Thea Shahrokh – Associate Researcher
Thea has worked with Involve since January 2009. At the end of 2010 she went to Guyana in South America where she worked as a Volunteering Advocacy Adviser with the VSO National Volunteering Programme and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport. During this period Thea posted a monthly blog (on the Involve website) to share her experiences. Thea is now working as a consultant researcher specialising in participation and civic engagement, most recently she has worked on a project for VSO International looking at gender inequalities and participation in public and political life.
While working for Involve, Thea conducted research on citizen deliberation at a global and national scale and became well practised in different methods of qualitative and deliberative methodologies. She worked on a range of projects including, practical guidance on engagement and healthy communities for the LGID, Sciencewise-ERC’s ongoing Dialogue Bulletin, and research on ‘making the case for engagement’ on behalf of Consumer Focus. She is a skilled facilitator and has designed training on participation and engagement for organisations including the NHS Institute, the EU FRA and ODI. Thea has a BSc in Psychology from the University of Nottingham and an MA in International Relations from Kings College London.