I am a researcher and evaluator building bridges between academia and policy making, businesses and NGOs. 

 

I seek sweet spots between the highest standards of academic quality and rigour and the often head-spinning dynamics of work and research resource constraints in policy making, businesses and charities.

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I have over 16 years of experience as a health, social and behavioural sciences researcher (20 with my PhD), for longest at the University of Cambridge, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, where I am still a Visiting Fellow. 

 

As a consultant, which I became in 2021, I have worked primarily with United Nations agencies, the UK civil service, and the NHS and its associated networks:

• World Health Organization, in the Health Systems Resilience and Essential Public Health Functions team

• World Food Programme, through Translators without Borders  (now CLEAR Global)

• World Bank, through Integrity Global

• Acas (UK Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service)

• Greener NHS (NHS England)

• Health Innovation Network.

 

The remainder of my projects have been primarily through Upwork, mostly with start-ups.

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My background is in Psychology (BA and 2 MA-level specialisations in Clinical and Counselling and Work and Organisational Psychology, Sofia University), Philosophy (MA in Philosophy and Ethics of Mental Health, Warwick University, and PhD in Philosophy, Exeter University) and Literature (MA-level specialisation in English Philology, Sofia University).

 

I have researched the topics below for over a decade:​​​

• Health systems, particularly from the perspectives of organisational transformation, coordination, communication, resilience and sustainability

• Digital health and innovation implementation

• Global and humanitarian health

• Evidence identification and synthesis, including literature searching and systematic reviews 

• Data and research ethics

• Interactions between evidence and values, particularly in healthcare decision- and policy-making

• Palliative and end of life care.

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​I’ve also conducted flagship research and evaluation studies and needs assessments in:​

• New professional roles and working patterns

• Anti-racism 

• Veteran’s health

• Refugee health

• Patient and public involvement.

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I am always happy to venture into areas I have not worked in before, especially if they require systems, complexity and interdisciplinary thinking and if they concern life circumstances, personal experiences, relationships, contexts which are complex, emotionally intense, dynamic, ethically fraught, hard, uncertain … 

 

I prefer to use mixed and multi-method study designs, in which I tend to combine:

• qualitative approaches and sources of data – e.g. interviews, focus groups, ethnographic observations

• quantitative approaches and sources of data – surveys, routinely collected organisational data, publicly available data

• systematic and rapid literature reviews

• theory-based approaches, particularly realist evaluation and synthesis

• pictorial and arts-based approaches

• textual and document analysis.

 

I have also developed a personal arsenal of what I call ‘rigorous shortcuts’ or ‘shortcuts to rigour’ – tools that enable maximum rigour when we don’t have the time or resources for the ideal study design. ​​​

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In terms of overall orientation, my research is strongly user- and stakeholder-centred.

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​​Most of my long- and medium-term work is published as peer-reviewed articles (35+) and flagship reports. See Google Scholar for a detailed list. 

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​I aim to write in a way that is crystal clear, reader friendly, dynamic, engaging, super informative, hopeful (always a work in progress!). I seek to make most of my research accessible to any interested and educated non-specialist.

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I also disseminate in alternative - popular, accessible, interactive and experimental - formats, such as policy and evidence briefs, 1-2-pagers, blogs, slide decks, web copy and, of course, talks and presentations.​

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I will be happy to discuss any research needs you may have! If I am not the best person for you (and I am very transparent about my limitations), I’ll do my best to signpost you.

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