Taru Silvonen

Taru Silvonen

Researcher

Bristol, England, United Kingdom
227 followers 227 connections

Join to view profile

About

Early Career Researcher specialising in qualitative research, currently broadening quantitative skillset and developing mixed and multi-method abilities. Passionate about communities, collective action, participation, social justice, community-led responses and informal social support.
Educated across Finland and the UK, with an appetite for international endeavours. Doctoral research project investigated the role of informal social networks in urban development alongside various spectrums of participation in a former informal settlement in Mexico City.
Committed to inter-disciplinary research, currently working in health research. Further research interests include social cohesion, placemaking and sense of place in urban settings as well as the role of participation in improving uptake of retrofit initiatives in the UK.

Always open to new challenges involving research, teaching and project management in academic and non-academic settings. Aiming to contribute to positive societal and environmental change.

Activity

Join now to see all activity

Experience

  • University of Bristol

    University of Bristol

    1 year 6 months

    • University of Bristol Graphic

      Research Associate

      University of Bristol

      - Present 11 months

      Bristol, England, United Kingdom

      Contributing to one of the TRUUD (Tackling the Root causes Upstream of Unhealthy Urban Development) work packages (WP6) Research on Research. Focusing mostly on qualitative aspects of systems approaches to interdisciplinary work.

    • University of Bristol Graphic

      Research Assistant

      University of Bristol

      - 2 years 10 months

      Bristol, England, United Kingdom

      Post-doctoral research assistant within the Health Protection Research Unit in Behavioural Science and Evaluation at Bristol Medical School. Currently working on 'What does vaccination mean to people aged 55+?' research project which is part of a portfolio of five research streams funded by the NIHR.

    • University of Bristol Graphic

      Researcher in residence

      University of Bristol

      - 7 months

      Greater Bristol Area, United Kingdom

      Researcher residency with NHS BNSSG Integrated Care Board to carry out a community mental health service model evaluation in Weston, Worle & Villages. Part-time secondment to complete a qualitative evaluation including interviews with service providers, service users and lived experience representatives.

  • Cardiff University / Prifysgol Caerdydd Graphic

    Postdoctoral Researcher

    Cardiff University / Prifysgol Caerdydd

    - 6 months

    Post-doctoral fellow at the ESRC funded Civil Society Research Centre at Wales Institute for Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD). Part of the School of Social Sciences.

  • Project Officer

    NHS England and NHS Improvement

    - 1 year 1 month

    Bristol, United Kingdom

    Full-time role within Specialised Commissioning, the South of England regional team for Transforming Care programme. Responsible for data assurance, data collection, analysis as well as weekly and monthly reporting. Working closely with the project manager and programme lead to ensure accurate use of national and local databases. Liaising with case managers ensuring programme progress according to national guidelines.

  • Coventry University

    Coventry University

    4 years

    • Coventry University Graphic

      Hourly Paid Lecturer

      Coventry University

      - 8 months

      Coventry, United Kingdom

      Module leader for 3rd year undergraduate module on sociology of sport and teaching staff for 2nd year undergraduate module on leisure and consumption. Working independently to plan and deliver lectures and workshops as well as mark coursework using Moodle and Turnitin.

    • Coventry University Graphic

      Researcher Phd Candidate

      Coventry University

      - 4 years

      Full time PhD Studentship with the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations. Research project including 6 months of fieldwork. Analysing a neighbourhood in Iztapalapa, Mexico City, as a case study to understand the role of local residents and informal social networks in urban development. Theoretically drawing on development studies and sociology. In-depth ethnographic study of the formation of social ties alongside neighbourhood formation in a former informal settlement.

  • Research Assistant

    Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations

    - 5 months

    Coventry, United Kingdom

    Remotely providing research support to two senior researchers for a multi-location research project.
    Collating information, drafting, editing and proof-reading reports along with carrying out survey data analysis. Also preparing training materials and meeting other arising needs on ad-hoc basis.

  • The Legal Aid Agency Graphic

    Civil Finance Case Worker

    The Legal Aid Agency

    - 11 months

    Bristol, United Kingdom

  • New Economy

    New Economy

    1 year 2 months

    • Economic Analyst

      New Economy

      - 10 months

      Manchester, United Kingdom

      Working as part of the economic strategy and research team providing research support and data analysis in a range of subjects, which relate to New Economy's aims to increase prosperity for Greater Manchester.

      Examples of previous projects include data collation and analysis for the evaluation of a local long term regeneration project; detailed analysis of the Greater Manchester Business Survey; internationalisation related background research; providing content for the monthly…

      Working as part of the economic strategy and research team providing research support and data analysis in a range of subjects, which relate to New Economy's aims to increase prosperity for Greater Manchester.

      Examples of previous projects include data collation and analysis for the evaluation of a local long term regeneration project; detailed analysis of the Greater Manchester Business Survey; internationalisation related background research; providing content for the monthly publication Manchester Monitor.

    • Intern, Public Protection & Research

      New Economy

      - 4 months

      Manchester, United Kingdom

      Full time paid role working with two key teams at New Economy Manchester: public protection and economic research. Involvement in several smaller projects from internal briefings to major research papers as well as longer term evaluation work meant this internship was a great way to expand my skills particularly in quantitative research.

  • pro.manchester Graphic

    Research Analyst

    pro.manchester

    - 2 months

    Manchester, United Kingdom

    Two-month secondment role to provide research support to pro.manchester CEO and chief economist of Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, Dr John Ashcroft. Focusing mainly on macroeconomics by using a range of data sets and publications from for example ONS, World Bank and the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR). In addition to following the main economic indicators on the job market, housing market, trade, manufacturing and GDP, I took part in the organisation of the…

    Two-month secondment role to provide research support to pro.manchester CEO and chief economist of Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, Dr John Ashcroft. Focusing mainly on macroeconomics by using a range of data sets and publications from for example ONS, World Bank and the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR). In addition to following the main economic indicators on the job market, housing market, trade, manufacturing and GDP, I took part in the organisation of the key pro.manchester event, the Great Manchester Business Conference 2014.

  • Social Action & Research Foundation

    Social Action & Research Foundation

    1 year 5 months

    • Research Assistant

      Social Action & Research Foundation

      - 8 months

      Manchester, United Kingdom

      Assisting on a major social action research project on working class communities in Higher Blackley, North Manchester (as part of a wider project organised by the Open Society Foundation). Key responsibilities included organising focus groups, assisting during focus groups, transcribing focus group and other interview recordings, assisting in drafting reports. Other projects include assisting in the community consultation section of a statutory consultation for new studio school, Manchester…

      Assisting on a major social action research project on working class communities in Higher Blackley, North Manchester (as part of a wider project organised by the Open Society Foundation). Key responsibilities included organising focus groups, assisting during focus groups, transcribing focus group and other interview recordings, assisting in drafting reports. Other projects include assisting in the community consultation section of a statutory consultation for new studio school, Manchester Creative Studio.

    • Research Intern

      Social Action & Research Foundation

      - 10 months

      Manchester

      Unpaid role assisting the research team in projects such as ‘A
      Tale of Two Cities' report of the 2011 riots in Salford and Manchester. Most recent project a briefing on Studio Schools.

  • Service Support Specialist

    The Co-operative Banking Group

    - 6 months

    Stockport, United Kingdom

    Specializing in youth accounts and career development loans. Liaising with the team to provide an efficient service following ethical banking conduct through all products. Key responsibilities handling confidential data with precision, account opening processing and assisting customers through career development loan helpline.

  • Campaigns Intern

    Constituency Office of John Leech MP

    - 8 months

    Full time internship funded by an Erasmus grant. Working alongside the campaigns organiser using desktop publishing for
    literature production, writing press releases, standard letters and blog texts, also assisting with casework and data entry. Attending weekly meetings, coordinating volunteers, arranging fundraising dinners requiring high level of organisation.

Education

  • Coventry University Graphic

    Coventry University

    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations

    -

  • The University of Salford Graphic

    The University of Salford

    MA International Relations & Globalisation Distinction

    -

    Modules including International Relations, International Political Economy,
    Globalisation & Geopolitics, and Middle East & Terrorism.

    Dissertation: ‘A Year of Counter-hegemonic Contention: understanding the Occupy movement'.

  • The Manchester Metropolitan University Graphic

    The Manchester Metropolitan University

    Erasmus Student Exchange Politics and Sociology 2:1

    -

  • University of Helsinki

    BSc Politics 2:1 hons (equivalent of Finnish grade 4)

    -

    Major studies is Politics including wide range of studies on political science, Finnish political system, political theory, international relations, methodology, qualitative research, quantitative research, EU politics, power structures, democratic theory.
    Dissertation on democracy in mass society.

    Minor in Communication including as many modules as major studies but not including a dissertation.

  • Helsinki School of Natural Sciences

    Finnish Matriculation Examination Upper Secondary School

    -

    Activities and Societies: Extracurricular diploma in literature.

    Finnish Matriculation Exam with A in English, A in Swedish, A in General
    subjects History and Psychology, C in Maths (as equivalents of Finnish grading system).

Projects

  • Digital inclusion in health research

    Public engagement project in two Bristol locations aiming to understand the barriers people aged 55+ experience with digital health research related activities. Research England's Enhancing Research Culture funding received via University of Bristol. Further funding for continuing the project received in 2023.

  • 'Hold the door open' - involving older adults from diverse backgrounds in health research

    Patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) project aiming to involve more older adults (aged 55+) from diverse backgrounds in health research by co-planning engagement events for disseminating research findings. UK-wide project with activities held in Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow and Tewkesbury.

  • Manchester Monitor

    -

    The Manchester Monitor is a monthly snapshot of the Greater Manchester economy, providing the latest analysis of labour market trends, business activity, the housing market and the visitor economy.

    Other creators
    See project

Languages

  • Finnish

    -

  • Swedish

    -

More activity by Taru

View Taru’s full profile

  • See who you know in common
  • Get introduced
  • Contact Taru directly
Join to view full profile

Other similar profiles

Explore collaborative articles

We’re unlocking community knowledge in a new way. Experts add insights directly into each article, started with the help of AI.

Explore More

Add new skills with these courses

See all courses