Home > About us >

Team

Ben Cairns
Director
ben@ivar.org.uk

Ben has 20 years' experience of work in and around the third sector as a volunteer, manager, trustee, trainer, writer and researcher. He has an MSc (Distinction) in Voluntary Sector Organisation from the London School of Economics.  As co-founder of ACVAR, Ben led the development and delivery of a dynamic new approach to action research and capacity building with local, regional and national organisations. Now, as the founding Director of IVAR and Visiting Fellow of Birkbeck College, Ben is responsible for taking this work forward.

Jane Harris
Deputy Director
jane.harris@ivar.org.uk

Jane joined IVAR in April 2008 as Deputy Director. She has twenty years’ experience of working in and with voluntary organisations, as a manager, researcher and consultant. Before joining IVAR Jane was Managing Director of Cordis Bright, a consultancy and research organisation specialising in working with statutory and voluntary organisations in the field of social care. Jane’s principal research and consultancy interests are inter-organisational collaboration, cross-sector relationships, financial management, services for older people and infrastructure support for the voluntary sector. Recent assignments have included evaluating the two-year Department of Health initiative ‘Partnerships for Older People Projects’, reviewing infrastructure support to voluntary sector drugs agencies for the Home Office, and a special study for the Commission for Social Care Inspection exploring older people’s experiences of moving into a care home.
Jane has a Master’s degree in Voluntary Sector Organisation (with distinction) from LSE. She is also a chartered management accountant, and has worked as a senior manager in voluntary organisations in the field of homelessness, domestic violence and substance misuse, and as head of a policy and grants team for the Association of London Government (now London Councils), overseeing the management of grants to voluntary organisations. She was a member of the Big Lottery Fund (formerly Community Fund) London Regional Committee from September 2003 to February 2006, and is currently a trustee of two voluntary organisations. Jane has published articles in Social Policy and Administration, Journal of Organisational Development and Housing Care and Support.

Dr Margaret Harris
Academic Adviser
m.e.harris@aston.ac.uk
www.margaretharris.org.uk

Margaret is currently Professor of Voluntary Sector Organisation at Aston Business School and Visiting Professor at Birkbeck College.  She was formerly Assistant Director of the Centre for Voluntary Organisation at the London School of Economics. She has conducted and managed collaborative research with numerous national and local voluntary agencies and published articles in academic and professional journals on a range of topics, notably voluntary management committees, the impact of public policy on the voluntary sector, volunteering, and the work of religious organisations. She is the author of "Organising God's Work: Challenges for Churches and Synagogues" (Macmillan, 1998) and editor (with David Billis) of "Voluntary Agencies; Challenges of Organisation and Management" (Macmillan, 1996) and (with Colin Rochester) of Voluntary Organisations and Social Policy in Britain; "Perspectives on Change and Choice" (Palgrave, 2000).  Within IVAR, Margaret will provide advice to staff, associates and board members on third sector specialist matters, theories and research practice.

Kulwinder Thind
Office Manager
kulwinder@ivar.org.uk

Kulwinder has a BA in Marketing and Law from Hertfordshire University.  She joined IVAR in August 2006 and is now responsible for establishing, managing and developing all administrative systems and structures for IVAR's research and capacity building work, including joint projects with Birkbeck.

Dr Mike Aiken
Research Officer
mike@ivar.org.uk

Mike is a social researcher specialising in the third sector. Over the last eight years he has been examining the organisational values of voluntary organisations, the co-operative advantage in mutual organisations, the evolutionary paths of UK social enterprises offering work for disadvantaged groups as well as performance management programmes for voluntary organisations. He has spoken and facilitated discussions on third sector issues to policy and practitioner audiences in London, Tokyo, Bangkok, Warsaw, Göttingen and Dublin and has undertaken three trans-European comparative projects examining the third sector in the last 5 years. Mike previously worked for nearly 20 years in training and consultancy roles in the voluntary and community sector with organisations such as Community Matters, Save the Children and the Development Trusts Association. He has remained engaged in a citizen campaign in Brighton on urban development. Mike Aiken works as the research officer at IVAR, in London where he has been involved in the Real Time Evaluation of the Community Alliance deep partnership between 3 major national charities. He holds a Visiting Research Fellowship at the Open University. In 2006 he was shortlisted for the Michael Young prize and his chapter on third sector organisations ‘towards market or state’ was published in Routledge’s Social Enterprise volume.

Dr Sam Brier, Senior Research Associate, works as a freelance consultant in the voluntary and public sectors. His assignments in the past year as a Senior Research Associate for IVAR include a Partnership Improvement Programme for local authorities and voluntary organisations and a Capacity Building programme for second tier voluntary organisations. He has also recently carried out a strategic review for a national charity and facilitated a merger between two regional agencies.
Sam was chief executive of Kids, a national charity for disabled children, for seven years. Prior to that he was executive director of Norwood, a charity providing services to learning disabled children and adults. Sam worked for many years in several London local authorities as a social worker, team leader and area director. He has a Masters degree in Public and Social Administration and a PhD in strategic decision-making in voluntary organisations.

Pradip Gajjar, Research Associate, has an MBA in Public Services Management and extensive experience in the voluntary sector, principally through his work in the UK chapter of the international religious charity, ISKCON. He has extensive capacity building and community development experience, particularly within the Hindu community; he has also produced training manuals for faith-volunteers developing fundraising initiatives. He has also worked as a faith advisor for a government volunteering initiative. Over the past three years he has been developing a delivering a range of VCS capacity building workshops and programmes.

Romayne Hutchison, Senior Research Associate, has worked as a freelance researcher, trainer and consultant since 1993. Prior to that she held various posts in the voluntary and community sector and in the statutory sector, focusing mainly on working with volunteers and the development of projects involving volunteers.
Romayne was a Research Associate of the Aston Centre for Voluntary Action Research from the time of its establishment, working on various research projects relating to quality systems and performance improvement; organisational mergers; faith-based organisations and volunteering. She took the lead on fieldwork and report writing for ACVAR’s projects for the Diocese of Birmingham, Manchester Jewish Community Project, Volunteering England and for NCVO on the impact of quality systems in the voluntary sector. Since the establishment of IVAR she has been involved with research studies for bassac, the Community Alliance and the potential merger of TACT and the Independent Adoption Service.

Shona Reed-Purvis, Research Associate, has worked as a freelance trainer and consultant since 1992. She is also a counsellor and supervisor. Previously she has worked with the NHS and the voluntary sector developing the skills of professionals and volunteers working in the field. Shona has been with IVAR for six years, working on many specific initiatives, as well as having a focus on workshop design and effective group work.

Patricia Young, Senior Research Associate. Following her MSC in Voluntary Sector Organisation from the London School of Economics (1999), Patricia became interested in 'social cohesion'. She obtained several years practical experience of voluntary organisations (including BME-led organisations) involved in urban regeneration and community development and also worked for large-scale regeneration programmes, for example 'New Deal for Communities'. Patricia Young joined the Aston Centre for Voluntary Action Research in 2002 as Capacity Building Co-ordinator. She developed a detailed understanding about research and practice of capacity building with voluntary organisations and has contributed to a number of conference papers and research projects on capacity building issues. Since 2004 she has also worked as a researcher on a range of other research projects, including performance improvement and collaboration between large/small voluntary sector organisations. She is currently involved in a study on grass roots activities intended to build bridges between diverse religious and ethnic communities.

Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees comprises senior VCS practitioners, scholars and funders; it meets quarterly or more often if required.

Julian Ashby, Chair, is formerly MD of a quoted public and voluntary sector consultancy.  Now Associate Director of Tribal Consulting.

Terry Connor is Director of the Catholic Children's Society.

Alison Harker is a freelance consultant with many years experience in the community and voluntary sector and charitable foundations.

Dr Jenny Harrow is Professor of Voluntary Sector Management at the Centre for Charity Effectiveness, Cass Business School.

Jane Hatfield is Director of Policy at Breast Cancer Care.

Tim Jones, Treasurer, is a Chartered Accountant and currently Treasurer at Green College, Oxford. His previous experience focused on the telecommunications industry, including time at BT, and working internationally.

Dr Nick Plant is Senior Lecturer in Information Systems at the University of the West of England.