About us
Small team. Deep expertise. Real-world results.
Research Well brings expertise in research, practice and consultancy, and decades of experience, to organisations of all kinds.
Our offer
Specialist knowledge, a flexible team.
Our team brings expertise in research methods, evaluation and psychology, with deep experience across health, education and beyond. Supported by a network of associates and collaborative partners, we adapt to meet projects of every kind and size.
Our team
Meet the team.
Dr Alistair Turvill
Founder & Senior Consultant
CPsychol, SFHEA
As founder of Research Well, Alistair helps organisations turn evidence into practical change through research, consultancy and training. He spent 13 years as a senior academic in UK higher education, and is a Chartered Psychologist and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
His particular strengths are research methods and evaluation, with a focus on chronic conditions, workplace wellbeing, health promotion, quality of life and the early years.
Dr Kay Owen
Senior Consultant
CPsychol, AFBPsS
Kay has taught at every stage of education, from pre-school to doctoral level, and is an acclaimed speaker and trainer. She brings that range to Research Well, bridging research and practice so that what we learn can be put to use.
Her research explores how people learn, from memory and thinking to emotions, and how the environments around us shape understanding. She also works where creativity, environment and learning meet, developing approaches that support creativity and a connection with our surroundings.
Prof. David Sheffield
Senior Consultant
CPsychol, AFBPsS
David brings decades of international experience in health psychology, helping organisations understand what shapes people’s behaviour, health and wellbeing, in everyday life and under pressure. He is Professor of Psychology at the University of Derby.
His work covers stress and coping, physical health and the effect our surroundings have on wellbeing, with particular expertise in anxiety and performance (including maths anxiety) and in supporting people to manage long-term conditions through behavioural approaches.
Our approach
How we work.
Whether it is research, practice or consultancy, we start with your question and work with you from the first conversation to something you can use. The approach flexes to the size of the job.
Choose a stage to find out more about it, and close it again when you are done.
1 · Listen: getting the question right
In our experience, a clear question is the most useful thing any project can start with.
Questions we often ask
- What decision will this work inform, and who will make it?
- What would change if you knew the answer?
- Who is affected, and whose views need to be heard?
- What has already been tried, measured or written about it?
- What would a good result look like in six or twelve months?
Worth knowing
You do not need a polished brief. A few lines, a rough idea or a problem you cannot quite name is enough to start.
Sometimes the most useful outcome of this stage is realising that a smaller, or different, piece of work will do the job.
2 · Plan: making it proportionate
A good plan balances what you want to know or achieve against the time, budget and people available.
What we weigh up with you
- Depth or speed: a quick answer now, or a thorough one later
- Which methods or formats fit the question, rather than the most familiar ones
- Who needs to be involved, and how to make taking part easy and safe for them
- What could go wrong, and how it would be handled
- What is out of scope, so expectations are clear from the start
Worth knowing
Agreeing at the start how success will be judged makes the end of a project far easier. Everyone knows what they are looking for, and it is much simpler to show what changed.
3 · Do: keeping you in control
You stay in control of the work without having to manage it.
How this works in practice
- Agreed checkpoints, for example a look at draft questions, materials or early findings
- Changes talked through before they happen: if circumstances shift, we set out the options and what they mean for time and cost
- Care with people and information: consent, confidentiality and secure handling of data
- Where useful, building your own team’s skills along the way, so more stays with you afterwards
Worth knowing
Early drafts and early findings are often where the most valuable conversations happen. Seeing work in progress lets you steer while change is still easy.
4 · Share and learn: from findings to action
The value of the work depends on what happens next, so we plan for that, not only for the final document.
What this can include
- Layered outputs: a one-page summary, a fuller report for those who need to check the detail, and practical formats for those who need to act
- Clear statements of confidence: what is solid, what is tentative and what is still unknown
- Recommendations tied to the decisions you face, not a generic list
- A short review together: what worked, what did not and what to do next
Worth knowing
Research on how evidence gets used finds that collaboration and good relationships with the people who will use it are among the things that help most (Oliver et al., 2014). That is why we involve them along the way, not only at the end.
Our commitments
What you can expect from us.
Get in touch
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