Andrea Rothschild

Project manager with a Master’s degree in Public Health Science and experience leading programmes for children and young people in the voluntary sector. My work sits at the intersection of lived experience, research and policy, with a focus on bringing young people’s experiences into service development and decision-making.

I currently lead a nationally funded project focused on the experiences of young people with child welfare backgrounds, from programme planning and delivery through to research, evaluation and reporting. I also coordinate a national network of user representatives working across health, child welfare and local government. My experience includes budgeting, partnership and stakeholder working, qualitative research, policy and consultation work, and presenting directly to politicians at formal parliamentary hearings.

I’m currently relocating to Greater Manchester and interested in connecting with people working in public health, children’s services, participation and service development across the region.

Ly - Advisor, User Representation and Participation

Sep 2025 – present

• Lead and coordinate a national network of 13 user representatives, including recruitment, training, mentoring and ongoing support.

• Develop frameworks, routines and systems for user participation across service, organisational and system levels.

• Coordinate representation across advisory boards, working groups and reference groups involving local authorities, health services, child welfare services, researchers and voluntary organisations.

• Build and maintain partnerships across sectors, representing Ly’s interests while identifying opportunities for collaboration and service development.

• Collect, analyse and communicate lived experience to inform organisational development, policy, consultation responses and professional practice.

• Contribute to funding applications, project reporting and organisational planning, and regularly facilitate and present at meetings, workshops and national events.

Ly - Advisor, Child Welfare, and Project Lead, Ungt Nettverk Barnevern (Young Network for Child Welfare)

Sep 2023 – Sep 2026

• Lead the planning, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of a three-year national participation programme for young people with experience of the child welfare system, including project governance, budgeting and reporting.

• Lead qualitative data collection and analysis with young people aged 16–25, including focus groups, interviews and thematic analysis, and use findings to inform policy and service development.

• Coordinate collaboration between young people, practitioners, researchers, public services and government agencies, including a research partnership with UiT, The Arctic University of Norway.

• Develop systems for collecting and communicating lived experience and translate findings into reports, presentations and other outputs for professional and policy audiences.

• Lead reporting to the Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs (Bufdir), ensuring progress against agreed outcomes, funding requirements and project milestones.

• Ensure appropriate research ethics and GDPR compliance throughout the project.

• The project has resulted in a 64-page report bringing together the experiences of 42 young people and has contributed to the development of a youth panel for continued participation in research and service development.

Manglerud Youth Centre, Oslo - Youth Worker

Apr 2021 – Dec 2023

• Responsible for planning and coordinating activities for young people, with a focus on social skills, inclusion and participation processes.

• Served as local staff representative for the workplace throughout this period.

Stovner District, Oslo - Support Contact

Apr 2020 – Oct 2021

• Operationalised user participation through targeted follow-up and joint planning of social activities based on individual needs.

Geitmyra Food Culture Centre for Children - Trainee

Feb 2020 – Apr 2020

• Worked on knowledge summaries, drafting project applications and developing educational teaching materials.

Part-time retail and service positions

Jan 2014 – Jun 2023

• Experience in customer service, teamwork and operational responsibility, including previous formal line management experience as Store Manager at Tempur Sealy AS.

Master's degree in Public Health Science - Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Ås

• Thesis: New Steps for Strong Footprints, examining children’s participation in municipal planning and its significance for public health (Grade B, ECTS).

• Mixed-methods research using interviews, observation, thematic analysis and integrated concept mapping to explore priorities and implementation feasibility across schools, municipalities and national government.

• Substantial coursework in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for spatial and epidemiological analysis.

• Statistical and analytical software: R, SPSS, JMP and QGIS.

• Project contributor, AFI collaboration (2021): A Place to Be Young, developing digital participation resources using Human-Centred Design.

Bachelor's degree in Community Nutrition - OsloMet

Aug 2017 – Jun 2020

• Thesis on children's food preferences and eating habits (Grade: A, ECTS).

• Exchange semester at Wageningen University (2019–2020) - specialisation in Psychobiology of Eating Behaviour.