I’m Helena Page

Usually found pounding the streets of South London, chasing my next marathon PB

A little bit of what I do

‘A bit of everything’ is the short answer. I’ve always loved agency life for its variety, and I’m a magpie for a new approach or method to try my hand at. I’m a mixed-methods researcher, but I feel most at home in qualitative research. I think one of the most important roles of a social researcher is to give space and voice to those who are so often unheard in our society. Finding ways to apply deliberative or participatory methods has been a key focus for me over the past few years. I also lead much of our research and evaluation around housing and inclusive growth. I’m drawn to these policy areas because where people may not directly experience many government decisions, they experience whether they can afford a decent home, whether their town centre is thriving, and whether there are good jobs nearby. More than many other areas of public policy, decisions in these areas shape how people feel about their place in society and the opportunities open to them.

What I’ve achieved

My career highlights at IFF are the work we’ve done to amplify the voices of those who are experiencing homelessness. This includes exploring the lived experience of racism in housing services through community-led participatory research for a Mayoral Strategic Authority, and leading our multi-year evaluation of a new employment service aimed at those experiencing homelessness for the Centre for Homelessness Impact.