Well, the emphasis was on "leading" -- any researcher "conducts research, analyzes data, publishes papers, also has experience in ...". Also, how do you know that the research conducted by the said researcher is not bogus? Wikipedia?
In application to GW -- say, a researcher A says that it exists, while the researcher B says it does not -- who would you believe?
I'm actually interested in that question in general -- for example, there was (is) a guy named Walter Wagner who said that LHC would create black holes that will end life on Earth... and I say "no" -- who would you believe?