Trent University.
