Experience

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  University of Liverpool | Research, Partnerships and Innovation

  • Liverpool, England, United Kingdom

  • Research Development Manager for Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

    • Aug 2023 - Present
    • Liverpool, England, United Kingdom

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  University of Liverpool

  • Liverpool, England, United Kingdom

  • Partnerships Development Manager for Faculty of Science and Engineering

    • Aug 2022 - Aug 2023
    • Liverpool, England, United Kingdom

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  The Manchester Metropolitan University

  • United Kingdom
  • Higher Education
  • 700 & Above Employee

  • Senior Researcher - Manchester Centre for Youth Studies

    • Nov 2017 - Jul 2019

    Following my fixed-term KTP project I accepted a second contract with the Manchester Centre for Youth Studies (MCYS) at Manchester Met. University to continue working to embed the principles and practices of youth participation within the Youth Justice System, and also more broadly. During this time with MCYS I continued my work with the GMYJS and also worked on Comic Relief funding projects on Girls and Gangs in Colombia and in using sports (namely Rugby) to support desistance from crime. I also travelled to Bangladesh to deliver some training on Participatory Action Research (PAR) as part of MCYS's South Asian Research Network initiative, working with distinguished colleagues from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Additionally, I led on the development, design and delivery of a multi-disciplinary conference, hosted by MCYS and two other MMU research centres - "Collaboration, creativity and complexities: developing networks and practices of co-production with children and young people". This conference was one of the first international multidisciplinary conferences to be held in the UK with a focus on co-production and creative methods that welcomes academics and community partners into a shared space. It addressed methods and ideas in the broad area of co-production with a focus on making change happen, and sharing ideas, inspiration and experiences around co-production with children and young people.

  • Youth Justice Research Associate

    • Nov 2015 - Nov 2017

    In my role as the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) Associate for a collaboration between academics at Manchester Met. University and the Youth Justice teams across the region of Greater Manchester I managed a two-year project co-ordinating the delivery of priorities for both the academic and practice stakeholders, facilitating the bi-directional transfer of ideas and initiatives between academia and practice. The role also involved collaborating with national government bodies (i.e. the Youth Justice Board, YJB) and regional government interests (such as the GMCA, OPCC, the new Mayor’s office). I led the collaborative development of evidence-based effective practice within the Greater Manchester YJS, particularly in the areas of desistance and young people’s participation in service re-development. I developed and executed a detailed research programme of participatory research which prioritised young people engagement in the research process and pioneered the application of a Youth Participatory Action Research (or YPAR) in a youth justice setting, engaging young people in the development of creative approaches to manage their behaviour and giving them a voice in the dialogue around how youth justice services should operate. The end result was the development of a new participatory model of youth justice practice for the region, called Participatory Youth Practice (PYP), which I then embedded into practice across the region through a series of training and reform to achieve organisational change. As a result, the Greater Manchester region is the first to have an evidence-informed, youth-led framework for effective practice with children and young people who enter the youth justice system.

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  Positive Steps

  • Manchester Area, United Kingdom

  • Youth Justice Research & Innovation Coordinator

    • Nov 2015 - Nov 2017
    • Manchester Area, United Kingdom

    During the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) project I was seconded for part of my time from the University to Positive Steps, a not-for-profit organisation which runs the Youth Justice Service in Oldfham, acting as a link to facilitate the bidirectional transfer of knowledge from academia to practice, and vica versa, While I was seconded to the role of Youth Justice Research & Innovation Coordinator, I was responsible for co-ordinating the priorities, concerns and ambitions of the ten regional Youth Justice Services across the region - as well as those of the national body, the Youth Justice Board. I also had to liaise with the Mayor's office, Greater Manchester Police and various other, diverse stakeholders. My role involved presenting proposals, findings and reforms to a wide range of stakeholders (including academic audiences, practitioners, policy makers and representatives from national and regional government bodies) in a variety of forums (including the YJB’s annual convention, the BSC conference, seminars for the SCYJ and HMIP, as well as organising two annual conferences for MCYS’s GMYJUP), including the following talks:Knowledge Transfer and Youth Justice: Developing and embedding youth justice research in practice” British Society of Criminology Conference, July 2016“Greater Manchester Youth Justice University Partnership (GMYJUP): The Role Of The Knowledge Transfer Partnership” Youth Justice Convention, November 2016“Giving young people a voice in youth justice” Youth Justice Convention, November 2016“Participatory Youth Practice- reforming youth justice in Greater Manchester through innovative knowledge exchange” British Society of Criminology Conference, July 2017

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  Unilever

  • Consumer Scientist

    • Apr 2014 - Sep 2015

    Working as a Consumer Scientist in Personal Care Discover for Unilever my role was to apply research methods and insights from psychology to the development of Personal Care consumer products. Broadly speaking, my role involved turning knowledge about human cognition and perception into consumer insights that drive product innovations and marketing communication, thus delivering business relevant solutions based on scientific theory and capability. Day to day, I led consumer research programmes that gather consumer data that support innovations. This involved setting priorities, reviewing academic or consumer science literature, designing and developing experiments, project managing, analysing data, interpreting and presenting findings and drawing conclusions about the future direction of the programme. This role also involved strategic thinking, shaping the direction of the broader consumer programme to ensure we are developing our capabilities in the right areas as a team going forward, including critiquing and building on current best practice, evaluating methodologies and building and validating new ones. I would regularly present both my strategic thinking and the findings of my research to academic and business audiences. In addition, I led a collaboration between the Personal Care Discover consumer science team, Unilever’s strategic science group and the University of Liverpool. I also managed the cognitive and sensory facilities on site, which I was involved in redesigning, and I led an area of fundamental scientific research for the group. As well as working in Personal Care Discover, I also have experience working in a technology-driven project that spans across a number of Home & Personal Care categories, delivering more broad consumer insights and generating methodologies to set technical targets.

  • Consumer Research Scientist

    • Jun 2012 - Apr 2014

    After returning to the Wirral I began to work again for Unilever in both their Home and Personal Care Discover categories - at first on a contractual basis, via Manpower, and later as a permanent member of staff in Personal Care Discover. The details of the role are above in the entry reflecting my permanent role.

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  Plymouth Community Homes

  • Plymouth, England, United Kingdom

  • Assistant Housing Officer

    • Oct 2010 - Apr 2012
    • Plymouth, England, United Kingdom

    After completing my masters degree, I began to work in social housing for Plymouth Community Homes. I was responsible for managing a patch of ex-council housing properties that are now owned instead by a housing association that caters for social housing tenants. I dealt with all tenancy management issues relating to this patch, including things like rent arrears, neighbourhood disputes, child protection issues, vandalism, property mistreatment. Much of my work centred around dealing with anti-social behaviour and inter-agency working on child protection issues.

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  Unilever

  • Port Sunlight, England, United Kingdom

  • Consumer Scientist

    • May 2010 - Oct 2010
    • Port Sunlight, England, United Kingdom

    While completing my masters degree, I helped set up a collaboration between the University of Liverpool and to Unilever review the research methods, theories and methodologies used in Investigative and Forensic Psychology to assess how they could be applied at Unilever to diversify the research method portfolio held by their Consumer Science team at the time.

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  Liverpool Guild of Students

  • Liverpool, England, United Kingdom

  • Venues Staff

    • Sep 2006 - Sep 2009
    • Liverpool, England, United Kingdom

    From the beginning of my undergraduate degree I began working in the University of Liverpool's Guild of Students. I did this role on a part-time basis while studying throughout my undergraduate degree. The role was diverse, and included working with the student council to plan and execute event nights including gigs and student events, doing promotional work, waitressing and bar work as well as liaison work with guests or acts booked for events.

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  Unilever

  • Port Sunlight, England, United Kingdom

  • Undergraduate Research Assistant

    • May 2008 - Sep 2008
    • Port Sunlight, England, United Kingdom

    Continuing the same project from the previous year, I returned to Unilever as an Undergraduate Research Assistant the following year - again working with the CSI group. My responsibilities included; • Designing and implementing psychological research aiming to gain insights into consumer satisfaction and expectation• Extensively involved in the designing process• Implication of the psychological tests, involving testing over 240 participants for two sessions.• Booking appointments for these sessions and solely responsible for organising testing• Inputting collected data into databases and much of the subsequent analysis (both qualitative and quantitative)Responsibilities• Designing and implementing psychological research aiming to gain insights into consumer satisfaction and expectation• Extensively involved in the designing process• Implication of the psychological tests, involving testing over 240 participants for two sessions.• Booking appointments for these sessions and solely responsible for organising testing• Inputting collected data into databases and much of the subsequent analysis (both qualitative and quantitative)

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  Unilever

  • Port Sunlight, England, United Kingdom

  • Undergraduate Research Assistant

    • Jun 2007 - Sep 2007
    • Port Sunlight, England, United Kingdom

    After my first year of undergraduate studies I was recruited as an Undergraduate Research Assistant for Unilever (hired via Manpower), working in the Consumer Science Insights Group (CSI). My responsibilities included; • Designing and implementing psychological research aiming to gain insights into consumer satisfaction and expectation• Extensively involved in the designing process• Implication of the psychological tests, involving testing over 240 participants for two sessions.• Booking appointments for these sessions and solely responsible for organising testing• Inputting collected data into databases and much of the subsequent analysis (both qualitative and quantitative)

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  Thornton Hall Hotel & Spa

  • Thornton Hough, England, United Kingdom

  • Waitress

    • Jun 2005 - Sep 2007
    • Thornton Hough, England, United Kingdom

    While aged 17 and still in school, I began a job in hospitality at a four star hotel with high standards of customer service, nearby my childhood home. I was trained in silver service and hospitality waitressing and later, after turning 18, I began working on the bar also.

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  Wirral Council

  • Bebington, England, United Kingdom

  • Gymnastics Coach

    • Jun 2004 - Dec 2006
    • Bebington, England, United Kingdom

    I trained as an Assistant Coach in General Gymnastics while I was 15 and as soon as I turned 16 I began working for my local council gymnastic's club, where I had been practicing since I was four years old. In this role I designed and implemented programs for coaching children between 4 & 18 years old in general gymnastics. I was responsible for coaching groups of up to 30 children at a time, supporting them through learning and developing skills through recreation, competitions and shows.