Session overview
The Research Forum brings DIN members together for three focused, 90-minute online sessions, each centred on a real challenge facing the housing sector. Sessions are interactive, grounded in lived experience, and designed to be immediately useful.

You’ll work with peers to explore how research, data and everyday insight can better inform decisions, shape services and support clearer, more purposeful action—without needing extra time, budget or complexity.

The emphasis throughout is on clarity, curiosity and practical tools you can use straight away.

Key takeaways
By joining the Research Forum, participants will gain:

• Greater confidence in using research and insight to shape decisions

• Practical skills for making sense of data, questions and evidence

• A clearer sense of what’s working, what needs attention and what to explore next

• Simple, adaptable tools and methods drawn from both housing and other fields

• A more collaborative mindset, encouraging conversation and shared learning across teams

• The ability to spot knowledge gaps and address them in practical, achievable ways

About the speakers

Dr Rob Rowlands – Curator of Curiosity & DIN Researcher in Residence
Rob is DIN’s Researcher in Residence and a thinking leader who helps organisations turn evidence into actionable insight, equipping teams to make confident, practical decisions and deliver meaningful impact. With around three decades’ experience working in and around housing, he understands how research needs to fit the real world—messy, pressured and full of competing priorities. (www.robrowlands.co.uk)

Paul Taylor – Innovation Coach, Bromford Flagship
Paul is the Innovation Coach at Bromford Flagship, where he helps drive the strategy for one of the UK’s largest housing associations. A recognised pioneer in the sector, he’s best known for giving up a “proper job” in 2014 to launch the social housing sector’s first dedicated Innovation Lab—a move that fundamentally changed how housing providers approach problem-solving and service design.

Who should attend
Curiosity to Clarity is for you if:

• You’re tired of firefighting without always knowing what’s actually working

• You want research to feel useful and accessible, not intimidating

• You’re curious about what could change if you really understood your own system better

This Forum is ideal for people working in:

• Strategy and corporate planning

• Service delivery and operations

• Transformation, change and improvement

• Insight, data, research and evaluation

You’ll leave with practical techniques you can use immediately in your own context, plus ongoing peer support and access to DIN’s Researcher in Residence for guidance and reflection.

Cost
Included as part of your DIN membership.