Assistant Director – Newcastle office
James Ward is an Assistant Director in the Newcastle office specialising in health and social care for those who are chronically excluded and seldom heard. He also works across employability, criminal justice and health inequalities. He brings his experience of delivering and managing services to contextualise research and evaluation in the reality of service delivery. James is experienced in complex project management and managing multidisciplinary relationships across a range of stakeholders.
James worked as a Forensic Psychologist in prisons for six years delivering what were then called ‘offending behaviour’ interventions. Following this he led a three-year participatory action research programme working with women in prison to enhance the care for those who use self-harm. Prior to joining Rocket Science he worked for eight years with a national charity supporting and delivering services for people experiencing multiple disadvantages including homelessness, addiction, and criminal justice. This included three years leading the internal quality assurance, research and evaluation and learning functions
PG Cert. Strategic Leadership, Northumbria University
PhD Sociology and Social Policy, Durham University
Level 5 Certificate in Leadership and Management, Chartered Management Institute
Prince 2 Practitioner
PG Dip Forensic Psychology, Teesside University
BSc (Hons) Psychology, Teesside University
Specialist areas
- Health and social care
- Organisational development and learning
- Qualitative and participatory action research approaches
- Partnership working and delivery
- Service design, delivery and management
- Complex project management
Portfolio
- YGAM (Young Gamers and Gamblers Education Trust)– Evaluation of their education programme
- Church of England and Catholic Church – Evaluation of Safe delivered by Victim Support for survivors of church based abuse
- Wakefield and District Health and Community Support – Increasing capability and capacity of voluntary sector organisations
- FareShare UK – evaluation of the impact of National Lottery funding
Little weaknesses
- Not opening letters and emails from the bank
- Pick n Mix
- Buying second hand books I’m unlikely to read
