VP Research
Fiona Hovenden
Fiona Hovenden is an experienced researcher who uses the practice of ethnography as a main part of her work. For the past eighteen years, through doctoral and post-doctoral research, and in the business world, she has provided insight-based strategies for many organizations. These range from global consortia, Fortune 100 companies, government ministries, SMEs, and philanthropic foundations, to non-profits, and start-ups.
Her fieldwork has taken her to a wide variety of situations and places, including: a nuclear power plant and a scientific research vessel to provide insight into the cultural aspects of safety critical systems; inside a major telecoms organization to chart the work of a skunk works team; schools and school district offices in the US, a Tennessee tobacco farm, and a Latino community center to provide insight into supporting equity in education; American gas stations, boutiques, and flagship concept stores to explore the intersections of service station and retail; and a reform school, mental health agencies serving the urban poor, a marriage bureau, and schools to provide insight on a number of projects building innovation in the provision of education and social services in the US and Singapore.
Fiona is also a trained psychotherapist, and has five years of clinical experience working with groups and individuals in London and the Bay Area.
At Collective Invention Fiona provides research direction, management, and support for clients. This ranges from primary research, through analysis and integration of data, to rich persona and scenario-based recommendations, and the design or re-design of social processes, policies, and strategic direction.
Her current interests are focused upon the capabilities for creating sustained change. This bridges her work with individuals and groups as a therapist, and her work with organizations. Fiona combines a strong academic background with a wide-ranging experience of practical application. Her work is deeply influenced by the practices of ethnography, and the therapeutic ideas of living change, but not rigidly confined to these disciplines. She enjoys working with complex problems and integrating multiple types of data, and has significant experience in integrating best practices from different disciplines to produce optimum strategies for changing environments. This applies to her own work and practice, and to the solutions she designs for clients.
Before joining Collective Invention Fiona worked with The Idea Factory, US, and The Idea Factory, Singapore, was Director of Research for Noise to Signal, an online experience consultancy, and a Research Fellow in the Computing Department of The Open University, UK.
As well as extensive research reports, Fiona has authored journal papers and book chapters, and co-authored 'The Gendered Cyborg', Routledge. She has a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of London, an M.S. in Artificial Intelligence from Kingston University, UK, an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from JFK University, California, and a Ph.D. in Computing and Ethnography from Brunel University, UK.
