Anthropology Beyond the Academy with Jemima Higgins and Hannah Jump

Going beyond user-centred service design: experiments in person-centred, place based policymaking

 

Jemima Higgins and Hannah Jump are social anthropologists by background, researchers at heart, and designers by accident.  

 

Alumni of the Social Anthropology Department at the University of Cambridge, they both now work in the Test, Learn and Grow programme, based in the Cabinet Office. This programme takes an experimental approach to public sector form which aims to turn top-down policymaking on its head by testing a more iterative, person-centred, place-based approach to policymaking.

Drawing on experiences working on digital services and user-centred policy design across government, this talk will explore:

• the applications of anthropology in user-centred design and user-centred policy design
• the changing role of designers amidst the emergence of ‘public design’ and ‘test and learn approaches’
• reflections on how anthropology influences their work today

 

Bios:

Hannah Jump is a designer and researcher, currently working in Test, Learn and Grow with the London Borough of Islington to tackle Violence Against Women and girls. Hannah has worked in central and local government to make inclusive and accessible services. She cares deeply about people and the planet, and has a deep interest in people and how we think. She loves facilitating groups and conversations to see what emerges.

Jemima Higgins is a Senior Service Designer in Test, Learn and Grow, currently working in Wakefield to co-design ways of impacting labour market participation. Her background is in user-centred policy and strategy design, including time in HMRC’s Policy Lab aiming to make early-stage policy design more person-centred. She has previously worked in digital strategy design in the Northern Ireland Civil Service and as a User Researcher in the Ministry of Justice.