Usher Institute

Usher Institute Guest Speaker Webinar

Title: Leave and start-up - are you crazy?

Abstract: In this talk Sarah Morton, former Usher colleague and knowledge exchange/research impact practitioner and academic will discuss how she left the university to establish a company to support people in public services to use data and evidence effectively in their work. The company includes a tech and a consultancy arm and is working with organisations across health and social care, here in Scotland and several countries around the world. In this talk Sarah will share why she decided that a company was the best way of doing this, and the journey so far. She will focus on why public sector organisations need better systems and software solutions, the role of evidence in decision-making, as well as what its like to jump from the relative security of the university into the private sector.

Speaker: Dr Sarah Morton, Director, Matter of Focus, Edinburgh, UK

Biography: Sarah is Director of Matter of Focus and Honorary Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. Sarah has been working on evidence to action for 19 years. She is internationally recognised for developing innovative approaches to ensure decision-makers have access to the best evidence for taking organisations, policies, and practices forward. Sarah pioneered a participatory approach using contribution analysis to understand impact, and this is the basis of her company Matter of Focus. She cut her KE teeth at the pioneering Centre for Research on Families and Relationships,  broadened understanding of the interaction between research, policy and practice through research and practice work with UNICEF, What Work Scotland and others, and worked alongside organisations to use evidence for improving services for the families and communities they serve (with Healthcare Improvement Scotland, Starcatchers, The Scottish Book Trust, Shelter Scotland and others).

Sarah developed a research impact assessment framework based on contribution analysis and has used it to carry out 7 independent impact assessments, including 14 case studies, of research centres and initiatives across 8 countries around the world. Sarah’s background is in social sciences and participation with a degree in Sociology, Masters in Community Education and Social Policy by Research, and a PhD in Social Policy. Prior to KE work she held networking, policy development and research roles in the voluntary sector and spent ten years tutoring adult learners in community settings and with the Open University. She worked in Knowledge exchange at the University of Edinburgh from 2001-2017.

Chair: Dr Kathrin Cresswell, Director of Innovation, Usher Institute, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK  

Jan 28 2021 -

Usher Institute Guest Speaker Webinar

Sarah Morton : Director, Matter of Focus

Zoom Webinar