Portofolio
A few case studies from recent commercial research
& a record of my extra-academic research projects and writing
Case Studies
The State of UX Research and Thoughtleadership
My client wanted to understand the challenges facing UX researchers, and to produce a series of white papers based on this research. We used a qual-quant approach, surveying industry professionals and interviewing senior UX Research leaders at Canva, Meta, Xero, and Rex amongst others, building relationships to get respondent buy in and permission to specifically attribute their verbatim in the final reports and white papers.
Our report was the foundation of the white paper and promotional content that informed our client's strategic rebrand and client outreach for 2025.
Young Adults' Mental Health & Brand Differentiation
In an effort to differentiate in the private health insurance space, my client sought to understand what elements of young adults' mental health journeys were not being met, and where there were opportunities for innovation to address these gaps and build greater equity in the market. We designed a 3-day online closed community, designed as a safe space for participants, with high-touch moderation to reassure respondents. We presented the results at a client workshop, including video and consumer profiles, as well as a needs model for mental health solutions.
EV Transition and Go-to-market Strategy
A traditional ICE manufacturer needed to understand the customer journey to EV choice and uptake. This included understanding the ideal dealership experience and drivers and barriers to EV consideration. We conducted a CX survey, shop-alongs with EV intenders, as well as a 4-day community board with EV owners. Working collaboratively with the CX team, we ran a curation client workshop prior to the fieldwork, and as part of our research outputs delivered a complex customer journey map that informed out clients' go-to-market strategy for a new EV product.
Brands I've researched for:
Extra-Academic Research & Media
Sound of Contagion - events, website, narrative, short film
Since Feb 2020 I've led the Sound of Contagion project, collaborating with researchers at the Royal Northern College of Music and the Universität der Künste, Berlin on this AI & Creativity interdisciplinary project. I also edited the narrative from algorithmic outputs and built the website. I exec. produced the short film below in February 2022.
The Alternative Bookclub Podcast - Interview
Founder of the book-themed comedy night 'The Alternative Book Club' Shirley Halse invited me to speak on her podcast.
You can listen to our discussion of speculative fiction, casting forward, and Old English poem 'The Dream of the Rood', casting backwards.
Sea-level rise: writers imagined drowned worlds for centuries - what they tell us about the future
This article on representations of sea-level rise in fiction, focussing on JG Ballard and Kim Stanley Robinson, was published byThe Conversation on 28 January 2021. This piece is part of their Oceans Series. It has since been translated into Italian and Arabic.
Writers Make Worlds,
interviews and essays
As part of my ongoing contributions to the Writers Make Worlds project and resource, I interviewed British poet Kayo Chingonyi about his award-winning second collection.
Narrative Futures podcast
Devised, recorded and edited the Narrative Futures podcast. It launched on 15 October 2020, and features interviews with Lauren Beukes, Mohale Mashigo, Sami Shah, Mahvesh Murad, Jared Shurin, EJ Swift, Ken Liu and Tade Thompson, as well as writing prompts devised by Louis Greenberg.
This article on pandemic literature was published on the academic journalism platform The Conversation, 16 March 2020. It was later translated into Japanese and included in Tokyo's Newsweek Magazine. I was also interviewed on the topic on TRT World, an English-language Turkish television programme. Link here.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Pandemics from Homer to Stephen King: What We Can Learn From Literary History
Futures Thinking:
Speculation & Percolation
I co-conceptualised the Speculation & Percolation audio-visual reading list project in the Futures Thinking network. I also feature in Episode 5 of the series: Contradiction and Zombies, published on 26 February 2020.
The Humility Gap Podcast
Bethan Willis interviewed me in late 2019 for Episode 4 of the The Humility Gap podcast on the topic of conflict management.
Uncomfortable Oxford
Literary Tour
During my time as Research & Development Manager at Uncomfortable Oxford I researched wrote the walking tour 'Uncomfortable Oxford Literary Tour' which debuted during the October 2019 IF Festival. Read about the motivations of this work on the Uncomfortable Oxford blog. I was interviewed about the project on BBC Oxford and the tour was featured in Ox Magazine.
Oxford Science and Ideas Festival
I represented Futures Thinking at the 2019 Oxford Science and Ideas Festival, running an interactive research project titled 'The Noise That Keeps Me Awake At Night.' Below is a page from the IF Festival's programme that featured a profile on my work.
The Responsibilities of the Author and the Archive: On the Award of the Bodley Medal to Sir Kazuo Ishiguro
Attended as a guest the Bodley Medal ceremony and dinner at the Oxford Literary Festival for Sir Kazuo Ishiguro.
Read here for more.
Back in the mists of time, I was a journalist, covering music and social justice movements