The core strength required as an embedded researcher
This image… this is me. In yoga, we call this staying in the pose. Something you learn with lots of yoga practice and that it really is applicable to all aspects of life.
This is me:
Strong core.
Bridging a gap between research, practice, learning, development and innovation (and children, and swimming lessons, and getting my roots done, and walking the dog.... )
Its tiring.
I'm shaky sometimes.
I'm trying to hold my nerve. The hard stuff is the right stuff.
I am a great translator of learning and research.
I'm failing a lot.
I make complex things simple.
I feel like I let others down often.
I often feel like I'm positively impacting lives.
I'm getting stronger... because I share my learning, so heres the story of the TaAF evaluation approach- I call it Curiosity.
I started my role with Together an Active Future (TaAF) officially 4 years ago. I was determined that evaluation wasn't something we do at the end of a programme. It could be how we work every day. Our developmental research approach became deliberately cyclical:
↔ reflection ↔ learning ↔ evaluation ↔ research
(↔ back again ↔round about ↔ in and out ↔ It can feel messy, but this is complexity )
Each cycle allows us to adapt in real time, ensuring our work in Pennine Lancashire stays rooted in practice, responsive to context, and credible in policy conversations.
From Reflection to Research, and Back Again
We began with small, practical reflection tools: Learning Pods, pairing colleagues who didn’t usually work together, to sense-check, reassure, and surface enablers of change. While formal take-up varied, the habit of “thought partners” and informal catch-ups has stuck. These reflective spaces give people confidence, allow ideas to be tested safely, and often spark unexpected collaborations.
We tested monthly short surveys, but engagement waned. Instead, we pivoted to biannual Stories of Change tied to our Model for Change. Each story is shared, refined, and sense-checked at a Curiosity Café – a participatory workshop where teams present insights, receive feedback, and strengthen their outputs. This cycle is now embedded across all teams, though still more within the TaAF collective than in the wider partner and community networks.
Wins
Embedded evaluative thinking across TaAF teams, with habits of reflection, curiosity, and sense-making now the norm. A consistent learning cycle – reflection, storying, sharing, adapting – running across six-month cycles.
The adoption of NELP’s conceptual model and conditions as our shared language, aligning local practice with national policy expectations.
We know of lots other place partnerships up and taking some of our approaches on board and making them their own ( this is something Id like to capture more systematically in the future). In many cases they’re doing embedded evaluation more effectively than us as, these approaches are included from the start.
..and Challenges
Much of this culture is still concentrated within the TaAF collective; it has not yet fully reached partner organisations or communities at scale. Embedding evaluation takes time, capacity, and capability – uneven across individuals and places, and thats ok- we work to strengths.
Our cycles evolved alongside delivery, rather than being planned from the outset. We're collecting evidence on everything and we have too much data, and limited capacity to write up. We now recommend designing learning cycles at the start of any new place-based programme or funding stream.
Bridging the practice–research–policy gap remains difficult: while our methods are rigorous and place-relevant, translating them into the language and timelines of policymakers is still a work in progress.
Changing the Language of Learning, being a translator
One of our most significant behaviours is deliberately shifting the language we use. Instead of “evaluation frameworks,” we talk about “Curiosity Cycles.” Instead of “outputs,” we focus on “Stories of Change.” This reframing matters: it helps practitioners engage, empowers leaders to own evaluation, and makes evidence feel like part of daily practice rather than an external imposition. Since 2023, TaAF has deliberately aligned its cycles to the National Evaluation and Learning Partnership (NELP) framework, its brilliant and useful. Personally, I've benefited from the coaching, support and rigour provided by the team. But NELP'ish is a hard language to learn and translate. We continue to test and refine how this lands in place and the sense making roles needed here 'on the bridge'
Looking Ahead
TaAFs next phase is structured differently. All new theme leads and roles in the refreshed structure will have learning and evaluation explicitly written into their JDs, with around 9–11% of time for this work. This makes reflection and evidence not an add-on, but a core responsibility across the programme.
TaAF’s developmental research approach remains an ecosystem: it has grown from reflective pods and breakfast clubs into a connected, multi-method cycle aligned with national conditions for change. It’s been a messy 4 years! With big personal growth and learning in me! Still strong- on the bridge.
