Research, Evaluation & Research Partnerships
Research that understands people, systems and the realities behind the data.
I work with universities, charities, public bodies and social care organisations to design and deliver research that is rigorous, participatory and grounded in the realities of people’s lives.
My work sits particularly at the intersection of social care, care experience, transitions to adulthood, financial need, trauma and lived experience. I bring together academic research expertise, extensive experience within the social care sector, and lived experience to ask different questions of systems — and to ensure that the knowledge produced through research can be used to create meaningful change.
My approach is particularly suited to research involving people whose experiences are complex, sensitive or frequently poorly represented by conventional research processes.
Working with me
You might bring me into a project because you need an independent researcher to undertake a piece of work, an evaluator who understands social care, specialist expertise around care experience or trauma-informed research, or an experienced partner to strengthen a funding proposal or research team.
I am equally comfortable working alongside academics, practitioners, policymakers, people with lived experience and senior organisational leaders — and particularly interested in the spaces where those different forms of knowledge need to meet.
Projects can range from short pieces of consultancy and evaluation through to multi-year research collaborations and funded research programmes.
Have a project in mind?
If you are developing a research proposal, commissioning an evaluation, building a research partnership or have a question that you are not yet sure how to investigate, get in touch to discuss what you are trying to understand and how I could contribute.
Research
I can lead or contribute to research projects from initial idea through to analysis, reporting and dissemination.
My research experience spans qualitative, quantitative and participatory methods, including interviews, focus groups, deliberative methods, surveys, secondary data analysis, case-file review, co-analysis and mixed-methods research.
I can support with:
Research design and methodology
Literature and evidence reviews
Qualitative interviewing and focus groups
Survey development
Participatory and co-produced research
Quantitative and secondary-data analysis
Thematic and qualitative analysis
Co-analysis with people with lived experience
Research involving sensitive or potentially traumatic experiences
Report writing, academic outputs and accessible dissemination
Translating research findings into recommendations for policy and practice
My work is informed by trauma-informed principles, but this does not mean avoiding difficult questions. It means thinking carefully about power, safety, choice, accessibility, relationships and what participation asks of people
Evaluation
Evaluation should tell you more than whether people enjoyed a service or intervention.
I work with organisations to understand what is working, for whom, under what circumstances — and what needs to change.
Evaluation can be built into a programme from the beginning or used to examine an established service, project, intervention or way of working.
Depending on the project, this might include developing theories of change or evaluation frameworks; designing outcome and experience measures; gathering qualitative and quantitative evidence; engaging staff, stakeholders and people using services; identifying unintended consequences; and producing practical recommendations.
Where appropriate, I can also help organisations examine whether the way they collect evidence is itself inclusive, proportionate and trauma-informed.
The aim is not simply to produce another report. It is to generate evidence that organisations can understand, use and act upon.
Research Partnerships
I also work as a research partner within larger academic, statutory and cross-sector collaborations.
This can include joining projects as a researcher, consultant, co-investigator, lived-experience researcher, methodological adviser or specialist partner, depending on what the project requires.
I am particularly interested in partnerships where lived experience is intended to shape the research rather than simply be consulted about it.
I can contribute expertise in:
Care experience and transitions to adulthood
Including leaving care, financial need, housing, education, relationships, support systems and the transition from state care into adulthood.
Trauma-informed research
Supporting teams to think critically about how trauma, power and safety intersect with recruitment, participation, data collection, researcher wellbeing, analysis and dissemination.
Lived-experience research and co-production
Developing meaningful roles for people with lived experience throughout the research process, including research design, governance, data collection, analysis and knowledge mobilisation.
Participatory and creative methodologies
Designing approaches that enable people to contribute knowledge in ways that move beyond conventional interviews and consultation.
Research translation and impact
Connecting findings with policy, practice and lived experience so that research has a route beyond publication.
Current Research & Partnerships
I work across academic, voluntary-sector and lived experience research partnerships, contributing expertise in trauma-informed and participatory research, care experience, co-production and the meaningful involvement of people with lived experience throughout the research process.
My role varies between projects — from research design, training and methodological support to co-analysis, facilitation, knowledge exchange and contributing specialist subject and lived experience expertise.
RESPOND | NIHR
Supporting better interventions for care-experienced people during early parenthood
RESPOND is an NIHR-funded research programme focused on interventions and support for care-experienced people during early parenthood, exploring how support can better respond to the experiences and needs of care-experienced parents.
My role focuses on strengthening the trauma-informed and lived experience dimensions of the research, working with both the wider research team and peer researchers involved in the project.
As part of this work, I am developing a bespoke training package for RESPOND, bringing together trauma-informed research practice and peer researcher skills. The training is designed around the specific needs of the project rather than applying a generic trauma-informed model, supporting researchers to translate principles such as safety, choice, agency, trust and collaboration into the practical realities of undertaking sensitive research.
Alongside training development and delivery, I provide ongoing support to peer researchers and contribute to co-analysis and dissemination, helping to ensure lived experience knowledge remains part of how evidence is interpreted and communicated.
This work considers the wellbeing and experience of researchers as well as research participants, recognising that peer and lived-experience researchers may be working with material that intersects with their own experiences.
My contribution: Bespoke research training design & delivery | Trauma-informed research | Peer researcher skills development & support | Lived experience research | Co-analysis | Dissemination
NEST | NIHR
Developing trauma-informed frameworks for residential children’s homes
NEST is exploring the development and use of trauma-informed frameworks within residential children’s homes, contributing to understanding how trauma-informed approaches can be embedded within the environments, relationships and systems surrounding children and young people in residential care.
My role is focused on supporting the project’s Lived Experience Board to understand, engage with and meaningfully contribute to the research.
This includes facilitating discussions, making research processes and materials accessible, supporting members to contribute their knowledge and perspectives, and helping to bridge the space between academic research and lived experience.
Importantly, the role is not simply about enabling people to attend or provide feedback. It is about considering how lived experience knowledge can genuinely influence the research, including attention to accessibility, relationships, power, safety and how contributors can see what happens as a result of their involvement.
My contribution: Lived Experience Board support | Facilitation | Research accessibility | Participation & co-production | Trauma-informed approaches | Lived experience research
Doctoral Research
Understanding what care-experienced people need to have the opportunity to live well in adulthood
My doctoral research in Social Policy examines the financial needs of care-experienced people during the transition to adulthood, moving beyond what support is currently provided to ask what resources people actually need to participate in society and have the opportunity to live well.
The research combines participatory qualitative research, quantitative analysis and the Minimum Income Standard methodology, working with care-experienced people to understand how financial need differs across pathways into adulthood.
The research has included the development of a Minimum Income Standard for care-experienced people, alongside work examining family resources, financial support, stability and different experiences of transition from care.
Methods & expertise: Participatory research | Minimum Income Standard | Deliberative methods | Focus groups & interviews | Quantitative analysis | Co-production | Social policy | Financial need & care experience
Selected Previous Research & Partnerships
My previous research and partnership work spans academic research, international projects, policy development and lived experience-led research. Across these projects, my roles have included Co-Investigator, researcher, lived experience expert, facilitator, project lead and research partner, working across different stages of the research process.
EXIT | ESRC / University of Warwick
Exploring transitions and experiences of leaving care
I worked as a Co-Investigator on the ESRC-funded EXIT project at the University of Warwick, contributing specialist expertise in care experience, trauma-informed research and lived experience involvement.
A significant part of my role focused on supporting the project’s peer researchers, including developing and delivering bespoke training to build their research skills and providing ongoing pastoral support throughout their involvement in the project.
I also developed and delivered training for the wider research team, supporting approaches to working alongside peer researchers and embedding trauma-informed and lived experience perspectives within the research process.
My involvement extended across the wider research cycle, contributing to research planning, data analysis and interpretation, and dissemination of findings. This included contributions to academic journal outputs, project reporting and presentations.
This work reflects an approach I continue to bring to research partnerships: peer researchers should not simply be recruited to a project and expected to navigate academic research structures unsupported. Meaningful involvement requires investment in people’s skills, appropriate support, relationships and opportunities to influence how evidence is understood and communicated.
My contribution: Co-Investigator | Bespoke peer researcher training | Pastoral support | Research team training | Research planning | Data analysis & interpretation | Academic publications & reporting | Presentations & dissemination
More about the project
LeaveCare-LiveLife | Erasmus+
International participatory research, peer research and professional learning
LeaveCare-LiveLife was a European partnership exploring the experiences of young people leaving care and how policy and professional practice could better support the transition to adulthood.
My role spanned the research, participation and professional learning elements of the project. In the UK, I supported data collection with care-experienced young people, gathering experiences and perspectives to ensure that a wider range of voices informed the work taken forward into the European programme.
I also supported and trained care-experienced young people to participate as peer researchers and research contributors, developing their skills and confidence to engage meaningfully throughout the research process.
A key part of the project was an intensive week-long participatory programme bringing together more than 40 care-experienced young people from across Europe. I led the facilitation of this programme, including designing participatory methods through which young people could explore and analyse experiences of leaving care, bring together evidence gathered across participating countries, identify shared and differing priorities, and develop recommendations for policy and practice.
Alongside the participatory research, I contributed to a scoping review of existing local training provision and the development of training packages for professionals informed by the research and lived experience evidence. These resources were subsequently used to support professional learning nationally and internationally.
The wider programme involved care-experienced young people across seven European countries, with the evidence and recommendations generated through the work contributing to wider European policy conversations, including presentation at the European Parliament.
My contribution: Participatory research design | Lead facilitation | Data collection | Peer researcher training & support | International participatory methods | Scoping review | Training package development | Professional learning | Research translation | Policy engagement
UCL Grand Challenges | University College London
Exploring caregiving relationships and the mental health of care-experienced young people
This UCL Grand Challenges research explored how caregiving relationships can support the mental health and wellbeing of care-experienced young people, using participatory and creative approaches to understand what caregiving meant and how it was experienced.
Working alongside UCL researchers, I co-designed and facilitated focus groups with care-experienced young people, including developing creative participatory methods appropriate to the sensitivity of the research topic.
These included a jigsaw activity exploring and defining what ‘caregiving’ meant, alongside a body-mapping activity exploring how caregiving relationships felt and were experienced. The methods were intentionally designed to enable meaningful exploration without requiring participants to directly disclose potentially distressing personal experiences.
This trauma-informed approach created different ways for participants to communicate knowledge and experience while retaining greater choice and control over what they shared. I subsequently contributed to thematic analysis and the development of research reports and accessible outputs from the project.
I also contributed to a video exploring the research and the importance of participatory, trauma-informed approaches, communicating not only the findings but why the way research is designed and undertaken matters when working with lived experience and sensitive subjects.
My involvement with the research continues through the development of academic outputs, contributing to the translation of the project’s findings and methodological learning for wider research audiences.
My contribution: Participatory research design | Creative research methods | Focus group facilitation | Trauma-informed research | Qualitative data collection | Thematic analysis | Research reporting | Accessible outputs | Research communication | Academic outputs & dissemination