Hannah is Senior Research Fellow at the Wales Centre for Public Policy with a focus on the politics and practice of knowledge production, evidence use and expertise in policymaking.
Previously she oversaw the research programme of the Institute for Policy Research (IPR) at the University of Bath and led a number of co-produced projects on the use of connected (‘big’) data to inform policy and public service delivery at the local level. These included a Department for Communities and Local Government funded project (Connecting Data across Public Services in Bath and North East Somerset), an Innovate UK funded project examining the potential of integrated data to inform the design of public health services and social prescribing, and a Local Government Association funded project using local government administrative data to understand social care demand.
Her wider research interests include governance regime analysis and policymaking in practice, and what this reveals about the form and function of the state and the role of state and non-state actors in public policy. She has a background in skills and workforce development policy, economic policy and welfare reform.
She has worked at the interface of research and public policy throughout her professional life. Prior to completing her PhD (University of Bath), she was Projects Manager at Bridgwater College (a leading Further Education college) leading on strategic widening participation and employer engagement initiatives (2002-2006). Before that she worked on performance monitoring and public engagement for Transport for London (2000-2002).
She is a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Policy Research (University of Bath) and an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Hannah’s blogs for WCPP:
Building on strong foundations: the volunteer response to the pandemic in Wales
The role of Welsh local government in a post-Coronavirus world
Loneliness in Lockdown
Researching the Use of Evidence in Policy Making
Our Theory of Change