We’re delighted to share that our Senior Evaluation Manager, Emily Preston-Jones, will be joining clients from The Wildlife Trusts, and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust to explore an important question facing the sector: how can meaningful community action for nature be effectively captured and measured in practice?
The session will focus on the development of a bespoke framework designed to support consistent, practical measurement across a wide range of community contexts. Emily will share insights into how M·E·L Research supported the co-design and development of the framework, helping to ensure that it reflected the realities, experiences and priorities of the communities involved.
Alongside practical examples from the project, Emily will also discuss some of the key principles that shaped the co-design process itself. This includes facilitation approaches and collaborative methods that may be useful for others working in evaluation, learning and community-based environmental initiatives.
The session promises to spark valuable conversations around evidence, learning and evaluation, particularly around whose knowledge and experiences are centred within these processes, and how organisations can create more inclusive and meaningful approaches to impact measurement.
If you’re attending the ChEW Festival of Impact and Evaluation on 15th June, we’d love to connect and continue the conversation. Be sure to come and say hello!
How do we demonstrate the true value of culture and heritage? And are we measuring everything that matters?
These were two of the questions that stood out during the third day of the Culture and Heritage Capital: Putting Theory into Practice conference.
Cultural organisations have long recognised that their impact extends beyond visitor numbers, ticket sales and tourism revenue. Museums, heritage sites and cultural programmes can support mental health and wellbeing, strengthen community connections, create opportunities for learning and preserve our shared…
M·E·L Research is pleased to be working with the British Film Institute (BFI) on a three-year evaluation of the BFI Film Academy programme. Since 2012, BFI Film Academy has supported young people to develop skills, confidence, knowledge and networks and explore routes into careers across the screen industries. The refreshed 2026–2029 programme builds on this experience, creating connected pathways from early engagement through to specialist training, mentoring, placements and industry-facing progression, with a strong emphasis on…
M·E·L Research is pleased to welcome four new colleagues to our growing team, strengthening our research and evaluation expertise as we continue to expand our services and support clients.
The appointments of Laura Karban, Associate Director; Bethan Jewsbury, Senior Evaluation Managers; and Chloe Parker, Research Manager, alongside Rhoslyn Davies, who joins us on a short-term basis to provide additional senior evaluation support, bring a wealth of experience across social research, evaluation, public policy…
It was an absolute honour to attend the Women’s Health Conference in London this week, bringing together clinicians, policymakers, campaigners and others passionate about improving women’s health.
As a researcher specialising in women’s health social research, I was excited to have the opportunity to learn, be challenged and exchange ideas with people who share that passion. And I wasn’t disappointed.
There has (quite rightly) been a lot of discussion recently about the gender health gap. But some of the evidence shared…
We are pleased to be working with the MS Society on new health and care social research exploring how health and care services can better support people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and help reduce avoidable hospital admissions.
The health and care social research study will focus on opportunities for earlier intervention and more coordinated, preventative support, while recognising that hospital admission is sometimes clinically necessary. It will…
Last week, I had the opportunity to speak at Collections Inside & Out, a symposium hosted at National Trust Chirk Castle & Garden, bringing together people working across gardens, horticulture, heritage, collections and interpretation.
I was, perhaps, a slight interloper among so many people with deep horticultural expertise but every presentation was incredibly interesting and I learned a lot – and broadly managed to follow the general flow of what was being said (still not 100% au fait with taxa…
We’re pleased to share that our Commercial Director, Elliot Simmonds, will be speaking at the Collections Inside & Out symposium at National Trust Chirk Castle & Garden on 24 September 2026. Bringing together professionals working across heritage collections, gardens and landscapes, the symposium will explore the relationship between indoor and outdoor heritage and the opportunities created by thinking about them as part of a connected visitor experience.
Elliot’s session, “Integrating Indoor…
M·E·L Research has been named the winner of the Award for Outstanding Contribution to Social Value & Ethical Research 2026 at the UK Enterprise Awards.
The award recognises the values that shape both the work we choose to undertake and the way we deliver it. From building trauma-informed practices into our research to improving inclusion and reinvesting in the communities around us, social responsibility is part of how we operate every day.
