Jo Milward PhD

My Role was to develop and evaluate people-centric interventions understanding barriers to engagement with cybersecurity behaviours.

Responsibilities:

• Designing and conducting mixed-methods research: including qualitative studies (e.g., interviews, focus groups) and quantitative approaches (e.g., RCTs and surveys), to inform cybersecurity product development and business strategy.
• Education: Spearheaded an initiative to build research capacity and foster a culture of research, involving the development and implementation of an education strategy, collaborating with engineering, marketing, and product teams.
• Collaboration and communication: Delivered webinars and whitepapers tailored for diverse audiences, including cybersecurity professionals and non-technical stakeholders, to share insights and promote evidence-based practices.

Achievements:

• Developing behaviour change solutions to mitigate human-related security risks: Developed a messaging feature to be delivered by the platform using co-creation methods and leveraging existing research and behavioural theory to positively influence user cybersecurity behaviour.
• Large scale qualitative study leadership on Human Risk Management: Led an international study with cybersecurity industry professionals generating actionable insights on the topic of Human Risk Management in cybersecurity.
• Understanding attitudes to cybersecurity to identify threats: Co-authored a global survey with the US National Cybersecurity Alliance exploring peoples' attitudes to cyber-security and their cybersecurity practices.

The Behavioural Science and Insights Unit (BSIU) worked across government departments to provide expert support, guidance, and research to the COVID-19 response.
Responsibilities:

• Designing and implementing bespoke research: Designed and implemented bespoke research, leading mixed-methods projects to address COVID-19 challenges, including vaccine uptake and health behaviours, through evidence-based, tailored interventions in a fast-paced and changeable environment.
• Leadership: As Team Leader, managed multiple teams (5–10 people) simultaneously to deliver high-quality research, embed research practices, and co-produce guidance for local and national government stakeholders.
• Cross government collaboration: Identified and developed research collaborations and partnerships, spearheading cross-organisational research programmes managing multiple high-profile stakeholders.

Achievements:

• Supporting UK oversees territories, local authorities and third sector organisations in COVID-19 response: Delivered bespoke training and research programs and and provided evidence-based recommendations to inform policy and communication strategies on public health guidance and vaccine uptake.
• Vaccine Incentives Research Programme: Led a cross-government research project evaluating the impact of financial incentives on COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Utilised secondary data analysis, a national survey (with the Cabinet Office), and rapid ethnography (with ASDA). Provided evidence-based recommendations that informed national vaccine policy.
• Research with underserved communities: Trained community volunteers in qualitative methods to explore vaccine hesitancy, informing culturally tailored public health interventions.
  

BIT aka the Nudge Unit is a leading behavioural insights consultancy providing rigorous research methodologies to improve outcomes across policy areas.

Responsibilities:

• Impact and process evaluation: Specialised in applying behavioural frameworks and mixed-methods research methodologies, with a focus on implementation and process evaluations in health and social care, finance, and education fields.
• Embedding good research practice: Co-developed an organisational strategy to integrate and embed mixed-methods approaches to improve insight gathering.
• Business development: bid writing, research costing, and client management throughout the research process.

Responsibilities:

• Strengthening public engagement in research: I led a work stream which focused on developing products and partnerships to increase engagement with digital alcohol behaviour apps. Led public engagement workshops with service users, exploring wearable blood alcohol monitoring devices for clinical care.
• PPI engagement: Facilitated the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research (CLAHRC) alcohol theme event, managing logistics and post-event evaluations.

Funded by the NIHR on a programme aimed at the translation of research evidence into practice with the wider NHS and Public Health.

Responsibilities

• Mixed-methods co-creation design of public health intervention: I led a project which develop and evaluated, with a user centred design approach a smartphone app targeting harmful drinking in young adults. Ran an online RCT evaluating the effectiveness of the app. Conducted an implementation and process evaluation with qualitative methodology.
• Research networks: Established a peer research network with young people from marginalised communities, ensuring intervention relevance.

• Developing research capacity: Delivered training for site coordinators to build capacity in research data collection and ethical governance.