Meet the team

I'm the Interim Assistant Director for innovation.

I lead our work to support innovation in social care. We focus on supporting people bring their ideas to life, share what works, and embrace digital approaches. 

My background is in mental health social work and third sector support, where I managed teams and services. I moved into service development, working on projects like direct payments, extra care housing, and reviewing mental health services. Before moving to this role, I held national roles in improvement, qualifications and standards. 

I’m passionate about creating positive change in social care and supporting people to try new things that improve lives. 

I'm the Interim Assistant Director for research and knowledge mobilisation.

My background is in social work education and research, with interests in mental health, learning design, and evidence-informed practice. 

I’ve really enjoyed learning from practitioners and people who access social care - it's a privilege to be in a role where I can learn so much from others.

I am the Head of Innovation Capability and Coaching and I look after our innovation coaching service.

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've previously been vice-chair of Cwmpas and 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 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 evidence summaries and workforce insight briefings.

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 focused on paid care work, housing with care, and social care volunteers. I also taught research methods and sociology. 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 on relationships and interactions between care workers and people accessing care. 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 lead 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. 

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 National Institute for Health and care Research (NIHR) funding with a colleague to work towards embedding research into adult services within a local authority.

I lead our work on strategic innovation.

We help people across social care explore how technology and new ideas can make a real difference, while keeping people and professional judgement at the heart of everything. Our work includes building digital confidence, creating practical tools, and showing what good looks like for digital transformation in Wales.

Before joining Social Care Wales, I worked in operational leadership across services like domiciliary care, telecare, and community meals. I’m a registered social worker and have hands-on experience bringing new technologies into practice, so I understand both the challenges and the opportunities.

I’m passionate about making digital feel doable for the workforce and meaningful for the people who rely on care and support.