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News & Views

At Simetrica-Jacobs, we work across industries and with a wide variety of clients and sectors, applying the most robust methods to measure what matters, drive insights, and inform decision-making. Check back regularly for more information on our work, including news, blogs and project updates.

Jul 24, 2024

Trading Anxiety for Action: How to create a robust social value foundation

Where do you start when creating a social value strategy? What should you be measuring and how do you operationalise it? In an article for New Civil Engineer, Simetrica-Jacobs' CEO Dr. Mary-Kathryn Adams shares key steps in creating effective social value strategies.

Sep 15, 2023

The Hidden Benefits of Active Travel

Funding for active travel is being slashed by 68%. What impact will this have on individuals and society as a whole? In this piece, we examine what the evidence tells us and argue that the impacts are large and far reaching. We also posit a reason for this reduction in funding and show how Simetrica-Jacobs can assist in your project appraisals by quantifying the benefits and helping to optimise decision-making.

Aug 10, 2023

Climate Anxiety: how to use it to our own advantage

More and more of us are becoming increasingly concerned about the state of our planet and what our future holds given the increasing ‘once in a lifetime natural disaster’ events linked to climate change. This climate anxiety can be harmful to our wellbeing, but we can use it as a tool.

Jul 13, 2023

Wellbeing Valuation: What is it and how can it be used?

Wellbeing plays a significant role in understanding social outcomes in economic terms. Find out more about what wellbeing valuation is and how it can be used to evidence your impact and optimise decision-making.

Jul 5, 2023

Reframing Social Value

We kicked off our webinar, ‘Reframing Social Value: The relationship between insight, impact and investment,’ with a few stories and a massive throwback to 1747 and trials of treatments for scurvy. (Yes, really.)

Jun 7, 2023

Simetrica-Jacobs response to Procurement Bill

Simetrica-Jacobs endorses the progressive steps taken in the Procurement Bill and provide some insight on how it can be strengthened.

May 25, 2023

Simetrica-Jacobs announces appointment of new Chief Executive Officer and Chief Economist

Exciting changes are afoot at Simetrica-Jacobs as the Board announces changes to its leadership and readies the company to lead the next era in Social Value.

May 5, 2023

Does the gender pay gap data lie?

On International Women’s Day, the internet was awash with content to mark the day, and a lot of this focused on global gender parity and the need to close the gender pay gap. But how does the gender pay gap affect wellbeing for women? And does this translate to lower job satisfaction? Exploring the data available around the gender pay gap raises some interesting contradictions – including the fact that organisations with the lowest gender pay gaps are not the highest ranking amongst lists of best places for women to work. This suggests that the impacts of the gender pay gap are actually experienced through measures beyond those related to job satisfaction. So, what are those measures? What does this mean about the extent to which we should rely on gender pay gap and job satisfaction data? In our latest blog, we argue that we need to dig deeper, and include a broader understanding about the drivers of wellbeing to truly understand the impact of the gender pay gap.

Mar 24, 2023

UK’s shrinking economy and GDP (Gaps in Data Production)

In the context of the UK’s looming recession, focusing solely on GDP portrays an incomplete picture of the current UK economy and underestimates the burden on people’s quality of life from the current cost of living crisis. A focus on people, through wellbeing measures, rather than financial measures provides a more holistic view.

Jun 16, 2022

The impact of health mentors on at-risk children’s wellbeing

We are highlighting the importance of early intervention for pupils at risk of exclusion. This work with Evolve is a great example of how we can apply our impact evaluation methods to demonstrate the positive impact of organisations’ activities.

May 19, 2022

Culture and Heritage Capital: A Guide to using UK Government Tools to Evidence the Value of your Cultural Institution

The value of culture and heritage often goes unevidenced and consequently, unseen. But we all feel it. When we admire a historical building, when we stroll through public museums and art galleries, or when we flick through the pages of a book lent to us by our local library. The Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has launched a new valuation framework based on Simetrica-Jacobs research to value these often ignored benefits. This article provides you with all the links to relevant guidance notes for you to independently evidence the value of your cultural institution.

Mar 15, 2022

What impact does being scammed have on wellbeing?

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of fraud incidents has increased by almost a quarter (ONS, 2021). With this significant increase in recent years, it is natural to ask: what is the impact of this?

Aug 9, 2021

Newly launched Green Book Supplementary Guidance recommends Simetrica-Jacobs income coefficient to measure life satisfaction

Helen Dunn, Director of Policy & Analysis, Simetrica-Jacobs Last week, HM Treasury published new Green Book Supplementary Guidance on Wellbeing Guidance for Appraisal.

Apr 7, 2021

Anti-Asian Racism and what we can do about it

Download our new report on anti-Asian racism A message from our CEO, Dr Daniel Fujiwara, about our new report on the impact and social costs

Jan 21, 2021

The impact of Covid-19 on the cultural sector: Priorities and opportunities

Feeling a little out of sorts? A bit low? You’re certainly not alone. Across the board, the Covid-19 pandemic, and return to the ‘new normal’ of Lockdown#2 has affected all walks of life.

Nov 7, 2020

Social value measurement in large scale infrastructure.

An interview with Daniel Fujiwara Dr Mary-Kathryn Adams, Head of Strategy, Simetrica-Jacobs To coincide with the publication of the white paper Before and Beyond the