Project Highlight: Evaluating Services for Children and Young People with Epilepsy

I had the privilege of supporting Dr Laura Dennison on the first independent evaluation of two Young Epilepsy programmes: the Youth Support Service and the Youth Voice Network. These services give young people with epilepsy a space to connect, feel understood, and build confidence in their futures.

My role was hands-on throughout. I created recruitment materials, including accessible consent forms, and carried out interviews with young people and parents in a way that was flexible and safe — participants could pause at any point or choose to have a parent present. After the interviews, I analysed the data, wrote up the findings, and even developed items from the qualitative themes that could be used in future surveys. I also acted as Laura’s out-of-office contact while she was away, keeping the project moving and ensuring continuity for the evaluation team.

The evaluation uncovered powerful stories of change: improvements in wellbeing, social inclusion, identity, and confidence. For Young Epilepsy, the report provided robust evidence to strengthen grant applications, fundraising, and stakeholder reporting.

Here’s what Laura had to say about our collaboration:

“Thanks to my OOO redirecting queries to the brilliant Kathryn Buchanan, PhD at Research Reinforcement, key projects have kept moving seamlessly… interviews and data analysis have continued, and everything is clearly tracked and up to date.”

It was rewarding to contribute to work that amplifies young people’s voices in such a meaningful way.

Project Highlight: Supporting Smoking Cessation in Pregnancy by Listening to Lived Experience

How do you design services that actually work for people? You start by listening.

As part of a consultancy project led by Dr Laura Dennison (Vital Insights Consulting) with colleagues from the University of East Anglia, I worked on research exploring how best to support smoking cessation during pregnancy and after birth. The project was commissioned by a Local Authority public health team who wanted evidence to inform their service design.

My role involved helping to design recruitment materials, ethically and sensitively recruiting participants, and conducting interviews with:

• pregnant and post-partum smokers in the local region

• community and voluntary organisations supporting new parents and women from underserved or socially disadvantaged group

The stories I heard were written up into clear, coherent notes that directly informed the analysis. By engaging participants respectfully and inclusively, I helped capture a diverse range of lived experiences and ensured the final recommendations were grounded in the realities of those most affected.

The outcome? The Local Authority now has stronger, evidence-based recommendations to guide service design and strengthen smoking cessation support for pregnant women and new mothers, particularly those from underserved groups.

Here’s what Dr Laura Dennison had to say about our collaboration:

“Kathryn’s combination of academic research experience and counselling skills means she is a very safe and trustworthy pair of hands for conducting in-depth interviews on sensitive topics. I also appreciated her ideas and input around recruitment strategy and hands-on support with producing study documents and procedures”

Project Highlight: Making Sense of Complex Qualitative Data

I supported M.E.L Research on a large national evaluation that involved a detailed qualitative dataset. My role was to dive into the data, carry out in-depth thematic analysis, and write up the findings in a way that was clear, coherent, and useful for the client.

As part of this, I also extracted key information that spoke directly to the client’s research questions – making sure the final outputs were directly relevant to their needs.

What I enjoyed most about this project was the challenge of taking a huge amount of detail and shaping it into something accessible and actionable. It was about listening closely to the voices captured in the data, and then ensuring those voices were represented with both depth and clarity.

Holly Taylor-Dunn, Head of Evaluation at M.E.L Research, shared her feedback:

“Kathryn demonstrated such a strong grasp of the data and the topic. She produced an in-depth and insightful analysis that was exactly what I needed. She was great to work with, and I highly recommend her to any researchers in need of reinforcement!”

Project Highlight: BPS Stage 2 Qualifications Consultation

This was a major project led by Kathy Seymour (Seymour Research), bringing together a large team of consultants to support the British Psychological Society in reviewing its Stage 2 (doctoral-equivalent) qualifications. The consultation was wide-reaching, with over 3,000 survey responses, more than 80 interviews, focus groups and workshops, financial modelling, and an equalities impact assessment.

My role was to take on one of the more time-intensive desk research tasks: a comprehensive marketplace analysis of Level 8 psychology qualifications offered by alternative providers. I pulled together comparative data on costs, accreditation, and programme features, and presented it in a structured format that could be dropped straight into the report.

By stepping in at this point, I freed up Kathy’s time to focus on client liaison and the overall consultation design. The outputs I produced gave the team a reliable evidence base to support their recommendations on the future of BPS qualifications.

The findings have been published by the BPS and will inform decisions on how Stage 2 qualifications evolve to remain accessible, sustainable, and aligned with professional standards. You can read the summary report here.

Here’s what Kathy had to say about working together:

“Kathryn undertook some desk research on a complex educational research project for me during a really busy period. She made everything seamless and easy and took my (admittedly quite vague) brief and ran with it. Kathryn was thoughtful and diligent in how she approached this work… The outputs were spot-on and made it easy for me to drop it into the report with minimal editing. Kathryn is brilliant! I would highly recommend her, she’s not just research support, she’s a research partner.”

Project Highlight: Supporting Health Psychology PhD Students on Transitioning to Consultancy

In March 2024, I had the pleasure of collaborating with the University of Manchester’s Health Psychology PhD program, offering insights into the transition from academia to consultancy. The session focused on helping students navigate the challenges of entering the consultancy field, especially those at the beginning stages of their journey.

Natalie Carr from the University of Manchester shared her experience of working with me:

“Kathryn was very responsive, friendly, and approachable, providing invaluable support to our student community, many of whom are either starting in consultancy or considering it.”

Throughout the session, I shared practical advice on networking (especially via LinkedIn), building a consultancy niche, and the importance of regularly updating clients to manage project expectations. Natalie highlighted: “Kathryn emphasized the importance of updating clients to keep them abreast of project timelines and shared tips for handling challenges, such as project delays.”

I also followed up with attendees post-workshop, offering tailored advice to those with additional questions. As Natalie noted:

“Kathryn’s personality and authenticity made her relatable to many attendees. She even followed up with those whose questions were slightly off-topic, offering additional support post-workshop.”

Project Highlight: Supporting Grassroots Sustainable Transport

I worked with Dr Naomi Tyrrell at Research Your Way on a project exploring how grassroots transport initiatives can engage communities more creatively and collaboratively. The aim was to capture what’s already working well, what’s missing, and how to strengthen co-production in future.

My role focused on desk research and document analysis. I pulled together evidence from across different sources and distilled it into a structured summary around key learnings. This supporting material fed into Naomi’s wider reporting, making it easier to see the current picture, identify gaps, and highlight where practice could be improved.

The result gave Naomi a strong evidence base to guide practical recommendations and future strategy, while also freeing her time to focus on client relationships and delivery.

Here’s what Naomi had to say about working together:

“ Kathryn is dependable and capable. Highly recommended!” – Dr Naomi Tyrrell, Director, Research Your Way Ltd

Project Highlight: Proofreading and Editing a 10-Year Evaluation of Charity Award Schemes

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of supporting Alexa Sage, Director of Inside Impact, with a flagship project marking ten years of the Weston Charity Awards. Commissioned by Pilotlight in partnership with the Garfield Weston Foundation, the evaluation looked back at a decade of impact across nearly 200 charities in the UK.

My role was to proofread the final report before it was published. That meant checking clarity, flow and consistency, tightening up phrasing, and making sure everything read smoothly without losing the professional tone. In short, I was the final pair of eyes before the report went out to funders, partners and the wider charity sector.

This gave Alexa peace of mind that the report reflected her team’s hard work at its very best, and it freed her up to focus on analysis and delivery rather than last-minute checks. For a project of this profile, it was vital that the findings were presented clearly and credibly.

The evaluation itself confirmed the long-term benefits of the Awards: 96% of charity leaders said their organisations were more operationally fit, 98% reported stronger senior leadership, and 83% said the benefits were still felt even a decade later.

Alexa kindly shared this feedback afterwards:

“Kathryn has been an absolute joy to work with – a gem of a find! She made the report clearer and more succinct, with incisive comments that gave me a fresh perspective. Her professionalism, timeliness, and attention to detail were exceptional. I genuinely feel lucky to have found Kathryn and look forward to collaborating with her again.”

You can read the report I proofread (and where I’m acknowledged) here: Looking Back: Evaluating Our Work Over Ten Years.