In October 2020, Anna Sophie Hahne, Georgie Parry-Crooke and Thomas Spielhofer, presented finding from the TIHR Covid-19 research study, during one of our regular lunchtime talks.
The session was framed around the following questions: what have we learned so far about how we can adapt our working practices? How can we use this learning to prepare for a continuation of this pandemic? What needs to change?
At the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (TIHR), we are always eager to understand what is going on around us and how to make sense of it. TIHR researchers carried out an online survey as well as follow-up interviews to find out about the impact of Covid-19, especially for front-line workers. We launched the study in April 2020 as we were interested to hear from colleagues working with clients and service users about how their practices have changed, what practical challenges they experienced and what has worked well or less well during these last six months.
In the first part of this talk, the research team summarised what they have learned about working life during the first wave of the pandemic.
The second part of the talk provided a space for group work in order to share and discuss how we can use the learning from the previous months for the upcoming challenges.
Recording of the talk
Anna Sophie Hahne is a Quantitative Researcher at the Tavistock Institute with a background in Education Science and Psychology. She works on a range of different research and evaluation projects across many sectors including mental health, employment, environment, and social care. Currently, she is leading on the impact evaluation of a European programme developing a model to identify and support young people who are NEET and is also involved in evaluations of programmes aimed at supporting children in care. Anna is interested to understand the impact of Covid-19 on such programmes and the sector more widely.
Georgie Parry-Crooke joined the Tavistock Institute in 2016 as a Principal Researcher/Consultant. She has been involved in many and varied projects, with a particular interest in and leading on evaluations from services for women with mental health difficulties including high secure hospitals to programmes which address social isolation in older people. She is committed to building evaluation capacity, working with the British Council, government departments and voluntary sector organisations. Georgie is Professor Emerita in Social Research and Evaluation at London Metropolitan University and in addition to evaluation practice, teaching and training, in 2012, she co-founded Project Oracle, Evidence Hub for Children and Young People, becoming closely involved in youth sector policy and practice.
Dr Thomas Spielhofer is a Principal Researcher at the Tavistock Institute. He has many years’ experience of leading projects related to children and families. This includes recently conducting an evaluation of a programme aimed at supporting children in care via an intensive coaching-based intervention and leading the national evaluation of the children of alcohol dependent parents’ innovation programme. He has a particular interest in the way such programmes have been impacted by COVID-19 and how it has impacted on professionals working in these areas.
