Ria is an EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) public speaker, trainer and facilitator, specialising in training and mentoring organisations in intersectionality in practice and how to work towards becoming meaningfully inclusive.  She speaks both from her professional expertise and lived experience (for example, as a woman of North African heritage) and is aware of her own interlocking layers of privilege and disadvantage.

Intersectionality in practice asks us to listen to and centre the voices of those living with multiple layers of oppression and marginalisation (such as race and gender), and to respect the interconnectedness of such social categories and how they overlap to create further discrimination and disadvantage.  The focus of her training is to collectively explore and understand what intersectionality means in applied terms and how we can address these challenges together within our roles, work and the spaces we occupy.  By embedding the principles of intersectionality in practice within an organisation we can work towards meaningful inclusion, equity and collective liberation for all.

Training is tailored to your organisation.  Ria will take the time to fully understand your organisation’s needs and ambitions, and where you are on your pathway to social inclusion and equitable practice.  She will then present options for training.  Ria designs and delivers workshops, presentations, away days, and mentoring sessions for leaders and/or their teams.  She also has expertise in delivering bespoke training to organisations across different sectors – including academia, health and wellbeing, environment and sustainability, and the creative arts. 

Sessions may be delivered online or face-to-face.  The overarching aims of intersectionality and inclusivity training may include:

• Awareness and understanding of the concept and application of intersectionality

• Identifying strategic areas and planning processes that support and embed intersectionality in practice

• Opening safer spaces within teams to facilitate dialogue, shared learning, reflexivity and ideas generation

• Practicing active listening towards inclusive action

• Developing mechanisms for accountability

Examples of in-depth bespoke sessions:

• Inclusive recruitment guidance

• Developing inclusive communications frameworks

• Inclusive practices for events management

• Creating bespoke opportunities for marginalised groups: professional development, support for mental health and wellbeing, visibility and recognition

• Inclusive co-production and stakeholder engagement for research design and innovation

• Collecting EDI-related data and how to use these data effectively

• Community conversations: reach, engagement and holding spaces for voices on the margins

Please read the testimonials from my clients below and reach out if you are interested in working with me.

When developing new products or services, it’s important to ensure that you have a clear, purpose-driven approach that centres the needs of the population you are aiming to serve, and a robust strategy and plan which can feasibly lead to your intended outcomes and impacts. 

Logic modelling is an evidence-based methodology that can help you to:

• Identify the needs, motivations and constraints of your target audience

• Develop a Theory of Change

• Consider the resources, activities, outputs, outcomes and impacts of your intervention

• Test the logical flow of your implementation strategy

• Provide evidence for the feasibility of your intervention

• Support the credibility of your planned intervention for funders

• Feed into a risk assessment, evaluation plan and impact assessment

• Demonstrate social impact

Ria specialises in the development and evaluation of complex interventions and has produced logic models for a wide variety of organisations to support their innovation development.  She has also given lectures and tutorials on logic modelling at the School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, and for The European Centre for Environment & Human Health at the University of Exeter.  Please get in touch to see how Ria can support you.

Dr Ria Poole is an award-winning researcher with over 20 years’ experience, specialising in qualitative and mixed methods research, developing and evaluating complex interventions for behaviour change, process evaluations, co-production methods, logic modelling and theory of change, meta-ethnography, and clinical and community trial management.  She has a PhD and BSc in Applied Psychology from Cardiff University and is a Postdoctoral Impact Fellow and Consultant at the University of Exeter.

Ria can help you with designing research and evaluation plans and protocols, creating interview topic guides and survey tools, in-depth qualitive interviewing and focus groups, data management and analysis plans, report writing, project management and much more.  Please reach out if you have a project in mind that you would like her support with.

Ria has led on writing successfully funded project grant proposals and has a strong track record of generating income for organisations through bid writing.  Ria can support you with:

• Concept development

• Guidance for your project plan, budget and timeline

• Liaising with funders

• Co-production with key stakeholders

• Embedding EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) approaches

• Drafting and reviewing MOUs (Memorandum of Understanding)

• Written contribution and/or peer review of your final submission