Lived Experience in research and evaluation

Author: Sophia Fedorowicz, Research and Evaluations, Expert Citizens

Hi, my name is Sophia. I am the newly appointed Research and Evaluator with Expert Citizens and I’ve been in post now for about a month so thought I’d introduce myself. My background is a combination of lived experience and academic training. I could write for days about either of these topics, but I’ve been tasked with keeping this to about 500 words so here we go.

I started my academic life at 24 when I signed up to do a foundation course at Staffordshire University as part of my recovery journey. Throughout my life I have experienced challenges with my mental health which came to something of a head in my early twenties as I reached a point where alcohol and drugs were ruining my relationships, losing me jobs, and leading me to engaging in some dangerous behaviours. At 24 I found myself at a crossroads. I made some changes and in the process of working on myself I found what I was supposed to do. I found some purpose.

I currently hold a Psychology BSc (First), Applied Research MSc (Distinction) and I’m also working towards a PhD involving lived experience, focussing on suicide prevention in primary care. I have experience working as a qualitative health researcher for the Centre for Health and Development at Staffordshire University, and I spent six months doing some freelance work as a social researcher before applying to work with Expert Citizens.

As well as providing me with the skills and knowledge I need to be able to my job at Expert Citizens to a high standard, higher education has been the main tool I’ve used to drag myself through some of the hardest days and get to a version of myself and my mental health that I can describe as ‘doing alright’. For this reason, I’m a huge fan of learning as a recovery tool. It doesn’t have to be for a qualification, it doesn’t have to be structured or accredited, it just has to be engaging. Keeping my mind busy, exploring, enquiring, and building knowledge is what gets me out of bed in the morning.

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At Expert Citizens we prioritise involving and providing opportunities for our volunteers, so a huge part of my role is creating the conditions for them to work alongside me in delivering research projects and evaluations. It’s my dream job. I’m something of a purest in that I believe that lived experience can be involved in every step of a research project or an evaluation so that’s what I strive for. We’re currently working on a renewal of our INSIGHT Evaluation training, developed with lived experience, to equip our volunteers with research and evaluation skills to support them in the work they do with us at Expert Citizens as evaluators, and with our partners such as Staffordshire University and Ada Lovelace Institute.

I’ve gone a little over my word count, but I want to finish off by saying that if you’re someone whose experienced challenges, been excluded or overlooked, or someone who thinks you have nothing to offer because nobody listens, Expert Citizens is the home we’ve all been searching for. We’re building ways to put you at the centre of service development in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, and to get your experiences and perspectives embedded in national projects. If that sounds like something you want to be involved in, please do get in touch!

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