About Us
Logical Thinking helps draw ideas into form. Believing in the fact that everyone brings something valuable to the table, we tap into peoples’ assets and work with them to achieve their dreams and hopes (or others might call it aims or objectives). This may take the form of developing innovative strategies, shaping programme approaches, and evidencing needs and impacts. Logical Thinking was started by WeiHsi Hu in February, 2014.
WeiHsi Hu has worked in the charity sector for the past 17 years. Most recently, he held the position of Research & Consultancy Manager at one of the largest local service charities in UK — Community Links. WeiHsi is a Prince2 Certified project manager and with experience in community research, evaluation and strategic programme design. WeiHsi has worked a wide range of community organisations and government agencies in Canada and UK. In the past, WeiHsi has led on projects for clients such as the GLA, Mayors Fund for London, Coventry Law Centre, Locality and British Institute for Human Rights. In 2008, he worked as the programme manager for the Department of Children, Schools, and Families, leading central performance management for the Schools Directorate. WeiHsi specialises in qualitative research and engagement strategies for youth. Throughout his career, he devoted his efforts in advocating for social inclusion and engagement of vulnerable populations youth population in policy decision processes both at local and national levels. In 2014, WeiHsi was a guest lecturer at on the post-graduate programme of Bedfordshire University School of Business & Systems.
Sophie Ahmad is an experienced researcher who has led complex, multi-method research and evaluation projects for government departments, local authorities, health trusts, regulators, sector improvement bodies, charities, and utility companies. Until October 2013, Sophie was Head of Research at the Office for Public Management (OPM), where she was responsible for building the research business, directing projects, and managing a team of researchers. She was also a member of the divisional leadership team and led OPM’s work in the voluntary sector. Sophie is currently working as a freelance researcher and evaluator. Sophie has particular interests in health and social care, work and worklessness, equality and diversity, professionalism, partnership working, and governance. She has considerable experience in designing and leading research projects with ‘vulnerable/marginalised’ groups. In addition to her research career, Sophie has worked as an organisational development consultant, for OPM and for Compass Partnership, and remains strongly committed to helping clients use insights from research to support performance improvement and change. Before moving into research and consultancy, Sophie commissioned and published academic books in social policy, sociology, politics and international relations. Sophie has a BA in Social and Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge, a post-graduate diploma in Advanced International Studies from Johns Hopkins University Bologna Center, and an MSc in Research Methods from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is a qualified executive coach.
Ellie Roberts is a Senior Researcher at NatCen Social Research. She has research interests which span areas such as prison reform, substance misuse, poverty and inequality. Ellie is highly experienced in qualitative methodologies such as depth interviews and focus groups which she has undertaken with a wide range of participant groups. She has also undertaken a substantial amount of work with vulnerable groups and on sensitive and complex subjects. Ellie currently leads a high profile qualitative study for the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) which involves conducting depth interviews with offenders as well as prison staff and providers and recently led a large-scale project talking to service users about support provided in prisons and local communities around substance misuse for the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). Ellie also has expertise in delivering theory of change evaluations having led a large study for Islington Council on service integration and a logic model and evaluation framework for the Department for Education.
Ellie is a member of a Research Ethics Committee and currently delivers training for the Social Research Associations on qualitative research methods, focus groups and managing challenging interviews. Before joining NatCen in 2014, Ellie held research posts at Community Links and the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion (now the Learning and Work Institute).
Nim is an experienced qualitative researcher within the social sector and has worked for Project Oracle, Community Links, MOSAIC Black and Mixed Parentage Family Group. She also brings experience in strategic development, project management, and campaigning with a specialism in Equality and Diversity. Nim was previously Operations Manager at The Runnymede Trust and at MOSAIC Black and Mixed Parentage Group where her work included project management, leadership development, case working and events management. In 2008, Nim co-Founded So We Stand, which campaigned for social and environmental justice, and was Project Director between 2008-2012. She has worked with vulnerable people in various settings. Nim holds a First Class MA (Hons) in Politics and Sociology from the University of Edinburgh.
Ellen founded The Ladder Consultancy 2013 to focus on strategic communications in the public policy arena. Ellen advises and communicates on a range of issues for clients across the voluntary, private and public sectors, specialising in health, education and social equality. With a 15-year track record of not-for-profit campaigning, Ellen spent six years at Forster Communications, latterly as a Board Director, working with clients including the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, The Stroke Association, King’s Fund and the Departments of Health, Transport and Communities and Local Government. She has also held a number of non-executive roles, including Trustee of the charities Tiny Tickers and Mentor UK, and Governor at primary schools in Haringey and Hackney. Ellen is an Associate of the National Social Marketing Centre