sophie laws
sophie lawshome
sophie lawsprojects
sophie lawsuniversity fellowships
publications
Time to Listen
Time to Listen     


RESEARCH | CONSULTANCY | EVALUATION

Management of Coram's monitoring and evaluation strategy to ensure outcomes-focused reporting by a diverse programme of services for children, young people and families.

Needs mapping for Children's Centres. Participative research into parents' views. Undertaken by Coram for nine Haringey Children's Centres, 2008; and for Bounds Green Children's Centre 2009.

Safeguarding children in black and minority ethnic communities. Investigation undertaken by Coram with DMSS Consultancy for London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

Preventing child trafficking
Training workshop with practitioners and local researchers on seven-country action research project on the prevention of trafficking in children in Southeast Europe, for Save the Children in Albania.

The impact of ASBOs on children and young people
A literature review looking into what is known about how children and young people in England and Wales are affected by anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs), for Save the Children UK.

Advocacy for children and young people in Family Group Conferences
Study to investigate the impact of independent advocacy for young people in Family Group Conferences. For the Daybreak (Brighton and Hove) Project, funded by the Brighton and Hove Children's Fund Partnership. (With Perpetua Kirby.) See Articles.

Ethicoll - qualitative research
Nineteen focus groups with NHS staff, patients and citizens on ethical issues in the collection of foetal and placental tissue samples. For London Metropolitan University (Professor Naomi Pfeffer), funded by the Wellcome Trust. Article in Social Science and Medicine

Young people's views of mental health services - peer-led research
A peer research project in response to concerns of young people in Bolton. Young people themselves planned the research and carried out the interviews. For Save the Children. Published as 'Time to Listen'

Kinship carers' views
For De Montfort University/Wandsworth Social Services: study of service to kinship carers - interviews with members of the extended family and friends looking after children who might otherwise be 'in care'. Publication details here

RESEARCH | CONSULTANCY | EVALUATION

Assessing the impact of children's participation
Review approaches and assist the International Save the Children Alliance in developing a clear plan of action on the impact assessment of children's participation. (With Perpetua Kirby and Bridget Pettitt.)

UN Study on Violence against Children
Revising guidelines on children's participation in primary research for Save the Children Sweden; training workshops and producing child-friendly documents to enable children's participation in the Study.
Publication available online and in print

RESEARCH | CONSULTANCY | EVALUATION

Learning from the Community-based Refuges (CBR) Pilot Projects
(with DMSS and Julie Harris, Barnardos), for the DFES, on services for young runaways.

Activ8 - participatory evaluation
Participatory evaluation of a major Save the Children programme. The programme enabled 14 young people to carry out innovative projects to benefit children and young people living in some of the most socially excluded communities in London. Phase Two looked at outcomes one year after the end of the programme.

The experience of patients involved in medical research
Focus groups, telephone interviews and questionnaires to collect information from people who have taken part in six different pieces of medical research. For the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Research and Development Directorate. Published as a journal article

Evaluation of work with ex-child soldiers in Liberia (with Krijn Peters)
Support and supervision of researcher undertaking extensive fieldwork in Liberia interviewing ex-users of Save the Children centres. Published as 'When children affected by war go home: Lessons learned from Liberia'

Copenhagen Sure Start - local evaluation
A local evaluation of an Islington Sure Start scheme - interviews and focus groups with parents, analysis and writing. For the National Children's Bureau. Evaluation aimed to learn from active service users and 'hard-to-reach' families with young children on progress so far and what is needed for the future.