The founders of Arcola Research are Joe Cullen and Damian Hayward. As a partnership, Arcola Research works with an international team of ‘core Associates’ who carry out much of our work. These core Associates are supported by an additional pool of international researchers who provide specialist skills for specific assignments, as required.
Current Designated Members
Dr Joe Cullen studied Social Sciences at the Universities of Durham, Dundee, Cambridge and Birkbeck College, London, obtaining an M.A., PhD and Dip. Psych. He spent some years as an academic, at the Universities of Cambridge, Loughborough, Leeds, London Metropolitan and the Open University, teaching social sciences and research methods. He was formerly Principal Researcher and Academic Dean at the Tavistock Institute, London, where he also served as a member of the Editorial Board of ‘Human Relations’. He is currently Principal Associate, the Tavistock Institute, and advisor to the Board of the MENON Network, Brussels. Dr Cullen has been co-ordinator/project manager of a range of research, evaluation and RTD projects, covering learning, health, inclusion, technology and social policy including working with people affected by HIV/AIDS, in offending prevention and rehabilitation, youth work, drugs, ‘science and society’ programmes, cultural diversity; mental health; violent extremism; social innovation. He has carried out over 100 research and evaluation assignments, including evaluations of major EU initiatives.
Andrew Tarbit is a graduate of Oxford University and a qualified chartered accountant who has worked within real estate finance and operations teams for over ten years.
Core Associates
Greg Holloway
Greg initially studied Biochemistry and Genetics (University of East Anglia – UEA), before moving into the social sciences and going on to study Anthropology, Sociology and Psychology (Goldsmiths, University of London and the UK Open University). He has held a Research Assistantship at Imperial College, London including a visiting lectureship at the Centre for Research in Drugs and Health Behaviour (CRDHB), whilst it was based at Imperial College and subsequently working with CRDBH at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He has a wide range of skills and experience in a range of domains, covering: performing arts, community and social change events, music, construction and urban design, education and training initiatives, adventure education, mentoring, training and support initiatives, public health, wellness, conflict, risk behaviour, marginalisation, language, the human-technology interface and social and digital inclusion. He has coordinated and implemented a wide range of complex studies and social science research projects in communities, and agencies frequently involving hard-to-reach populations including young people – especially from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds – the homeless, ethnic minority groups, drug users, ‘hidden’ populations and wider local communities. He has also carried out extensive fieldwork in disease transmission and health surveillance, criminality and conflict, social cohesion, and studies investigating the dynamics affecting the evening and night-time economy, social cohesion and community. This has included innovative projects and social actions – including festivals and workshops – designed to engage and affect communities (Action Research) as well as ethnographic and video ethnography work. He has particular expertise in mixed quantitative-ethnographic research including lifeworld analysis and evaluation.
Damian Hayward
Damian Hayward is a graduate in Modern Languages, University of Aberyswyth, UK. He is responsible for Arcola’s online presence and has particular expertise in developing and evaluating on-line databases, collaborative knowledge systems, assessment tools and social media platforms. He has worked as technical consultant on a number of Arcola projects, including ‘Share my European City’, a project funded under the EC ‘Prevention of Crime’ Programme, researching ways of reducing anti-social behaviour and youth crime in Night-Time economies, and the ‘MEDICI’ project, developing a Catalogue and interactive map of digital inclusion initiatives for vulnerable groups.
Clare Cullen
Clare Cullen was until recently a researcher in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) at the University of Bristol, working as a research associate in multisensory interaction and education for the EPSRC funded CRITICAL project (Crossmodal Interactive Tools for Inclusive Learning), co-designing interactive learning technologies for visually impaired and sighted children in mainstream schools. Her PhD research in cognitive science (Queen Mary University, London) focuses on the links between multisensory rhythm processing and reading impairments (including dyslexia and specific language impairment), and possible digital interventions for language remediation. She has worked with Arcola Research on several digital inclusion projects, including ‘Mapping and Assessing the impact of ICT-based initiatives for the socio-economic inclusion of young people at risk of exclusion’, ‘LINKS-UP: Learning 2.0 for an Inclusive Knowledge Society’, and ‘TEACHUS: improving digital competences in classroom teaching’ and the ‘LIVE-IT’ project – using collaborative ‘Living Labs’ to co-design solutions for improved web accessibility for people with cognitive disabilities.
Amy Harris
Has a background in arts, graduating from the London College of Fashion, followed by experience in education and research. A former teacher, she is currently working on research and evaluation projects in developing teachers’ leadership competences; mapping the Night Time Economy, assessing the impact of action research programmes for young people at risk of social exclusion, improving web accessibility for people with cognitive disabilities and delivering learning programmes for a wide range of target groups. She has expertise in quantitative and qualitative research methods, including literature and interventions reviews.
Emma Hamilton
Has a Masters qualification from Birkbeck, London in Government, Policy and Politics and a Masters in Economics from Greenwich University. She was previously Editorial Manager on the ‘Evaluation’ Journal. She has experience in a wide range of research and evaluation projects. She has wide experience in desk research, and in both quantitative (surveys) and qualitative (interviews, case studies) data collection methods.
Miana Carneiro
Miana holds a Master’s degree in Urban Design from the University of Barcelona and a Master’s degree in Public Art Studies from the University of Southern California. She received her BA in Communication from the UCP (Catholic University of Portugal). Several of her individual research publications focus on the discourse of media images of catastrophic events. She is currently a Researcher of UCP working mainly in research projects in the field of social innovation and social inclusion of vulnerable groups, digital inclusion, literacy and empowerment of young people and children at risk, vulnerable women, people with disabilities, etc.
Arcola Research LDA PT
The founders and Directors of Arcola Research LDA PT are Joe Cullen and Liza Scicluna.