Oliver Bates – Research, Facilitation and Design

CV

Work

co-director/research & DESIGN consultant, fractals co-op, 2021 – current
  • As a small co-operative, we provide research and design services that improve digital and organisational strategy utilising Agile practices.
  • I am responsible for client and stakeholder relationships, conducting ethical and inclusive research, and analysing and synthesising data to understand user behaviours for clients.
  • I have facilitated user research process using participatory design and workshops (Miro) that provided strategic insight for Scottish Government Open Data services and support by identifying pain points and opportunities for resources supporting the civil service open data community
  • Service evaluation has provided strategic insight for a large UK charity
  • Desk research for a large charity has led to recommendations for future service evaluation.
Partner, Cetis LLP (freelance),  2019 – current
  • I deliver qualitative and quantitative user research and project leadership. Utilising user centred design approaches
  • I have delivered user research for Pukka Herbs research information processes and systems, utilising interviews and design workshops.
  • As part of the development dashboard and analytics services for clients I delivered iterative and agile research, visualisation design, and user interface prototyping.
Research Fellow, Lancaster University, 2021 – current
  • I work with a range of commercial and government partners and clients, delivering inclusive and ethical user centred processes and outcomes.
  • I’ve delivered interviews and workshops for the UK Government to improve their decision making using environmental models in UK digital policy.
  • I have worked with commercial decision makers to map services, stakeholders and systems to identify pain points and opportunities for energy saving interventions, and conducted user research and interface design with time-series energy data.
  • I have planned and delivered workshops with gig economy couriers to research better user interfaces and service interventions to improve their experiences and delivery platforms.
  • I also developed inclusive research protocols to reach independent couriers, utilising qualitative, quantitative and spatial methods to rapidly deliver systems interventions. My team and I also designed a card game for communicating system complexity and sharing worker experiences.
Senior Research Associate, Lancaster University, 2018-2021
  • I conducted user research with stakeholders and decision makers from Transport for London, City of London, as well as commercial logistics partners.
  • I championed users and user centred design through mixed methods research and in multi-disciplinary teams.
  • I utilised this research to inform novel logistics analysis for City of London decision makers.
  • I mapped digital systems and services from logistics providers and delivered research (user observations, quantitative analysis) and testing of trial delivery interventions and models.
Research Associate, Lancaster University, 2015 – 2018
  • I conducted user research with a range of third sector partners and local government.
  • I developed and delivered user-centred digital skills workshops with senior citizens as part of an independent living co-creation project.
  • I used card sorting and user testing sessions for memory recall and application design.
  • I also used ethnography, interviews, and workshops with facilities management to research, design and prototype an energy information system, producing systems schematic designs for service development.
  • This work involved transcribing and coding of hours of interview data, as well as peer reviewing other colleagues’ research methods, data and analysis.
Developer/UX Researcher, Chalmers University, Sweden, 2015 – 2016
  • Working in a collaborative research team to discover user needs for a knowledge base. Design sprints to develop UX for a knowledge base, feature prototyping, user testing, and iterative design implementing user feedback.
Research Assistant, Lancaster University, 2015 – 2018
Doctoral Researcher, Lancaster University, 2011 – 2015
  • Combining qualitative and quantitative research to understand user practices and develop design recommendations for home digital technologies and energy reduction.
  • This blended a range of research methods including: photo elicitation, ethno-methodologies, storyboarding, contextual enquiry, interviews, workshops, surveys, home tours, and diary studies.
Software Developer, Knowledge Business Centre, 2013
Assistant Lecturer/Teaching Assistant, Lancaster University, 2012 – 2014
Research Assistant, Lancaster University, Summer 2011

Professional Development

  • How to Create a UX Portfolio – IDF (2023)
  • How to Create Successful Design Systems with Storytelling – IDF (2023)

Education

  • 2011 – 2015 – PhD Human Computer Interaction (Computer Science), “The impacts of domestic media and ICT: a study of digital technology, energy consumption, data demand and everyday practice”, Lancaster University, sponsored by Microsoft Research
  • 2008 – 2011 BSc Computer Science, Lancaster University, 2011, First Class (Hons)

Awards, Contributions and Impacts