Resume Jane Hiller

Jane Hiller Freelance Research Consultant

Qualifications •

Bachelor of Arts Joint Honours (First Class) in Social Sciences, majoring in qualitative and quantitative research methods and methodology

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Postgraduate Diploma in Social Sciences, majoring in the philosophy and sociology of science and research methodology.

Post Qualification Employers and Positions Date

Position

Employer

1996 to 1998

Business Research and Development Officer

Sedgemoor District Council

1998 to 1999

Policy Officer

Taunton Deane Borough Council

2000 to 2001

Research and Policy Manager

Shelter South Australia

2000 to 2001

Freelance Researcher

Various contracts – see below

2002 to 2003

Needs Analysis Officer

Mendip District Council

2003 to 2007

Policy / Research and Intelligence Officer

Sedgemoor District Council

Secondment 2007

Research and Consultation Manager

Somerset County Council

Jan 2008 onwards

Freelance Research Consultant

Self employed

Freelance Research and Data Commissions and related positions • • • • • • •

Shelter South Australia (two contracts) – 2000 to 2001 University of South Australia (two contracts) – 2001 State Department of Employment, Education and Training with State Department of Human Services (jointly commissioned) – 2001 South Australian Housing Trust – 2001 State Department of Human Services Research Ethics Committee member – 2001 Sedgemoor District Council – 2008 Somerset Strategic Partnership - 2008

Ability and Skills Qualitative Research and Community Consultation Designing and using a wide range of qualitative techniques to gain views and promote community engagement with policy and decision-making, including: • • • • •

Designed and carried out structured and unstructured interviews as part of numerous positions Developed the Older Person’s Housing Advisory Network in South Australia; a participative community-run fora aiming to give a ‘voice’ to older people in housing policy Set up and ran Making Youth County in the Deane; a consultative youth forum Organised a series of successful public fora and exhibitions as part of several community strategic visioning programmes Specialist consultation advisor for Sedgemoor District Council in the production of their Statement of Community Involvement and Consultation Strategy

Questionnaire design Designing and developing survey instruments for a range of research and consultation projects including • • • • • •

Sedgemoor District Council’s Budget Consultation Resident surveys for community regeneration areas Communities First in Rural Somerset business survey Sedgemoor Local Development Framework Structured interview schedules for landlords and tenants as part of ‘Round my Place’ project (case study below) Unstructured interview schedules for employers and young offenders as part of STEP evaluation project (case study below)

Evaluations Developing, devising and carrying out project evaluations for a range of programmes and projects including: • • • •

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STEP evaluation Designed the brief and monitored progress against it for the Economic Impact Assessment of the Burnham and Highbridge Market and Coastal Towns initiative community strategic plan Led the evaluation and Review of the Sedgemoor Community Strategy; updated and tightened targets and measures in line with the current plans and programmes of Local Strategic Partners. Evaluated the ‘match’ between targets and ‘direction of travel’ within the Sedgemoor Community Strategy and the Somerset Local Area Agreement; work was promoted as a ‘model’ for other Districts to utilise Carried out final project evaluation for the Heritage Lottery funded restoration of Brean Down Fort

Secondary data analysis A wide range of work mining, collating analysing and presenting previously collected public and other data/measures for numerous projects and programmes, including: • •

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Research project leader on attitudes to public rental research (case study below) Developing area and community profiles for specified geographic areas or themed disciplines using a range of data from public and other sources, eg economic profile for Bridgwater, demographic profiles for deprived wards in Sedgemoor, analysing health deprivation factors and their prevalence in different geographic areas, population profiles, quality of life indicator analysis Preparing supporting needs data for funding bid submissions and evaluations

Implementing data quality standards and good practise A broad spectrum of experience and skills in incorporating principles of good practise in relation to data and evidence basing of policy and service provision, including: •

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Designed and ran seminars and presentations to newly elected Local Authority members about how to use public data sources to build up an understanding of their area, including developing a booklet with interactive hyperlinks. Designed and delivered training to various partners including housing providers, emergency services, youth service providers about accessing data and using it effectively to monitor, evaluate and target their work Designed and conducted training demonstrations on the Somerset Health and Social Needs Analysis database to local authority officers, members and a range of other partner organisations Led on the Somerset Intelligence Network as part of a secondment to Somerset County Council during 2007 Supported the development of quality improvements in evidence basing and target setting for Somerset Local Area Agreement and District community strategies Developed SMART targets for the revision of the Sedgemoor Community Strategy and eliminating non-measurable or ambiguous targets Co-ordinated and write the County-wide response to the ODPM’s Blueprint consultation about the National Indices of Deprivation in 2007 Developed the Consultation Strategy for Sedgemoor based on good practise principles Co-wrote the Sedgemoor Statement of Community Involvement with principal planning policy officers Designed and implemented standardised Equalities Monitoring questions and response categories to be used on consultation exercises, based on National standards for data release as well as good practise from Stonewall and endorsed by Equalities South West Served as Member of the State Department of Human Services Research Ethics committee advising on best practise with regard to research and consultation with hard-to-reach groups Acting as consultant to the Somerset Strategic Partnership to develop a partnership intelligence resource for the County

Case Studies

Perceived Advantages and Disadvantages of Private Rental

The following case studies provide a more detailed outline of a selection of my experience.

In 2001 I was appointed by the South Australian Housing Trust (public housing body) to conduct secondary analysis of a dataset gathered as part of Shelter’s major piece of primary research examining the private rental market in South Australia. The work was commissioned with the aim of gaining a more detailed understanding about the perceptions of private tenants towards living in public rented housing, with the aim of influencing housing policy and services delivery.

Needs of the Traveller Community In 2002, as part of my employment at Mendip District Council, I conducted informal interviews to assess housing support needs of the traveller and low-impact communities in the District. This involved negotiating visits to sites with key workers, such as district nurses and traveller community workers and translating the findings into negotiations with local authority planning officers to determine the policy implications of the need for sites. The findings were also developed into a user-friendly resource booklet about the issues and needs of the traveller/low impact community, copies of which were disseminated to a range of front-line service providers.

STEP Evaluation In 2001 I was appointed to a project team from the University of South Australia to carry out an evaluation of the Supported Training and Employment Project (STEP). STEP was a pilot scheme jointly run by the state Departments of Human Services (DHS) and Employment, Education and Training (DEET) in South Australia. The evaluation examined the success of a joint training and mentoring approach to improving employment opportunities for young people leaving secure accommodation (i.e. detention centres). I was responsible for the qualitative research element of the evaluation, which involved managing, designing, negotiating and conducting supervised interviews with young ex-offenders, writing up the analysis, collating and corroborating the qualitative findings with the other elements of the research and evaluation, co-ordinating and editing the final research report, and copresenting the findings to state Government department representatives and sponsors.

Young People in Private Rental In 2000 I was appointed as a freelance researcher for Shelter (South Australia). I managed and conducted the ‘Young People in Private Rental’ research project, which resulted in the “Round my Place” reports and learning materials. The research was a qualitative examination of the experiences of young homeless people in private rental accommodation in South Australia. The work involved designing the project research methods and instruments, managing, negotiating, scheduling and conducting structured interviews with young people, landlords and emergency/supported housing providers, analysing the interview results, writing the report, negotiating with illustrator to develop a user friendly report style which included story board case studies. As well as the report, I developed and implemented an extensive marketing promotion and dissemination programme, which included a resource pack for landlords, clients, service providers, policymakers and relevant State Government departments. I also presented the findings at the National Australian Conference of Tenancy Tribunals in 2000.

Jane Hiller Freelance Research Consultant 07789 062281 [email protected] www.intelligence-clearly.co.uk