Sarah McDonnell, Project Manager/Senior Researcher, OPM

Sarah joined OPM in May 2008, she specialises in qualitative research across the public services, working primarily with local and central government. She believes strongly that solutions can be identified through shared investigations with stakeholders and undertakes the highest quality analysis of evidence using this to inform policy and practice. She worked in-house with the LSP team at the London Borough of Lewisham to design, manage and undertake their Total Place pilot. She led the research into worklessness and complex personal cases that formed one of Lewisham’s Total Place pilot projects. She also jointly project managed a piece of deep ethnographic research, with residents of Lewisham who had complex personal circumstances and had been unemployed for protracted periods of time. Sarah works more widely around efficiencies having been involved with a number of local authorities and public agencies looking at future budgeting and bringing to life the impact of leaders choices with deep qualitative evidence. She also specializes in the tackling of disadvantage more widely and in the benefits of diversity, championing OPM’s research into Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans communities. She has recently been commissioned by Skills Development Scotland to look at the impact of sexual orientation on career management skills and career progression.