Consultants
Helen Aston, Consultant
Helen has four years’ experience of working in social and economic research in both client side and consultancy roles. She has worked for a range of clients at Step Ahead, including higher education institutions, London Borough Councils, local Learning and Skills Councils and Business Link. Previously Research Manager for technology and educational research at the non-departmental public body, Becta, Helen has particular expertise in national research and evaluation. She is skilled at designing and applying a wide range of qualitative and quantitative methodologies, and is an excellent project manager.
Kristin Brophy, Consultant
Kristin has seven years’ experience project managing and delivering a diverse range of social and economic research studies for clients including Regional Development Agencies, County and District Councils, local Business Link Providers, Learning and Skills Councils, and other sector-specific agencies. She is experienced in conducting evaluations, baseline studies and impact assessments in a range of areas including tourism and culture, skills and learning, the voluntary and community sector, and ICT. She also has considerable expertise in designing and implementing qualitative and quantitative research studies and is highly skilled in the facilitation of workshops and focus groups. Kristin holds an MSc with Distinction in Tourism Management.
Natalie Friday, Consultant
Natalie has worked on projects for a range of clients including: Business Link Providers, County Councils, Learning and Skills Councils and education providers. Her interests include entrepreneurship and learning and skills. Natalie is particularly skilled in qualitative research, and has a wealth of experience in facilitating focus groups and conducting face-to-face and telephone interviews. She also has strong data analysis and interpretation skills, and since joining Step Ahead has developed her report-writing skills. Natalie has previously worked in the public sector in both a research role and an information role.
Alex May, Consultant
Alex is an experienced consultant with seven years in research and consultancy and project management experience across a broad range of areas including community safety, healthcare, renewable energy and sustainability, training and skills and ICT. Alex is competent in the use of analytical software including SPSS for statistical analysis, Excel for quantitative analysis and economic and impact modelling, and other software packages for handling unstructured qualitative and geographic data. Alex has a solid academic grounding in research methods, evaluation, requirements engineering, databases, information management, and spatial programming in Java. He is currently studying for an MSc in Information Systems.
Heather Norrington, Consultant
Heather is an experienced consultant and, over the past six years, has undertaken projects in areas including Higher and Further Education, entrepreneurship, business support, and economic regeneration. As well as strong project management skills, Heather has extensive technical expertise in fieldwork management, questionnaire design and the mining and analysis of new and existing data. Heather is also trained and experienced in the use of qualitative research methods. She has considerable ability in presenting evidence from a variety of sources to produce concise and informative reporting of research findings and their implications.
