Services

Support across the research lifecycle

From the design of a single project to the standards that run across everything you produce.

These services share one purpose, producing research with rigour and integrity. They differ in where they apply: the design of a project before it begins, an output before it is published, or the standards, capability and governance that shape everything an organisation produces. Most engagements start with one and grow into others.

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Service Options

Research Design Support

Advice at the inception stage so that gaps, over-ambitious scope, or a mismatch between questions and methods are caught early.

The cheapest problems to fix are the ones found before data collection begins. Once under way, a mismatch between the research questions and the methods chosen to answer them, an over-ambitious scope, or an incoherent design becomes expensive or impossible to correct.

Research Design Support is an independent read of a live research design during its inception phase. I look at whether the methods are best chosen and designed to answer the questions being asked, whether the scope is feasible within the time and resources available, if the design is internally coherent, and how well the ethical and data-handling implications have been thought through. The result is that inconsistencies and gaps are identified while they can still be addressed cheaply, rather than discovered once data collection is complete.

What it involves

A structured review of the research design, questions, and proposed methods to ensure fit to brief.
Assessment of feasibility, coherence, and fit between questions and methods.
Early identification of ethical and data-handling considerations.
Clear, specific feedback the team can act on before data collection begins.

This is the right service when a project is being scoped or designed, a proposal or inception report is being written, or a team wants an expert opinion on a design before committing to it.

Output Quality Review

An independent, pre-publication check on whether a specific output meets the requirements of its audience.

Output Quality Review is a substantive, pre-publication assessment of a specific output's credibility and integrity. It is not copy-editing or proofreading. It is an expert judgement on whether the research is credible, and it is the quickest way to find out before it reaches the people it is meant to convince.

What you receive

Each review produces a structured assessment with specific, actionable recommendations: an overall judgement, a section-by-section assessment, and a summary of priority revisions ranked by importance. Where useful, I also provide a follow-up review of the revised version to confirm that issues have been addressed.

This is the right service when a piece of work is already drafted, and you want to know it is credible.

Most research quality problems get tackled one output at a time. But where research spans teams, partners, and funders, the same issues recur, inconsistent methods, unclear data handling, findings that cannot be traced to their source, and standards renegotiated with every new project. Reviewing individual outputs catches these late and repeatedly. A portfolio-level assessment looks across a range of outputs, teams, and partners rather than a single piece, identifying where standards diverge and defining the standards that would bring consistency. This can be a one-off evaluation or part of strategy and policy development.

This is the most common starting point for donors seeking independent quality assurance of commissioned research, and for other engagements it is most frequently paired with research design support.

Reviews assess up to five dimensions

Dimension

What is assessed

Methodological soundness

Is the research design appropriate for the questions asked? Are data collection methods rigorous? Are analytical approaches applied correctly? Are limitations acknowledged honestly?

Evidentiary support

Do the findings follow from the data presented? Are claims proportionate to the evidence? Are alternative explanations considered? Is attribution handled carefully?

Alignment with objectives

Does the research answer the questions it set out to address? Are the conclusions relevant to the stated purpose? Does the work deliver what the commissioning terms of reference required?

Clarity for audiences

Is the writing accessible to the intended readers, whether donors, policymakers, practitioners, or the public? Are technical concepts explained without oversimplification? Is the structure logical?

Research standards and methods

Is research quality standardised across multiple outputs so consistency does not depend on who produces each piece?

Capacity Strengthening and Training

When the same problems keep recurring, the issue is capability, not the individual output.

If reviews keep surfacing the same problems, correcting each output one at a time treats the symptom, capacity strengthening addresses the cause, so the next report does not need the same corrections.

Many organisations that now produce research were not built to do so, they were designed to deliver programmes. Their staff are strong practitioners now being asked to design studies, analyse data, and write up findings, often with little formal research training. Sending individuals on occasional courses rarely changes this, and commissioning external consultants to write outputs builds no internal capability. What shifts an organisation's research capacity is structured, sustained development that works with the team's existing strengths and builds skills through practice on real outputs.

Every programme combines three things

Group training
Covering the specific skills the team needs, delivered around live projects.
Individual coaching
One-to-one sessions addressing each person's development needs, at their pace.
Editorial mentoring
Working through real outputs together, building the team's ability to strengthen their own writing rather than editing it for them.

My approach is grounded in peer capacity strengthening rather than one-directional transfer of knowledge: working with what the team already knows, respecting contextual knowledge, and building capability through real work rather than abstract exercises. Every programme combines three things and can be delivered in person or virtually. Nine modules are available, and a programme is built around those most relevant.

Nine modules, selected to fit

Research methods for practitioners

Study design, data collection, analysis, and quality assurance, grounded in policy and practitioner needs but drawing on academic insight. For programme staff taking on research responsibilities.

Research questions, from ToRs to tools

Designing research questions for expressions of interest and inception reports, adapting them for different methodological tools, and using them to organise data more intentionally.

Writing for influence

Structuring arguments, supporting claims with evidence, and writing for donors, policymakers, and practitioners. Addressing writing insecurities to develop confident and clear communication.

Writing recommendations

Moving from vague, generic recommendations to specific, contextualised guidance decision-makers can act on, grounded in evidence, tailored to the audience, and precise enough that a reader knows what to do next.

Research ethics in practice

Informed consent in complex contexts, working with interpreters and gatekeepers, safeguarding in research, and ethical data management. For teams working with vulnerable populations or in insecure settings.

Decolonial and localised research

Designing research that centres local knowledge, challenges extractive practice, and builds equitable partnerships. Covers epistemic justice, working through local knowledge systems, shared governance of research, data ownership and knowledge sovereignty, and moving from consultation to co-production.

MEL for research quality

Integrating research quality standards into monitoring, evaluation, and learning frameworks, and bridging programme MEL with evidence generation.

Academic writing and publication

Academic writing conventions, peer review, journal selection, and responding to reviewer feedback. For teams aiming to publish in peer-reviewed outlets.

Proposal and bid writing

Identifying research opportunities and partners, and writing competitive methodology sections, ethical frameworks, impact plans, and budget justifications for funding applications.

Data Governance and Stewardship

Governance that works in practice, not just on paper.

Most organisations handling research data have policies on privacy and storage but few have governance that is implemented consistently and effectively. The framework is circulated and then drifts from how work is actually done, because it was never translated into the decisions people make day to day, never supported by controls that fit the processes already in use, and never reported in a way that shows anyone whether it is working. Governance fails at adoption far more often than it fails at design.

This service is about implementation. It takes a governance framework, existing or new, and makes it work: requirements translated into clear and business-friendly language, controls embedded in the systems and processes people already use, reporting that gives leadership a real view of where the organisation stands, and the stakeholder work that turns a requirement into a routine.

Research data carries obligations that organisational data does not: consent given for a specific purpose, confidentiality owed to participants who may be vulnerable, and provenance that must be transparent if findings are to be defensible. Governance for research data must carry both the discipline of data management and the ethics of research practice. This work is grounded in research ethics and integrity, not in systems procurement.

What it involves

Framework development and adaptation: building a governance framework, or adapting an existing one so it reflects how the organisation actually works rather than how it was once described.
Embedding controls: turning governance requirements into controls that sit inside existing processes and systems, rather than a parallel set of rules people work around.
Governance reporting: reporting that tells leadership something useful, where the organisation is holding, where it is exposed, and what needs attention, rather than a return that is completed and filed.
Translation and communication: putting complex governance concepts into clear, practical language those expected to follow them can understand and apply.
Stakeholder adoption and change: bringing teams, partners, and leadership through governance transformation, so the framework is understood and used rather than resented and circumvented.
Roles and accountability: Findings that can be traced to their source, with clear ownership of research quality and data classification, retention, access, and sharing.

This is the right service when an organisation is introducing data governance for the first time, has a framework that is not being followed, is digitising or updating governance that has fallen out of step with practice, or is answering a funder, partner, or regulatory requirement and needs the answer to hold beyond the immediate deadline.

Strategy Development

Organisational strategy and policy for research.

Research works best when it is not improvised each time. Organisations that produce research need the strategy, processes, and policy to support it with a clear position on how research is designed, assured, and governed, rather than decisions made afresh with every project.

I develop organisational strategy, action plans, and policy for research, including research ethics, quality assurance, and data governance. This ranges from a single policy (an ethics framework, a quality assurance process, a data governance policy) to a fuller research strategy and the action plan to implement it.

This is the right service when an organisation is formalising its research function, responding to a funder or accountability requirement, or setting up the processes to produce research consistently and well.

What it can cover

Research strategy and the action plan to deliver it.
Research ethics frameworks and processes.
Quality assurance processes and standards.
Data governance and stewardship policy, with implementation support available separately.
The processes and roles that hold research quality in place over time.

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Start with a conversation

Every engagement begins with a short, no-obligation conversation about what you are working on and where you would value support. Please get in touch.

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