I am expert in participatory, action research, peer research, ethnographic and longitudinal methodologies and grounded theory, with over 15 years’ experience leading participatory research and co-production programmes in academia and practice. In 2004 I secured ESRC funding for a self-designed participatory research PhD project, Hidden Voices: the participation of people with learning disabilities in the experience of public open space and was awarded my doctorate in 2008. Following my PhD I was awarded funding by the Leverhulme Trust for a postdoctoral research fellowship, where I worked in partnership with learning disability communities to develop and apply the Experiemic process, a participatory research methodology which resulted in systemic influence at regional level with policymakers and transport service providers.

In 2018 I secured, designed and led a £100K upfront research phase for JP Morgan Chase Foundation, working with a diverse range of community, regional and national stakeholders. This was published in four cutting edge research reports and resulted in a £1.5M investment from JP Morgan Chase Foundation for the highly impactful, place-based, capacity building programme Power Up. In 2019, I worked with senior stakeholders at Google.org to support a peer research approach to shape their national digital skills campaign and inclusive design of their digital learning platform working with communities in Sunderland as part of a wider £1 million investment. In 2020, I produced Good Things Foundation's COVID-19 Response Report charting the rise of data poverty, exacerbated digital inequalities, and evolution of community sector response during the pandemic, resulting in widespread engagement with Government departments including HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and Department of Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS). In 2021 I worked with DCMS to commission the RIX Centre to lead a social research experts by experience evaluation of the national Digital Lifeline fund, which distributed over 5,500 digital devices and support to people with learning disabilities during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2022, when SRO for a Wellcome Trust funded RSA research partnership with academic partners, I supported the focus on participatory research to ensure the experiences of young people and people with lived experience were central to informing social policy and practice. Between 2022- 2023 I worked with the Scottish Government and RSA research team to deliver place-based participatory research with communities most likely to be affected by climate change and disseminate community-led learnings and policy recommendations for a Just Transition. In 2024 I was a named member of the Strategic Leadership Team and non academic Co Investigator for the successful £10m ESRC bid for the Centre for Collaboration in Community Connectedness (C4), bringing together partners from research, community, policy and civil society to develop and scale up successful community leadership approaches.

Skills

• Change Management
• Co-production
• Leadership
• Management
• Participation
• Participatory Design
• Regenerative Design
• Qualitative and Visual Research Methods ·
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Urban Regeneration
• Research Ethics
• Safeguarding