Billy Bryan

Billy Bryan
Evaluation and Research Leader
Cambridge Office

Education

Ph.D. in medical education, University of Sheffield; P.G.Cert. in learning and teaching, University of Sheffield; B.Sc. in sports and exercise science, Sheffield Hallam University

Overview

Billy Bryan (he/him) is an evaluation and research leader at RAND Europe. He has six years of experience in monitoring and evaluation with specific focuses on science, technology, and innovation policy, green innovation, space technology, research and innovation (R&I) and business support for COVID-19 and international development.

He is an experienced study manager having led and worked on over 60 evaluations for UKRI (across councils), BEIS, UKSA, FCDO, UK national academies, Wellcome, and the European Commission. Bryan is an expert in theory-based evaluation, particularly contribution analysis and process tracing and delivering evaluation training to BEIS analysts. He has led large evaluations of public investments including of the Nuclear Innovation Programme (BEIS), Impact evaluation of UKRI’s R&I response to COVID-19, and UKSA’s Centre for Earth Observation Instrumentation (CEOI) programmes.

Bryan has particular expertise in applying theory-based evaluation in complex multi-phase evaluations. He completed his Ph.D. in medical education at Sheffield Medical School. He is a Trustee at Sussex Students’ Union, an advisory board member of the Cardiovascular Research Trust and sits on the Evaluation and Trial Advice Panel (ETAP).

Concurrent Non-RAND Positions

Evaluation and Trial Advice Panel (ETAP) member - UK Government

Recent Projects

  • Evaluation of the Centre For Earth Observation Instrumentation Programme (CEOI)
  • Evaluation of the Nuclear Innovation Programme (NIP)
  • Evaluation of the Future Leaders Fellowships (FLF)
  • Evaluation of the Research Partnership Investment Fund (RPIF)

Selected Publications

Kay Guccione and Billy Bryan, "Worth doing but not worth having? The influence of personal aspirations and career expectations on the value of a doctorate," Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, 14(1), 2023

Billy Bryan and Kay Guccione, "Was it worth it? A qualitative exploration into graduate perceptions of doctoral value," Higher Education Research & Development, 37(6), 2018

Anete Vingre, Peter Kolarz and Billy Bryan, "On your marks, get set, fund! Rapid responses to the COVID-19 pandemic," fteval Journal for Research and Technology Policy Evaluation, 53, 2022

Peter Kolarz, Erik Arnold, Billy Bryan, Julie D’hont, Andrej Horvath, Paul Simmonds, Peter Varnai, Anete Vingre, Process review of UKRI's research and innovation response to COVID-19 Final report Process review of UKRI's research and innovation response to COVID-19 Final report, UKRI, 2021

Julian Barr, Billy Bryan, Peter Kolarz, Xavier Potau, Mel Punton,Paul Simmonds, and Isabel Vogel, GCRF Evaluation Foundation Stage Final Report, BEIS, 2018

Commentary

Publications