Emma Roberts

Emma is a qualitative researcher, evaluator and facilitator who helps charities, funders and public sector organisations make sense of complex work. (All without making everyone sit through a soul-destroying “sticky-note exercise for the sake of it” workshop). She’s especially good at creating thoughtful, well-held spaces where people can think properly together. Emma helps groups move from vague ideas, tangled assumptions or “we all sort of know what we mean” territory into something clearer, more useful and more actionable. Emma has particular strengths in Theory of Change and Pathway of Change processes, learning workshops, co-analysis sessions, reflective practice and bringing qualitative insight to life. She is skilled at designing sessions that feel human and purposeful, while still getting to a tangible output. Participants often feel listened to, stretched and reassured that the complexity of their work has not been flattened into neat-but-useless boxes. Her wider work spans evaluation, qualitative research, strategy and learning. She has worked across the charity and public sectors on projects relating to children and young people, women’s health, employment, social justice, community support, public engagement and systems change. Emma brings rigour, curiosity and a healthy intolerance for jargon. She is at her best when helping groups have the conversations they need to have especially the ones they have been circling around for a while.