Dr Sonya Crowe Associate Professor of Operational Research

About me

Sonya is an Improvement Science Fellow and Associate Professor of Operational Research at University College London.

She holds a PhD in quantum magnetism and since its completion has been focusing on operational research – using analytical methods to solve real-world problems.

After completing her PhD in 2005, Sonya became an operational research analyst for the UK Government. There she became energised by multidisciplinary work and experienced the challenge of working with diverse partners to improve health care.

Sonya used her improvement science fellowship as an opportunity to learn from complementary disciplines in the social sciences and identify effective ways of translating analytical solutions into real improvements for patients.

The first part of Sonya’s project focused on an improvement project with Great Ormond Street Hospital. This looked at ways to improve support and outcomes for infants once they’ve returned home after cardiac surgery. Her role was to develop analytical models for exploring how limited resources can be targeted most effectively to infants who have different levels of risk and to work with health professionals and patients to systematically consider improvements from a systems perspective.

In the second part of the project, Sonya studied the role that this type of analysis plays in the complex decision-making process of designing a better service. Her primary research discipline, operational research, uses analytical methods, such as problem structuring and mathematical modelling, to analyse complex situations. It is regularly used by government and industry to inform policy, strategy and operational decisions, but, as Sonya explains, alone it is not always able to convince decision makers of the need for change.

'There are times when even though the research seems convincing, the findings are ignored', she says. 'To be really persuasive, I think this approach needs to bear in mind many of the other driving forces involved in bringing about change within health care.'

Alongside her improvement science fellowship, Sonya was an Improvement Scientist in Residence at Care City, an innovative partnership organisation in north east London with a dual aim of promoting healthy ageing and social regeneration. Her role there was to help develop and embed robust approaches to service improvement and to help evaluate their health and social care innovation test bed. This involved working closely with professionals across organisational boundaries to identify where improvements are needed and using metrics and analysis to support this.

Sonya also led a multi-disciplinary team of embedded researchers at University College London Hospitals to design and deliver responsive research in close collaboration with staff and patients, and to promote awareness and capabilities in health services research with those working in these services.

Sonya was awarded the Goodeve medal from the Operational Research Society in 2015, is a nominated member of the Operational Research Society General Council and worked with a multicultural health and social care charity in north London as part of the Operational Research Society’s Pro Bono initiative.