I am a practitioner, researcher and evaluator with over 25 years’ experience of working with organisations, groups and individuals across youth, education, community and public health fields. I’ve been lucky enough to collaborate with some great people, projects and organisations at local, regional and national levels.
From undertaking detached work with people involved in sex work and conducting research into substance use at festivals, to contributing to national workforce reform or developing business plans and bids for local community organisations, I thrive on the challenge of understanding the specific needs of the context, listening to those involved, and developing responses that aid future learning and development.
With a Masters in Applied Research and Evaluation, a PhD exploring risk and professional practice, publications in the fields of youth studies and substance misuse, and experience of lecturing across youth work, education, and criminology, I bring academic insight and rigour to the services I offer:
More About Me
Initially interested in homelessness, I qualified as a JNC accredited youth and community worker, going on to work with issues relating to runaways, youth homelessness, sex work, substance use and sexual health in North West England. Following this I became involved in research and over six year period established and led an applied research unit at the University of Cumbria, managing and delivering commissioned research and evaluations for community groups, health trusts, local authorities and government departments, before moving on to project manage cross-university developments in response to ‘Every Child Matters’.
With a fresh challenge in mind, I moved on to lecture in postgraduate professional development within the education faculty at Edge Hill University, specialising in the areas of inter-professional practice, management and leadership, and research methods. I then left full-time employment to balance raising a young child (who is now no longer young!), undertaking a PhD, and delivering self-employed research, evaluation and consultancy as a sole trader. During this time I also worked for Durham University as a research associate exploring young people’s vaping and shisha use in Lancashire. This led to my involvement in researching drug checking and festival drug use through The Loop, recognised by an appointment as Honorary Fellow at Durham.
Following successful completion of my PhD in 2017, I continued working in a self-employed capacity until early 2019, when I was appointed to the commissioning team within public health at Lancashire County Council, working primarily on sexual health service commissioning and contract management, but also involving service user engagement, undertaking EIAs, being involved in needs assessments, collating and reporting Covid situation reports, and leading Covid-19 work with Lancashire universities. This provided an excellent opportunity to return to a practice context and ‘walk the talk’ on a day-to-day basis once more… it also gave me the chance to work in a team once again after the relatively solitary experience of doing my PhD and being a sole trader.
Establishing Phronetix gives me the opportunity to return to what I really love: working with different organisations and groups to support the development of practice through collaborative research, planning, evaluation and consultancy that builds greater understanding, develops policy and practice, and improves people’s lives.
I’m always up for a chat about practice, research, evaluation, and cycling(!)… feel free to get in touch :-).
Gavin.