In this edition we introduce Joy Thompson, Chair of the LARIA Newsletter Activity Group which produces LariaNews.

After a run of LARIA People features about more experienced researchers - in fact mostly Research Managers - it has finally fallen to me to redress the balance! As the youngest Chair of an Activity Group at 29, and with the shortest Local Authority work history at a mere two years 9 months, I can vouch for the fact that LARIA really does need a cross-section of volunteers to represent the diversity of its members and readers.

Why Do I Volunteer to be Involved with LARIA?

Given that I have only worked in the public sector for such a short time, having a network to call on is a no-lose situation. Just a matter of months ago, I needed to find out about costs of focus groups, and I remembered an earlier enquiry by a LARIA member about the very same thing. So how long did it take to resolve this query, and in the interim carry on with other tasks? A matter of a couple of hours. All too often the benefits of having a network or community of interest at your fingertips are overlooked, and I have not met one LARIA member who would not share their experience or give advice if they were asked.

And What Exactly Do I Do?

Currently I work as one half of the Strategy and Evaluation team at New East Manchester Urban Regeneration Company (URC), together with my colleague Richard Crisp, who is seconded from CCSR at Manchester University. Since joining New East Manchester one year ago it has been an interesting time for the organisation and those working for it, with the mainstreaming of the NDC projects and the current revision of the Strategic Regeneration Framework.

We are the one-stop shop for statistics; research and evaluation project guidance and commissioning; GIS; performance management; and supervision/co-ordination of students’ research in the area. The link with CCSR provides an academic slant to the work - and aren’t we all borderline academics at heart? Prior to working for the country’s leading URC, I worked in the corporate policy unit at Tameside MBC. I would recommend working in a policy unit, purely for the learning experience of how local government interacts with the greater hierarchy of power. Starting as a graduate trainee, I worked primarily on the LSP agenda, and on the ‘ Quality of Life’ reports which monitored progress against the Community Strategy, before corporate policy gave way to regeneration and new challenges.

Life Before the Public Sector

School was in Alnwick, Northumberland – which as a claim to fame was opposite Harry Potter’s school, although I am not a fan. After that I completed a degree in Economics from Coventry - an under-rated city. The next few years was spent working for Transco in various training, data quality and scheduling roles, based in locations ranging from the exotic (Mansfield), to the quaint (Dorking), to the more local (Bolton). However pipes could not hold my interest, and so back to school! An MSc in Economics from the University of Manchester was followed by various temping jobs, before joining Tameside.

Summing Up

This part definitely does read like a bad CV: I will say that my hobbies are ‘socialising’ i.e. drinks after work (or late evening – or even weekends, you have to be flexible), reading, and let’s say swimming – which all people are obliged to list regardless of actually ever getting into a pool (and I did, a couple of times, back in 2005).

Now that you have read this, if you are not involved in LARIA, why not? If I can do it, then so can you. Have a look on the back cover - the Chairs of the LARIA Activity Groups are listed and waiting to hear from you!

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