Our Team

Cathy Hearn

As a Principal Consultant for Theory and Design, Cathy’s approach to collaborating with partners on complex social challenges is creative and equity-driven.

About Cathy

Cathy approaches her work with creativity, analytical thinking, and a focus on building trusting relationships. She understands that complex and urgent societal challenges require thoughtful and responsive action. Her background combines service delivery and design experience with mixed methods evaluation and research training. To date, her work has had a particular emphasis on education and young people, with a focus on social mobility, student-centred learning, and environmental justice education.

Cathy specialises in developmental and formative evaluation designs that promote iterative learning and productive collaboration. She is experienced in participatory facilitation methods, aiming to make sure all voices are heard. She believes that project outputs should be responsive and accessible, and is skilled in designing visually appealing and interactive deliverables. Fostering growth is a central tenet of Cathy’s approach; she enjoys learning new tools and concepts, and loves sharing what she has learned with colleagues, partners, and broader audiences.

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Cathy’s work at Renaisi

Cathy leads a portfolio of research, evaluation and learning partnerships and enjoys having the opportunity to learn from collaborators, community members, and colleagues. She leads the Consultancy Team alongside other Principal Consultants, and coordinates efforts around recruitment and team capacity.

Cathy’s specialisms

• Formative and developmental evaluation
• Mixed methods approaches
• Training and capacity building
• Mentorship and coaching
• Equity-informed approaches
• Education and youth work
• Data visualisation
• Responsive reporting

Portfolio

Cathy leads teams and oversees a range of mixed-methods evaluations, research and learning partnerships, including:

• Monitoring and evaluation partner on the Peer Action Collective, a joint investment by the Youth Endowment Fund, the #iwill Fund, and the Co-op.
• Lead learning partner with Mission 44’s Preventing Exclusions Fund, in collaboration with ImpactEd.
• Evaluation partner for Sanctuary’s Sustainable Communities programme.
• Evaluation and learning partner with the London Borough of Southwark’s Thrive to 25 innovation pilot.
• Evaluation and learning partnerships on two Sport England investments: the Together Fund and the Sector Renewal fund.