Meet the people behind the platform.

Dedicated to driving large-scale change in health and care

Get to know the team behind Thiscovery, a platform enabling large numbers of people to have meaningful involvement in improving services.

Ruth leads the Thiscovery team.

Speak to Ruth if:

You want to run a new strategic project on Thiscovery
You’re interested in collaborating with Thiscovery
You’d like to commission THIS Institute and the Thiscovery team to support you

After starting out in the civil service, Ruth has held a range of senior roles in local and national charities with a focus on business development. More recently Ruth has concentrated on social innovation and improvement in the health space, working for Nesta’s HealthLab and for NHS England and NHS Improvement.

Ruth holds a BA in Social and Political Science from the University of Cambridge, an MA in Contemporary British History from Queen Mary, University of London and an MBA from Cranfield University.

“The evidence-building that Thiscovery enables is fundamental to our approach to healthcare improvement. Developing the Thiscovery platform enables this approach to potentially be used much more widely by research projects outside THIS Institute.”

Andy is responsible for the long term technical vision and architecture of the Thiscovery platform. He and the team are using the latest cloud-based technologies to create a platform that is reliable, secure and adaptable to the changing needs of researchers.

Andy can help if:

You want to talk about new functionality for Thiscovery
You have new ideas about how technology can connect researchers with participants
You want to understand how Thiscovery works

Previously Andy worked at Cancer Research UK as the technical lead for their award-winning citizen science programme. He was also responsible for system architecture for Cancer Research UK’s supporter-facing web systems. Andy’s background is in software design, development and consultancy. He has an MPhil in Machine Intelligence from the University of Edinburgh.

“The evidence-building that Thiscovery enables is fundamental to our approach to healthcare improvement. Developing the Thiscovery platform enables this approach to potentially be used much more widely by research projects outside THIS Institute.”

Hannah supports the coordination and development of projects hosted on Thiscovery. She works with researchers, software developers and others to deliver high-quality, engaging projects.

Hannah can help with:

Setting up a new project on Thiscovery
Supporting you to design your project
Telling you more about what’s possible

Hannah has previously worked in a variety of marketing roles, including within a news based agency implementing digital projects. Hannah enjoys work that seeks to improve people’s lives and is therefore committed to Thiscovery’s goal of facilitating positive improvements in healthcare. She holds a first-class BA (Hons) in Marketing and MA (Merit) in Social Work.

“Thiscovery operates with a collaborative ethos. By working with those who have lived experience and other expertise, we aim to help strengthen the evidence base for improving quality and safety in healthcare”.

Luke is responsible for ensuring information and knowledge is created, captured, organised, shared and used effectively by our team. He works with everyone at THIS Labs as well as our collaborators, developing and managing systems and processes for effective information and knowledge management.

Luke has been part of the Thiscovery team since its very beginnings at THIS Institute. Prior to this, he held digital marketing positions in the technology and educational publishing sectors. Luke is a digital communications and information specialist and holds a first class BSc (Hons) in Publishing with E-business from Loughborough University’s Department of Information Science.

“It’s crucial that research projects effectively engage the right people in answering the right questions. Thiscovery supports research teams to make this happen. Effective engagement builds confidence in results. It makes change more implementable. It ensures outcomes impact all of us fairly.”

Sam is responsible for managing communications with participants on Thiscovery. He works with researchers, website developers and others to manage the content on our website, make tasks more intuitive and deliver communications to participants.

Sam can help you if:

You need help taking part in a project
You have a question but you’re not sure who to ask
You spot a bug on our website

Sam has previously worked in communications, PR and marketing roles across the retail, agriculture, finance and education sectors. Prior to joining Thiscovery, he held a communications position within the Admissions Office at the University of Cambridge.

Sam is interested in delivering engaging messaging to growing communities with a shared passion. He holds a first class BA (Hons) in History from the University of Lancaster.

“Thiscovery is developed by like-minded people with a common drive for positive change. We extend this shared principle to the platform itself and are focused on improving how Thiscovery engages with people on things that matter.”

Jordan is responsible for the programme of projects hosted on Thiscovery. She works with teams to design research and consultation projects that aim to answer important questions and build evidence to inform decisions.

Jordan can help you if:

You are setting up a new project on Thiscovery
You need support deciding how best to design your project
You want to learn more about what’s possible

Jordan initially joined THIS Institute as a researcher working on some of Thiscovery’s first major projects. Previously, she worked as an academic doctor in a range of specialties including acute medicine, general surgery, intensive care and general practice. She has extensive research and project management experience, having led qualitative and mixed methods research studies in primary care and maternity care, consultancy projects and quality improvement and wellbeing initiatives in a variety of clinical settings.

Jordan’s academic qualifications include First Class and Honours degrees in International Health (BMedSc) and Medicine and Surgery (MBChB (Hons)) from the University of Birmingham, and a Distinction in Management (MPhil) from the University of Cambridge, Judge Business School. She is studying for a PhD in Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge focusing on online research methods.

“Our goal here at Thiscovery is to empower people and organisations to come together to tackle important issues related to improving health and society”

Nicky is responsible for operations and supporting the long-term success and sustainability of Thiscovery.

Nicky can help you if:

You’re an organisation looking to partner with Thiscovery
You’re interested in working for Thiscovery as part of our fantastic team
You have other operational related questions

Nicky works with the team on projects focused on expanding Thiscovery as an organisation that is poised to deliver long-term improvements to society.

Nicky started her working life in the pharmaceutical industry, working for large pharma and small biotech in the data management of clinical trials. She left to join the fast-moving consumer goods sector, and held a range of senior roles with R&D and Supply Chain, delivering complex programmes, most recently in the digitisation of global R&D product development and regulatory compliance tools.
Nicky holds a BSc in Biochemisty and Nutrition from the University of Nottingham, and an MBA from The Open University.

“We are a collaborative and engaged team, with our focused aim to enable everyone to help improve healthcare. The Thiscovery team are here to listen to your research ideas.”

Show the whole team

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Interested in joining the team?

We are proud to have a culture that is productive, welcoming, supportive, collaborative, creative, ambitious, understanding, and committed.