A problem with evidence behind it
Students' stress when committing to a room they hadn't seen, the peak of the journey in my 2025 study. In November 2026 I checked five providers' booking pages: none covered all six things students said they needed, and checking whether a room fits a person was the weakest everywhere.
Learn the method on a real study, then use it for clients
How fellows learn
- Trained on my own housing study, with every stage checked before the next starts.
- Free during the pilot.
- Every deliverable reviewed and signed off by me.
Paid from day one of client work
- £15 an hour, travel time included.
- Each review is a portfolio piece for the fellow.
- And proof of the method for the studio.
Room Fit Review
A review of a student housing service the way a student meets it before they sign: every listing, photo, floor plan, booking step, email and contract.
- Map the service
From first search to moving in, as stages with a check at each.
- Build personas from the research
Across course, nationality, need and housing type, including disabled students and students with health conditions.
- Walk each persona through
Every touchpoint, to find where they get stuck or can't check what they need.
- Test demand with residents
With the provider's permission: would clearer room details have changed their choice?
- Test the riskiest findings
With real students, then report what to change, ranked by evidence.
Language in the first year
How international students build the language they need for study and daily life, and where the support they're offered doesn't reach them. It uses the same stages and checks as the first brief, starts from a template I wrote in a past group project, and uses only new research gathered with consent.
Seven audiences, a target for each
Before the first cohort runs, each audience has a clear ask and a target. The course goes ahead once they're met.
| Audience | What we ask | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Graduates and alumni | Join the pilot, or say how you found your room | 50 answers, 10 course places |
| Students | One question about the room they signed for | No target set yet |
| University teams | Placements, co-delivery or shared findings | One call each |
| Students' Union | Co-run a short anonymous survey | One survey partner |
| Housing providers | Pilot a review at a founding rate | Two pilots |
| Councils | Hear the findings on room fit and housing quality | One reply each |
| Government and policy | A short briefing on checking a home before signing | One briefing request |
A finished study is a course waiting to happen
Then → Now
Then: a team study that ended with a report. Now: the same study trains the next researchers and becomes a service people can pay for.
Then → Now
Then: one study, one team. Now: two briefs through the same stages and checks, so the method is tested twice before clients rely on it.