We specialise in qualitative and mixed-methods research that reveals not just what users and communities do, but why they do it; not just what they need but why they need it. We can provide end-to-end research activities or provide one piece of the research puzzle – whatever suits your needs. We conduct a range of research activities, from surveys, interviews, usability testing, and focus groups all to way to engaging community consultations, in depth ethnographies, creative codesign workshops, behavioural analysis and impactful design sprints.
Do you want to understand how your users, communities or customers are engaging with emerging AI systems? Do you want to explore how your own business might use AI? Are you interested in the ethical implications of using these systems or what public perception of their use is? We can help you understand and explore these questions!
We offer tailored evaluation services to help you understand how people experience your technology, service, or community initiative. We provide actionable insights into usability, accessibility, engagement and impact through literature reviews, quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods, and reports and other outputs, e.g journey maps. We work with your organisation to ensure your technologies, services, or initiatives are meaningful, inclusive, and responsive to real-world needs.
Do you want to learn how to do what we do? As experienced educators and facilitators, we offer practical, hands-on training in research, evaluation, and community engagement. Drawing on our extensive background as academic lecturers, we’ve taught everyone from undergraduate students to industry leaders. We can guide you through the entire research and engagement process, or focus on specific methods, tailored to your organisation’s goals. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to build internal capacity, we design custom training packages that reflect your needs and the people and communities you work with. We’re passionate about supporting to do meaningful, inclusive work, and amplifying the voices that matter most.
We met while studying for our PhDs in Human-Computer Interaction in Brisbane, Australia, and became firm friends, converging on matters of ethics, participation and fairness in the design of technologies and services. We both now live in Edinburgh, Scotland, where we work as Lecturers and where we run our business.
We started Forth Story in order to provide a consultancy service which bridges between academia and industry, between users and developers, between policymakers and communities, between your customers and your business, and beyond. So, you could say bridges are symbolic to us – hence our name, which refers to the Forth Rail Bridge in Edinburgh, where we founded the business, and the Story Bridge in Brisbane, where we met!
We have been conducting person-centred research with many diverse user groups for a combined 20 years, including marginalised communities, social care organisations, banking groups, older adults, remote and rural communities, neurodiverse populations, disabled populations, local charity groups, arts organisations, children and teenagers, displaced peoples and refugees, mental health organisations, schools and teachers, science centres, farming communities, healthcare professionals, employment and disability services, government services, and community organisations.
Tara Capel
Cara Wilson