Isobel Finlay

Isobel is a Senior Researcher in the Centre for Evaluation. Isobel specialises in evaluating programmes using Theory-Based Evaluation approaches, harnessing the power of qualitative impact methods to reveal causal links in complex interventions. Isobel has significant experience evaluating education programmes. Before joining NatCen, she worked at The Careers & Enterprise Company evaluating programs for the UK Department for Education including their primary school careers programme pilot and their Careers Leader training fund. Additionally, Isobel has experience in survey design and analysis, leading on the development and analysis of the ‘Future Skills Questionnaire’ a national survey measuring students’ career readiness. 

Isobel’s areas of interest include education, migration, and disadvantage, particularly the way in which individuals’ intersectional identities impact their experiences. She holds an post-graduate degree in International Social and Public Policy from the London School Economics where her thesis explored the role of educators’ agency in the provision of quality education for asylum-seeking and refugee children.