14 February 2025, London – Thinks Insight and Strategy is delighted to announce the establishment of a specialist Dialogue practice within the company, building on their track record delivering some of the UK’s biggest citizen engagement projects. This unit will complement Thinks’ existing research and strategy practice and the Behavioural Science Advisory Service and provide a tailored offer to local and central government bodies looking to forge new relationships with citizens through innovative engagement.
Lucy Farrow
The team will be headed by Lucy Farrow, Partner, one of the UK’s leading deliberative research and engagement practitioners, with 15 years’ experience involving citizens in the decisions that affect their lives. Alongside her role at Thinks Insight & Strategy Lucy is a Visiting Fellow at Lancaster University, focusing on participatory climate policy making as part of the Climate Citizens initiative. She says:
“Involving citizens in the decisions that affect their lives has never been more important in the context of political polarisation and eroding trust in institutions. In my four years at Thinks I’ve seen our practice go from strength to strength, and I’m looking forward to continuing to develop our unique offer of practical dialogue solutions that address real world policy and social challenges.”
Paul Carrol
Joining the team is Paul Carrol, Director, an experienced qualitative researcher formerly at Ipsos, with over 15 years of expertise in helping clients engage citizens in complex challenges. Paul’s work has covered a wide range of sectors, including transport & infrastructure, health, the environment, and politics. Paul is an advocate for deliberative methodologies and has considerable experience with international qualitative research, exploring how different cultures experience issues related to social policy.
Rounding out the team are new hires Emily Cowles-Naja, Grace Evans and Louis Mylne, bringing dialogue experience from third sector specialists Renaisi, in house at the CQC and dialogue agency Hopkins Van Mill respectively.
Chair and co-Founder of Thinks, Viki Cooke said, “As someone who pioneered deliberative methods in the UK, I am immensely proud that we are launching a specialist practice in dialogue and engagement. The expert team is already proving itself to be incredibly successful, working closely on a number of major challenges including Change.NHS, the government’s biggest ever conversation with the public and staff to inform the NHS 10 Year Plan.”
Thinks is a global insight and strategy consultancy, combining pioneering research skills with outstanding thinking to help clients make better decisions, drive positive behaviour, communicate more persuasively, and engage more effectively. Thinks is majority owned by an Employee Ownership Trust, an MRS Company Partner, ESOMAR accredited, and a certified B-Corp.