Helen Berry
Job Title
PhD Student
Research interests
Research interests
My doctoral research project explores research co-production as a collaborative and relational approach to knowledge production that seeks to disrupt dominant knowledge orders and realign knowledge relations, and how it is understood and given meaning and value from multiple standpoints.
This work is supported by the Binks Hub through the Binks Hub PhD Studentship, a research network of academics, researchers, policy-makers, communities and organisations dedicated to arts-based and co-produced research to inform social change and human flourishing.
Background
Overview
I am a PhD candidate in Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh, supported by the Binks Hub PhD Studentship. Before beginning my PhD, I worked across sectors in Scotland in a number of different roles including monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL), applied research and policy. My interests lie in evaluation research, co-production, the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector, childhood and youth, valuing diverse forms of evidence and knowing, and research/knowledge exchange for social justice and human flourishing.
Recent work includes:
- A critical review of the use and value of tookits from the perspectives of users and creators.
- Led on Participatory evaluation of the Life Changes Trust Advisory Group (a group of volunteer Advisors to the Life Changes Trust's care experience work programme) commissioned by Life Changes Trust, where findings were also communicated through the medium of co-produced films with media co-op.
- Part of the team for the collaborative development with a wide range of actors, including young people as experts-by-experience, of Theory of Change for Scotland’s approach to implementing the UNCRC, supported by Scottish Government.
- Evaluation partner to and evaluation report for Future Pathways (Scotland's person-centred, in-care survivor support service), and engaging multiple interest groups in exploring the findings and influencing and revising their evaluation framework.
- Consultation with young people aged 16-19 (with elements co-produced with young people, including a young person friendly research report) on consent and positive sexual communication, informing development of sexual health resources by three health boards (see the Awkward Moments campaign).