Helping your organisation understand what works, improve delivery and maximise your impact.
Effective evaluation should do more than prove what happened. It should help you understand why it happened, what can be improved and where to go next.
M·E·L Research is an independent Evaluation & Learning Partner working with charities, funders, public sector organisations and social enterprises. We combine robust evaluation with continuous learning, practical consultancy and capacity building.
We help you to:
Understand what works, for whom, how and in what circumstances
Improve programmes and services as they develop
Demonstrate outcomes, impact and value
Strengthen decision-making and future delivery
Share learning with funders, policymakers and wider stakeholders
We work alongside you as a trusted critical friend, bringing independent challenge, specialist expertise and constructive support. Whether you are developing a new service, evaluating a complex national programme or strengthening your organisation’s evaluation practice, we turn evidence into learning that can be acted upon.
We work in partnership and believe in the importance of doing research with, not to.
Help for Heroes commissioned M·E·L Research as a learning partner to support the development of a practical learning and evaluation framework for its Community Development approach. This was not a traditional evaluation focused primarily on assessing programme performance or impact. Instead, the central purpose was to work collaboratively with Help for Heroes to understand what meaningful change looked like within communities, how that…
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) commissioned M·E·L Research to evaluate its Brick Explorers wildlife trails. The initiative saw five RHS Gardens host trails featuring ten brick-built sculptures depicting plants, insects, fungi and other wildlife. The trails combined the sculptures with interpretation about wildlife and nature, information about how the models had been constructed, activity booklets and Brick Builders…
M·E·L Research delivered Ripple Effect Mapping (REM) training for Winning Scotland, supporting the rollout of the Planet Youth prevention model across six local authority areas in Scotland. REM focuses on discovering and understanding the impacts or effects of a programme, project or intervention using multiple stakeholders. REM adopts a strengths-based approach and looks at how certain actions or efforts play a role in causing the observed changes. The idea is to identify changes or effects and how an intervention caused them – this approach helps to visually map out the outcomes and impacts of a…
M·E·L Research was commissioned by the Royal British Legion (RBL) to co‑design and deliver a pilot Lived Experience Panel. The pilot aimed to test whether a structured panel of people with lived experience of the Armed Forces community could meaningfully inform RBL’s campaigns, policy and research work. The model was delivered over a short, intensive period to “test and learn” during live organisational strategy projects. The pilot explored feasibility, impact, support needs, and the potential for scaling or embedding the approach. M·E·L Research supported recruitment, developed and delivered all training, and provided…
The Invictus Games is an international multi-sport event for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and servicewomen, both Serving personnel and veterans. The Invictus Games acts as a crucial part of recovery journeys for many from the Armed Forces community and aims to positively focus on what they can achieve post injury or illness, celebrating their fighting spirit, though an inclusive sporting competition that recognises the sacrifice they have made. The Duke of Sussex was inspired to create the Invictus Games after visiting the Warrior Games in…
The evidence presented in our report highlights the significant role that the Housing Enablement Team (HET) plays in supporting timely hospital discharges and preventing delayed transfers of care. Over the last decade, the service has grown substantially, now working with more than 2,000 patients per year, many of whom face complex housing and social challenges that would otherwise prevent a safe and timely discharge.
Analysis of the available data demonstrates that the HET provides a rapid, effective response.
The Children and Young People’s Health Equity Collaborative (CHEC) was a three-year partnership between Barnardo’s, the UCL Institute of Health Equity (IHE), and three Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) – NHS Birmingham and Solihull, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, and NHS South Yorkshire. Its vision was that all children should enjoy good health and positive wellbeing, reduce child health inequalities and improve the outcomes for CYP from underserved communities by acting on the social determinants of health.
City of Doncaster Council commissioned M·E·L Research to evaluate an alternative provision service for children and young people who were struggling to engage in mainstream education. The alternative provision comprised of two settings (Big Picture Doncaster and Vega College) and was based on the Big Picture Learning philosophy that originated in the US. It is a model of learning that focuses on one student at a time, with small class sizes and a curriculum taught in a way that is centred on the passions and interests of children and young people6. Based on evidence of impact in the US, the Council believed it had the potential to re-engage young people in learning, and ultimately improve their long-term life chances and outcomes.
“We have been so impressed with your collaborative, supportive and creative approach…you’ve absolutely exceeded our expectations in terms of how you’ve delivered – you’ve regularly gone over and above to support the project and to adapt and develop as we go, and we want Sophi and the team to know how much we have appreciated their support.”
The value of evaluation lies in what happens next. We plan learning and communication from the outset, considering who needs the evidence, the decisions it should inform and how findings can create wider influence.
Alongside detailed evaluation reports, we can provide:
Clear, actionable recommendations
Learning and reflection workshops
Interactive presentations and facilitated discussions
Briefings for senior leaders, boards and funders
Policy briefings and stakeholder communications
Accessible and Easy Read reports
Visual summaries, infographics and films
Practical frameworks, tools and action plans
Evidence to support funding, commissioning and programme development
We help you move from findings to decisions, strengthening delivery, informing strategy and sharing learning with the people who can act on it.
Our Evaluation & Learning Services
Independent evaluation designed around your programme.
We design and deliver independent, proportionate evaluations that generate credible evidence about implementation, outcomes and impact. From developing a Theory of Change and evaluation framework to gathering evidence, analysing impact and communicating findings, we can support the entire evaluation journey.
There is no single model that works for every evaluation. We select and combine approaches based on your objectives, programme maturity, stakeholders and evidence requirements.
We adopt trauma informed research practices as standard
We have embedded trauma-informed and inclusive approaches to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) into our research methods across all projects, not just those within Evaluation.
We’ve built a team of EDI informed researchers who are experienced designing and a range of engaging approaches to ensure our practice is inclusive, accessible, and trauma informed.
We are flexible and considerate of participant need, ensuring our approach is accessible, including ensuring our research locations are accessible, or that the remote tools, consent forms and participant information we use are easy to use and understand. We have experience working with language and BSL translators, as well as ensuring our research communications and outputs are easy to read, and e-text accessible.
We’re experienced using a range of approaches and frameworks to help organisations to learn, adapt, reflect and evidence their impact.
We adopt various evaluation frameworks, approaches and tools, ensuring our designs are appropriate, and considerate of both the commissioner, delivery staff and community needs. We have experience in a range of approaches, such as:
Traditional evaluation approaches
Formative evaluations: Helping you understand how a programme is being implemented, identify what is working and improve delivery while it is underway.
Process evaluations: Exploring how your programme operates in practice, how it is experienced and which factors support or hinder delivery.
Outcome and impact evaluations: Assessing the changes your programme has contributed to and build evidence of its intended and unintended effects.
Economic evaluations: Using Value for Money and Social Return on Investment to assess resources and the value they create for people.
Theory-based approaches
Realist evaluations: Exploring what works, for whom, in what circumstances, how and why.
Contribution Analysis: Assessing how your programme or intervention contributed to outcomes, particularly where direct attribution is complex.
Complex and adaptive evaluation
Developmental evaluation: Supporting innovation and adaptation in complex or rapidly changing environments.
Empowerment evaluation: Building evaluation knowledge, confidence and ownership within organisations and communities. This approach recognises the effect of the research process itself and supports inclusive, accessible design. Read more about Empowerment Evaluation, here.
Outcome Mapping: Understanding how change happens by focusing on shifts in the behaviour and practices of the people and organisations a programme seeks to influence.
Helpline Evaluations: Exploring helpline services delivered by organistaions to provide insight and maximise the support and benefits delivered to vulnerable individuals. Read more about Helpline Evaluations, here.
Lived experience involvement
The people closest to a programme often hold the most valuable insight into how it works and what needs to change. We create meaningful opportunities for people with lived experience to inform evaluation design, delivery, interpretation and recommendations.
Depending on the programme, this might involve:
Establishing and supporting lived experience panels
Recruiting and training peer researchers
Co-designing evaluation questions and research materials
Working with community and advisory groups
Involving people in interpreting evidence and developing recommendations
Creating accessible ways to share decision-making power
This strengthens the relevance and quality of the evidence, builds trust and helps ensure recommendations reflect people’s real experiences.
Creative and participatory methods
Not every experience can be understood through a survey or conventional interview. Our creative and participatory methods help people explore change, share experiences and contribute to learning in ways that feel engaging and relevant. Read more about our Creative Approaches To Research, here.
They can be particularly valuable when working with children and young people, communities whose voices are often overlooked, or people who communicate and process information in different ways.
We choose methods because they are appropriate to the people involved and the questions being explored, not simply because they are different.
Why Choose M·E·L Research as your Evaluation & Learning partner?
A genuine partnership: We believe evaluation should be conducted with people, not done to them. We collaborate with commissioners, delivery teams, partners and communities to develop an approach that is useful, proportionate and grounded in the realities of programme delivery.
Learning you can use: Evaluation should not end with a report. We create opportunities to reflect and learn throughout the process, giving your team timely evidence that can inform decisions, strengthen delivery and support continuous improvement.
Rigorous and creative approaches: We combine robust qualitative and quantitative research with creative and participatory methods, selecting those most appropriate to the questions and people involved.
A team of experts: Clients are supported by an experienced team with expertise across evaluation, research, engagement, facilitation and participatory practice. You will work directly with people who understand your subject area, can navigate complexity and provide both constructive challenge and practical support.
Whether you need an independent evaluation, an ongoing learning partner or support to strengthen your internal evaluation practice, we can develop an approach around your programme, priorities and resources.
Talk to our team about what you need to understand, the decisions you need to make and how evaluation can help.
Help for Heroes commissioned M·E·L Research as a learning partner to support the development of a practical learning and evaluation framework for its Community Development approach. This was not a traditional evaluation focused primarily on assessing programme performance or impact. Instead, the central purpose was to work collaboratively with Help for Heroes to understand what meaningful change looked like within communities, how that…
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) commissioned M·E·L Research to evaluate its Brick Explorers wildlife trails. The initiative saw five RHS Gardens host trails featuring ten brick-built sculptures depicting plants, insects, fungi and other wildlife. The trails combined the sculptures with interpretation about wildlife and nature, information about how the models had been constructed, activity booklets and Brick Builders…
M·E·L Research delivered Ripple Effect Mapping (REM) training for Winning Scotland, supporting the rollout of the Planet Youth prevention model across six local authority areas in Scotland. REM focuses on discovering and understanding the impacts or effects of a programme, project or intervention using multiple stakeholders. REM adopts a strengths-based approach and looks at how certain actions or efforts play a role in causing the observed changes. The idea is to identify changes or effects and how an intervention caused them – this approach helps to visually map out the outcomes and impacts of a…
M·E·L Research was commissioned by the Royal British Legion (RBL) to co‑design and deliver a pilot Lived Experience Panel. The pilot aimed to test whether a structured panel of people with lived experience of the Armed Forces community could meaningfully inform RBL’s campaigns, policy and research work. The model was delivered over a short, intensive period to “test and learn” during live organisational strategy projects. The pilot explored feasibility, impact, support needs, and the potential for scaling or embedding the approach. M·E·L Research supported recruitment, developed and delivered all training, and provided…
The Invictus Games is an international multi-sport event for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and servicewomen, both Serving personnel and veterans. The Invictus Games acts as a crucial part of recovery journeys for many from the Armed Forces community and aims to positively focus on what they can achieve post injury or illness, celebrating their fighting spirit, though an inclusive sporting competition that recognises the sacrifice they have made. The Duke of Sussex was inspired to create the Invictus Games after visiting the Warrior Games in…
The evidence presented in our report highlights the significant role that the Housing Enablement Team (HET) plays in supporting timely hospital discharges and preventing delayed transfers of care. Over the last decade, the service has grown substantially, now working with more than 2,000 patients per year, many of whom face complex housing and social challenges that would otherwise prevent a safe and timely discharge.
Analysis of the available data demonstrates that the HET provides a rapid, effective response.
The Children and Young People’s Health Equity Collaborative (CHEC) was a three-year partnership between Barnardo’s, the UCL Institute of Health Equity (IHE), and three Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) – NHS Birmingham and Solihull, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, and NHS South Yorkshire. Its vision was that all children should enjoy good health and positive wellbeing, reduce child health inequalities and improve the outcomes for CYP from underserved communities by acting on the social determinants of health.
City of Doncaster Council commissioned M·E·L Research to evaluate an alternative provision service for children and young people who were struggling to engage in mainstream education. The alternative provision comprised of two settings (Big Picture Doncaster and Vega College) and was based on the Big Picture Learning philosophy that originated in the US. It is a model of learning that focuses on one student at a time, with small class sizes and a curriculum taught in a way that is centred on the passions and interests of children and young people6. Based on evidence of impact in the US, the Council believed it had the potential to re-engage young people in learning, and ultimately improve their long-term life chances and outcomes.
