Dr Kim Heyes

Academic and professional qualifications

2019 PhD in Social Care and Social Work, Manchester Metropolitan University
2015 MPhil in Interdisciplinary Studies, Manchester Metropolitan University
2015 PGLTHE Post Graduate Teaching Diploma (Leading to becoming a Fellow of the HEA), Manchester Metropolitan University
2012 BA (Hons) Abuse Studies, Manchester Metropolitan University

Previous employment

2019 to present - Non-executive Director, PSS Liverpool
PSS is a charity based in Liverpool that seeks to support vulnerable people in a way that listens through the co-production of services. I am a member of the Board of Trustees and serve on the Audit and Governance committee. 

2017 to 2020 - Research Associate, Policy Evaluation and Research Unit, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester.

In this role, I developed skills in research methodologies including Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), Rapid Evidence Assessments (REAs), and Comparative Analysis. Research focuses included measuring impact, economic evaluation, and building evidence to shape policy and practice. Project management experience included the evaluation of the Greater Manchester Integrated Police Custody Healthcare and Wider Liaison & Diversion Scheme, incorporating data from NHS England, Greater Manchester Police, and the Court Service, and the Addaction Cornwall A&E Frequent Attenders Programme. Both of these programmes seek to understand the wider social and holistic issues associated with mental health and the consequences that may occur as a result of decisions made by multi-agency partnerships.

2012 to 2017 - Lecturer of Abuse Studies and Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan University, Crewe
For this role, I wrote courses, programmes, set learning objectives, and also set assignments for students from Level 3 to Level 6. I supported four Abuse Studies Master's Students with their final dissertations on FGM, Roma children in UK schools, Domestic Violence programmes for Perpetrators, and Domestic Violence within the Polish Community in the UK. During my five years as a Lecturer, I was nominated and shortlisted for the Student Union Awards for Outstanding Feedback, and consistently raised student satisfaction levels each year in the ISS and NSS. Abuse studies is a highly sensitive topic, and I took my duty of care towards my students very seriously.

Why study ?

Undergraduate courses

Research expertise

I am Community Psychologist, a Fellow of the HEA and Non-Executive Director of the charity PSS (Person Shaped Support) in Liverpool. I am an expert in Rapid Evidence Assessments, qualitative and quantitative research analysis, and evaluations of projects working with vulnerable people. I have recently concluded an evaluation of the Staying Close projects, funded by the Department of Education, and have been evaluating community projects run by Macmillan (Qualitative Lead) and Addaction (PI). I have worked as a Research Associate for three years, previous to this position, I was a Lecturer on the Abuse Studies BA and the BPS accredited Psychology BSc.

Publications

• Journal articles

  K. Heyes, A. Smith, C. Fox, J. Harrison, Z. Kiss, et al. A. Bradbury. (2018). The effectiveness of probation supervision towards reducing reoffending A Rapid Evidence Assessment. Probation Journal. 65(4), pp.407-428.

• Chapters in books

  B. Brahic, K. Heyes, S. Arun (2023). At Whose Cost? Vulnerable Female Migrants with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) during the COVID-19 Crisis in England. In: Women and COVID-19. Routledge, pp.227-242.

  K. Heyes (2021). Socialization or Social Isolation?: Mental Health Community Support in the Digital Age. In: Research Anthology on Mental Health Stigma, Education, and Treatment.. IGI Global,

  K. Heyes (2021). Socialization or Social Isolation?. In: Research Anthology on Mental Health Stigma, Education, and Treatment. IGI Global, pp.360-380.

• Conferences

  K. Heyes Bringing Activism Back to Community Psychology. University of Brighton, 13/9/2019.

  K. Heyes Virtual Support for People with Mental Health Issues – an Innovative Approach. Manchester Metropolitan University, 5/11/2016.

  K. Heyes Socialisation or Social Isolation: Mental health community support in the digital age. Aston University, Birmingham, 6/4/2016.

• Reports

  K. Heyes, C. Fox, A. Smith, S. Baines, A. Fraser Cornwall Frequent A&E Attenders SIB Evaluation – Interim Report 1. , Addaction.

  C. Fox, K. Heyes Junior University: Report. Manchester Metropolitan University, Which?.

Invited papers

K. Heyes Bringing Activism Back to Community Psychology. University of Brighton, 13/9/2019.
K. Heyes Virtual Support for People with Mental Health Issues – an Innovative Approach. Manchester Metropolitan University, 5/11/2016.
K. Heyes Socialisation or Social Isolation: Mental health community support in the digital age. Aston University, Birmingham, 6/4/2016.
K. Heyes (2018) Socialisation or social isolation? Virtual ethnography and mental ill health. Answering social science questions with social media data. 8 March 2018, Wellcome Collection, London.

Expert reviewer for journals and publishers

• Peer reviewer for Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry
• Peer reviewer for the Journal of Clinical Nursing
• Peer reviewer for the Student Engagement in Higher Education Journal

Grants

2020 NIHR c£1,000,000 - IMPROVE-Act Improving experiences for black males who have been detained under the Mental Health Act. Co-Investigator, with Joy Duxbury and Laura Serrant.
2020 Bristol Council £10,000 – Follow-on Evaluation of Staying Close. Co-Investigator, with Chris O’Leary.
2020 Nesta £5,000 – A Review of Youth of Youth Mentoring Programmes. Co-Investigator, with Chris O’Leary and The Alliance for Useful Evidence.
2019 Macmillan £88,000 - Money and Work Service Evaluation. Co-Investigator, with Andrew Smith.
2018 Addaction £100,000 - Cornwall A&E Frequent Attenders programme. Project Manager, with Chris Fox and Sue Baines.
2018 Global Challenges Research Fund £10,000 – Women Empowerment through Microfinance around Tanzania (WEMA Tanzania). Principal Investigator, with Jessica Ozan.
2018 Volunteering Matters £20,000 - Grandmentors Evaluation. QCA lead and Co-Investigator, with Chris O’Leary, Jessica Ozan and Kirstine Szifris.
2017/2018 GMCA £50,000 - Liaison and Diversion Evaluation. Co-Investigator, with Kevin Wong and Stephen Morris.
2017 Department for Education £250,000 - Evaluation of the Staying Close Projects. Co-Investigator, with Chris O’Leary, Jessica Ozan, Kirstine Szifris, Zinnia Mitchell and Dan Allen.
2016 CELT SoTL Grant £3880 – Student Academic Innovations Journal. Principal Investigator, with Marcin Wozniak and Elaine Craig.

Bids awaiting outcomes
MRC/AHRC/ESRC £3,300,000 - The Empower Study: Co-producing a Trans-professional Framework for Fostering Young People's Resilience in the Face of Adversity. Co-Investigator with Joy Duxbury and Sarah Parry.
The Spencer Foundation £350,000 - Co-Creation of Learning to Improve outcomes for Children from single parent families (CoCLIC). Co-Investigator with Shoba Arun, Taylor’s University Malaysia and Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
eNurture £32,000 - Co-producing a Model of Family Interconnection: understanding intergenerational attitudes to digital and social media (CoMFI). Co-investigator with Bex Lewis.

Projects and initiatives

• An evaluation of five Staying Close pilot projects funded by the Department for Education (DfE). The projects aimed to support young people transitioning from care to stay close to where their last residential placement had been. I interviewed young people and wrote the final reports, due to be published by the DfE in August 2020.
• We Are With You (formerly Addaction) research project evaluating a social impact bond model of funding for the Cornwall A&E Frequent Attenders project. This involves observations of staff with clients, client consultations and data analysis.
• MRC/NIHR/AHRC bid for ‘Empowering positivity in the face of adversity in adolescence: a co-produced trans-professional revision of the ACES Framework’. Through working with young people who have experienced trauma or adversity, we will co-develop an alternative to ACES that allows people affected by trauma and adversity in childhood, to build resilience and flourish throughout adulthood. I am the Patient Participant Involvement lead and am currently co-producing online focus groups, run by young people who are experts by experience.
• An evaluation of the Grandmentors programme funded by Volunteering Matters. The programme focuses on the relationships built between young people leaving care and their mentor. I interviewed young people, and conducted the Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA).
• Co-creation of a model of learning best practice for children from single parent families. This bid has been submitted to the Spencer Foundation. The total cost of the project is £350,000 spanning the UK, Malaysia and South Africa. Each country will use the innovative Silences Framework (Serrant-Green, 2011) to work with children in understanding how to make academic attainment more equal for all demographics.
• Work arising from my PhD has recently been used in the SAGE short course Collecting Social Media Data, which has had the largest ever cohort for a SAGE course.
• Set up the Student Academic Innovation Journal (SAI) first publication to be launched on the 14th February 2017. The concept was created by Kim Heyes, Elaine Craig, and Marcin Wozniak. This is the first academic journal produced by a new university aimed at showcasing student excellence.

Here is a video about the project:

http://www.celt.mmu.ac.uk/good_practice/gpentry.php?id=96

Community, charity and NGO links

I am a Non-Executive Director of the Charity PSS.

I am the Secretary of the Cheshire East Green Party.

Membership of professional associations

Fellow of the HEA

Fellow of the Association of Internet Researchers

Member of the Violence, Abuse and Mental Health Network (VAMHN)