Meet the team

I lead our Research, Data and Innovation team.  

We support people working in social care in Wales to use research and data to inform policy and service design and practice, as well as supporting people to innovate in their work.

Before joining Social Care Wales in October 2022, I worked at Cardiff University’s Wales Centre for Public Policy, leading social justice projects for Welsh Government and public services.

My background is in third-sector research. I have a PhD in social policy from the University of Birmingham on intersectionality and working-class girls’ volunteering.

I am the Innovation Coaching Manager and I look after our new innovation coaching service and coaching team.

We support people working in social care who are trying to improve the way they provide care by helping them to test new ideas, develop new ways of working or adapt what works elsewhere.

My background is varied, but the golden thread that runs through my career is a focus on making life better for people.

I’m vice-chair of Cwmpas, and previously worked as a programme manager for Nesta, supporting public service innovation in Wales.

I’ve also developed health policy for the Institute of Welsh Affairs, and pioneering story-centered digital inclusion outreach work across Wales.

I was part of the founding team behind The National newspaper, Trade School Cardiff, and part of Think ARK – a social design collective.

I lead on developing and implementing the strategic approach to social care data in Wales. This means helping people and organisations who work in social care in Wales to be better at collecting, using and sharing their data.

I also manage a team of data professionals in Social Care Wales to achieve our strategy and to manage Social Care Wales’s own data.

I’ve spent most of my career working in data and digital roles in social care. I worked for a local authority for over 20 years, ending up as the Performance and Information Manager for children’s services.

Before joining Social Care Wales, I worked as a senior policy lead in Welsh Government, working in the team that developed the Performance and Improvement Framework for social care in Wales.

I'm passionate about usability and accessibility of data and digital and am undertaking a research degree in Human Computer Interaction at Swansea University.

I work in an exciting new area of work to develop our support for innovation in social care.  

The areas I manage focus on building collaborative partnerships, communities for practitioners and exploring digital innovation. 

My previous roles include local authority social work and working in the third sector to support women’s mental health and lead a team of mental health support workers. 

I went on to work in service development for a local authority on a wide range of activities. These included direct payments, extra care and a review of mental health services in the area. 

I’ve been at Social Care Wales since its beginning in 2017. Before that I worked for the Care Council, focusing largely on qualifications and standards.  

I’m a qualified social worker, having completed an MA at Cardiff University in 2000.   

I’m also studying for a PhD at Swansea University through the All-Wales Intensive Learning Academy. The PhD focuses on innovation in social care.

I manage our research team.

We encourage and promote good quality research on social care in and about Wales by setting research priorities, supporting researchers, and managing research projects.

We pull together findings from research to provide insights for people working in social care through our Social Care Wales evidence summaries.

Before working at Social Care Wales, I was a Research Fellow at the University of Bristol’s Centre for Research in Health and Social Care. My research includes paid care work, housing with care, and social care volunteers. I also taught social science research methods to master's degree students. Most recently, I carried out an NIHR, School for Social Care Research funded project on 'Covid, Closeness and Care'. This involved exploring how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted upon direct care provision in private homes and residential care homes for older people. My PhD research – carried out at Cardiff University (2018) – compared the experiences of care workers and the provision of care in a high-cost and a low-cost residential care home for older people.

I manage our knowledge mobilisation team. We support practitioners, teams, and organisations to access and consider research and evidence to support their decisions, development and work.

We bring people together through our communities and partner work to help use, apply and generate research and evidence in practice. Our communities are spaces for people to share their knowledge and ideas and to learn from others, creating relationships across different sectors and across Wales.

I have always sought to use evidence to support decisions and practice. Before joining Social Care Wales, I was a social worker 23 for years and specialised in substance use. I worked within a multi-agency treatment team for adults, and as a consultant social worker in the Integrated Family Support Service. This role supported an intensive family approach to addressing parental substance use. I also have experience of successfully securing NIHR (National Institute for Health and care Research) funding with a colleague to work towards embedding research into adult services within a local authority.