Our Team
Jon and Tom set up Chrysalis Research in 2010, following successful research careers in the commercial, not-for-profit and public sectors. The directors team is completed by Natalia, who joined in 2016 following extensive education and academic research experience. The directors are closely involved in the day-to-day management of all projects and are supported by a strong team of researchers from academia, teaching and social research backgrounds.
Jon Batterham
Co-founder and Director
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Jon is a founding director of Chrysalis Research. He has worked at Research Director level for over twenty years and in that time has overseen research and evaluation projects for a wide range of commercial, public and not for profit organisations. He is the main point of contact for our work for Sky, Age UK and VMO2.
Jon enjoys undertaking research along with his account management responsibilities. He also volunteers as an Enterprise Advisor with a local secondary school through the Gloucestershire Careers Hub.
Tom Levesley
Co-founder and Director
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Tom’s interests focus on education, employment and skills. He was a primary school teacher before moving into research and policy, including roles with the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, the Home Office and commercial research agencies. Tom has worked extensively with awarding bodies, sector skills councils and vocational training providers and has led on projects for Teachers’ Pensions, City & Guilds and AQA.
Dr Natalia Buckler
Director
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Natalia has in-depth expertise and understanding of the education sector and learning in a variety of contexts and settings, from early years to further and higher education. She joined Chrysalis in March 2016 from the Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education (CUREE) and has a particular interest in arts education research and evaluation. She leads many of our projects, including those for BT, CEC and the Manchester Climate Change Agency.
Dr Anna Fair
Senior Research Manager
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Anna has a background in health psychology and has worked in both commercial and academic research during her career, including her PhD research which explored ways to motivate sedentary adults to become more active. She has a particular interest in projects which use community-based and social prescribing approaches to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals but enjoys any research which seeks to improve outcomes for young people and disadvantaged groups. Anna is skilled in both quantitative and qualitative methods and is an experienced project manager. She leads our work on Age UK, DrinkAware and North Yorkshire County Council.
Colin Isham
Associate Director
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Colin Isham combines experience as a teaching professional with research and evaluation skills, developed through use-of-research and academic projects. Colin has worked extensively in the further education sector, responsible for curriculum design for foreign language, mathematics and work-based projects. He is leading our work the Association of Colleges and has carried out consultations on qualification design for AQA and City & Guilds, as well as evaluation of community outreach projects. Colin also conducts external evaluation of European Commission-funded programmes.
Anita Smith
Senior Research Manager
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Anita is a former primary school teacher with over 20 years’ worth of experience in designing and implementing research projects. She has a particular interest in child and youth, education and healthcare research and has worked with a wide range of private and third sector organisations, helping them to develop and enhance their programme strategy and impact. Her work has included ongoing evaluations of several corporate volunteering programmes, as well as a range of educational programmes aimed at both primary and secondary school pupils. She is leading several of our projects for Sky and was heavily involved in working with Now Press Play.
Dr Corina Balaban
Research Manager
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Corina is an experienced qualitative researcher with a PhD in education. Prior to joining Chrysalis Research in 2022, she worked in universities in Denmark and the UK, and was part of the Research and Development team at the AQA exam board. Her skills include doing rapid evidence reviews, developing suitable research tools for data collection and analysis, facilitating focus groups, and writing impact reports for clients. Since joining the company, she has worked on projects for Sky, Meningitis Now, Age UK and Hubbub.
Dr Ben Burbank
Research Manager
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Ben is an experienced researcher who holds a PhD in Education. Before moving into the commercial research sector, he worked as a Research Fellow and Associate Lecturer at Oxford Brookes University. When not working for Chrysalis he teaches Mixed Methods at Oxford University’s Department for Continuing Education to doctoral and industry researchers.
Since joining Chrysalis in October 2022, Ben has worked with a range of clients on community and education projects and is particularly involved with Sky Up Academy Studios and Sky Up On Tour.
Chrysalis Research is a Market Research Society Company Partner.
We adhere to the MRS Code of Conduct and MRS Company Partner Quality Commitment in all our research.
Chrysalis Research UK Limited
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