Lucy Blakemore

Education experiences are always changing… are you?

Think you know your students? Perhaps you do. But what about the quiet ones, the edge cases, the ones who chose a different institution, or those who decided uni wasn’t for them, after all? As the world changes for learners, are your insights, teams, and stakeholders responding?

Exploring student journeys, unmet needs, and forgotten aspirations offers direction and clarity for more informed decisions. Research won’t tell you what to do, but it can surface new ideas, inspire your team, or give you the reality check you need to de-risk your next steps. Let’s talk (and listen)…

See education with fresh eyes.

I’m Lucy Blakemore, a research and insights professional specialising in the global education sector and student experience in education. I lead work in education innovation and insights with higher education institutions in Australia and around the world.

Over the last 25 years I’ve held leadership, research and teaching roles in the UK, Italy, Sudan and Australia. My current insights work spans multiple contexts, including high schools, pathways, onshore/offshore, public/private and both international and domestic student experience.

I work in close partnership with you and your teams to design creative, human-centred research approaches, surface strategic insights and identify solutions to help you do things differently. Building on external and internal knowledge, we’ll craft questions, interactive tasks and experiments to test hypotheses using research interviews, observations, stakeholder discussions and in-depth workshops.

I’m a member of The Research Society, the professional association for the market research and insights industry in Australia, and serve on the Research Committee for the International Education Association of Australia (IEAA). I’m also a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK (PFHEA).

If you need someone who asks great questions, has intense listening skills and can summarise almost anything on a single whiteboard (or in a mind map!) feel free to get in touch.

📧 lucy@lucyblakemore.com

Simon Bush, Director, Future Students, University of Newcastle

Lucy's deep understanding of the sector means she knows when to dig deeper to get the real gold, rather than stopping at superficial insights.
Her communication throughout projects, including the video vignettes straight after interviews/ groups means we are getting insights faster and feel more deeply involved with the research. Her ability to draft a clear and compelling narrative in reporting back creates impact with our internal audiences and ensures insights are actionable.
Allison Franks, NSW Health Education Centre Against Violence

Collaborating with Lucy on the development of the Problematic and Harmful Sexual Behaviours (PHSB) clinical resources was an exceptional and rewarding experience. The project was complex and multifaceted, involving a wide array of stakeholders in a complex Health environment. Lucy provided clarity and cohesion through her strategic use of research and deep understanding of human-centered design. Her ability to identify and share nuanced insights, map stakeholder journeys, and facilitate thoughtful collaboration ensured the work was both completed to the highest standard and met the needs of the intended audience. Lucy’s patience, professionalism, and commitment to creating impactful, sustainable outcomes were invaluable throughout the process. We look forward to working with her again on future projects.
Georgia Rowe, Experience & Engagement Manager, Adelaide University

Lucy Blakemore is a Swiss Army knife. She’s got a tool, method, technique for every problem or opportunity. From design research to communication and strategy, Lucy is equipped for any situation or stakeholder. And she's an absolute pleasure to work with – empathetic, an amazing listener, sparring partner, coach, and mentor. Coupled with fine taste in coffee and books.
She led a project for Adelaide University to storytell an experience design strategy to multi-disciplinary stakeholders across all levels of the institution. She set the team up to communicate complex concepts clearly, concisely and with impact.

Strategic Planning & Insights

Learn how to use research strategically, get more value from insights and build sustainable research skills in your teams.

Student and academic experience research
Journey mapping, interviewing & ethnography
Strategic planning & innovation workshops
Research and analysis training for teams

Learn more

Proud to have worked since 2019 with organisations making a difference in education.

Mark Pettitt, Founder & CEO, Edified

Lucy did an outstanding job running qualitative interviews with our clients and prospects around the world. Her thoughtful, personable and detailed approach was very much appreciated by both us and our clients.
Her work has given us a much deeper understanding of our clients’ needs and how they see us in the market. This is now informing our new 5 year strategy and giving us confidence to take some bold actions.
Peta Bollen, Sydney Institute of Business & Technology

The [research] frameworks now underpin every decision I make - they’ve literally changed the way I approach my work with students. Whether it be supporting my teachers to think about their students differently, or participating in projects to improve business operations, these frameworks are always at the front of my mind and I have no doubt our practices have improved immensely from a student experience perspective. Bring on more workshops!
Helen Zimmerman, Australian Business and Community Network Foundation

I have learned much from working with Lucy Blakemore over the past decade. She has brought new perspectives, creative approaches and a rigorous qualitative research framework to engaging with consumer needs and change management in complex situations. Lucy’s work is evidence-based and people-centred, collaborative, and robust. She captures the complexity of systems, behaviours and organisations in ways that involve and engage, and provide roadmaps for meaningful outcomes.