diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 268cdf48..14fba73b 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
     long_description_content_type="text/markdown",
     url="https://simvue.io",
     platforms=["any"],
-    install_requires=["requests", "msgpack", "tenacity", "pyjwt", "psutil"],
+    install_requires=["requests", "msgpack", "tenacity", "pyjwt", "psutil", "pydantic"],
     package_dir={'': '.'},
     packages=["simvue"],
     package_data={"": ["README.md"]},
diff --git a/simvue/__init__.py b/simvue/__init__.py
index 745d6106..6b9c85da 100644
--- a/simvue/__init__.py
+++ b/simvue/__init__.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 from simvue.run import Run
 from simvue.client import Client
 from simvue.handler import Handler
+from simvue.models import RunInput
 __version__ = '0.7.1'
diff --git a/simvue/models.py b/simvue/models.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cf282193
--- /dev/null
+++ b/simvue/models.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+from datetime import datetime
+
+import re
+from pydantic import BaseModel, constr
+from typing import Optional, List, Dict, Union
+from enum import Enum
+
+FolderStrRegex = constr(regex=r"^/.*")
+
+# Pydantic class to validate run.init()
+class RunInput(BaseModel):
+    name: Optional[str]
+    metadata: Optional[Dict[str, Union[str, int, float, None]]]
+    tags: Optional[List[str]]
+    description: Optional[str]
+    folder: FolderStrRegex
+    status: Optional[str]
diff --git a/simvue/run.py b/simvue/run.py
index 5dd36674..51af4587 100644
--- a/simvue/run.py
+++ b/simvue/run.py
@@ -16,7 +16,9 @@
 
 from .worker import Worker
 from .simvue import Simvue
+from .models import RunInput
 from .utilities import get_auth, get_expiry
+from pydantic import ValidationError
 
 INIT_MISSING = 'initialize a run using init() first'
 QUEUE_SIZE = 10000
@@ -226,12 +228,6 @@ def init(self, name=None, metadata={}, tags=[], description=None, folder='/', ru
             if not re.match(r'^[a-zA-Z0-9\-\_\s\/\.:]+$', name):
                 self._error('specified name is invalid')
 
-        if not isinstance(tags, list):
-            self._error('tags must be a list')
-
-        if not isinstance(metadata, dict):
-            self._error('metadata must be a dict')
-
         self._name = name
 
         if running:
@@ -252,9 +248,6 @@ def init(self, name=None, metadata={}, tags=[], description=None, folder='/', ru
         if description:
             data['description'] = description
 
-        if not folder.startswith('/'):
-            self._error('the folder must begin with /')
-
         data['folder'] = folder
 
         if self._status == 'running':
@@ -262,6 +255,12 @@ def init(self, name=None, metadata={}, tags=[], description=None, folder='/', ru
 
         self._check_token()
 
+        # compare with pydantic RunInput model    
+        try:
+            runinput = RunInput(**data)
+        except ValidationError as e:
+            self._error(e)
+
         self._simvue = Simvue(self._name, self._uuid, self._mode, self._suppress_errors)
         name = self._simvue.create_run(data)
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_simvue.py b/tests/unit/test_simvue.py
index dde5abe5..b507b79b 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_simvue.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_simvue.py
@@ -10,3 +10,61 @@ def test_suppress_errors():
 
     with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="suppress_errors must be boolean"):
         run.config(suppress_errors=200)
+
+def test_run_init_metadata():
+    """
+    Check that run.init throws an exception if tuples are passed into metadata dictionary
+    """
+    os.environ["SIMVUE_TOKEN"] = "test"
+    os.environ["SIMVUE_URL"] = "https://simvue.io"
+
+    x1_lower = 2,
+    x1_upper = 6,
+
+    run = Run(mode='offline')
+
+    with pytest.raises(RuntimeError) as exc_info:      
+        run.init(metadata={'dataset.x1_lower': x1_lower, 'dataset.x1_upper': x1_upper},
+                description="A test to validate inputs passed into metadata dictionary"
+        )
+
+    assert exc_info.match(r"value is not a valid integer")
+
+def test_run_init_tags():
+    """
+    Check that run.init throws an exception if tags are not a list
+    """
+    os.environ["SIMVUE_TOKEN"] = "test"
+    os.environ["SIMVUE_URL"] = "https://simvue.io"
+
+    x1_lower = 2
+    x1_upper = 6
+
+    run = Run(mode='offline')
+
+    with pytest.raises(RuntimeError) as exc_info:      
+        run.init(metadata={'dataset.x1_lower': x1_lower, 'dataset.x1_upper': x1_upper}, tags=1,
+                description="A test to validate tag inputs passed into run.init"
+        )
+
+    assert exc_info.match(r"value is not a valid list")      
+
+def test_run_init_folder():
+    """
+    Check that run.init throws an exception if folder input is not specified correctly
+    """
+    os.environ["SIMVUE_TOKEN"] = "test"
+    os.environ["SIMVUE_URL"] = "https://simvue.io"
+
+    x1_lower = 2
+    x1_upper = 6
+
+    run = Run(mode='offline')
+
+    with pytest.raises(RuntimeError) as exc_info:      
+        run.init(metadata={'dataset.x1_lower': x1_lower, 'dataset.x1_upper': x1_upper}, tags=[1,2,3], folder='test_folder',
+                description="A test to validate folder input passed into run.init"
+        )
+
+    assert exc_info.match(r"string does not match regex")         
+