Evaluation and Impact Lead (KTP Associate)

Duties and Responsibilities

The duties of the post will include:

• Co-producing and implementing data-led impact evaluation tools and a community needs assessment framework, grounded in the Theory of Change model, to support improved mental health outcomes.
• Conducting a comprehensive review of Mid and North Essex Mind’s current strategy, evaluation practices, and stakeholder landscape to inform project planning and delivery.
• Designing and embedding robust evaluation methodologies, including both quantitative and qualitative approaches, to assess service effectiveness and organisational impact.
• Developing and piloting tools for data collection, analysis, and reporting—such as Power BI dashboards, stakeholder feedback mechanisms, and longitudinal tracking systems.
• Working with individuals at the charity to understand the impact of mental health services which could include interviewing individuals and facilitating group discussions.
• Using confidential client notes to identify trends and themes and inform the creation of a follow up review tool.
• Leading the creation of a scalable follow-up review tool to track long-term service user outcomes and support strategic decision-making.
• Facilitating organisational learning by delivering training workshops, forming internal working groups, and embedding evaluation practices across teams.
• Acting as a key liaison between the University of Essex and Mid and North Essex Mind, ensuring effective knowledge transfer and alignment of academic and organisational goals.
• Producing high-quality research outputs, including academic publications, conference presentations, and a final project report.
• Supporting the dissemination and potential commercialisation of evaluation tools and frameworks developed during the project.
• Managing project planning, risk assessment, and ethics applications, and reporting progress to the Local Management Committee (LMC).

These duties are a guide to the work that the post holder will initially be required to undertake. They may be changed from time to time to meet changing circumstances.

For full details of the job and person specification please refer to the job pack – REQ10102.

Benefits

As a KTP Associate, the post will offer the following benefits:

• A personal development budget of £5,000 (exclusive of salary).
• Management training and mentoring by an Innovate UK KTP Adviser.
• An interesting and challenging role, with exposure to a variety of stakeholders.
• Full access to university resources to complete the project.
• World-leading Academic and Company project supervision, with project support by a dedicated, sector leading KTP Office.

*Please note – Mid and North Essex Mind has a primarily office-based but hybrid working culture. The Associate will also be expected to travel to other areas of our service provision (e.g. Braintree, Chelmsford, Clacton). The Associate will need to follow, on occasion, the working pattern of Mid and North Essex Mind’s regular staff, which includes evening and weekend work.

The University of Essex in partnership with Mid and North Essex Mind offers an exciting opportunity to a graduate with the relevant skills and knowledge to co-produce and implement data-led impact evaluation tools and a community needs assessment framework based on the Theory of Change model for mental health services, leading to improved outcomes for individuals and the wider voluntary and community sector.