Jessica Ko (Sum Yue)
Research Fellow
Summary
Jessica Ko (Sum Yue) is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Collaboration in Community Connectedness (C4) in CRESR. She has extensive experience leading and conducting systematic reviews and evidence synthesis on a wide range of topics including reproductive health, education, economics, and social care. She has worked within policy research units and research centres at University College London (UCL), Canterbury Christchurch University (CCCU), and the University of Warwick. Her key interests lie in the development of systematic review methods for producing policy-relevant evidence that accounts for complexities in the social world. She hopes to pioneer evidence synthesis approaches for global reviews spanning multiple cultures, countries, and languages.
About
Jessica joined C4 and CRESR as a Research Fellow in 2025. Prior to joining Sheffield Hallam University, she conducted evidence synthesis and systematic reviews at other UK universities including University College London (UCL) and Canterbury Christchurch University (CCCU), working on research projects funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), Nuffield, and the British Academy. She currently holds the post of Honorary Research Fellow at the Warwick Institute for Employment Research. In addition to being a researcher, she also has professional experience as a research administrator, where she supported faculty and postgraduate students in applying for and using research grants at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University.
Outside of research, Jessica has worked as a practitioner and educator. She was a programme officer at the Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU), where she led multicultural and multinational programmes to promote inclusive policies for sustainable development, as well as organised events and training seminars in collaboration with the Japanese government. As part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme, she also taught English at Japanese secondary schools and high schools. Her experience as a practitioner and educator has taught her the importance of evidence-informed policymaking and decision making, thereby shaping her interest in systematic reviews and evidence synthesis.
Research
- Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research
2025-27 Creating healthy Jobs, National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Role: Research Fellow.
2025-26 The benefits and challenges of science-policy organisations for evidence informed policymaking, British Academy. Role: Research Assistant.
2024-27 Data for Reproductive Health Across the Life Course. Policy Research Unit in Reproductive Health, National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Role: Research Assistant.
2024-26 Accountability, curriculum & SEND international review and CES exemplar, Nuffield. Role: Research Assistant.
2024-25 Power of Play (PoP): Role and value of play in supporting early learning and development, Kinder. Role: Researcher.
2023-24 Increasing Access to Childcare for Ethnic Minority and Disadvantaged Communities, International Public Policy Observatory (IPPO). Role: Research Assistant.
2020-22 COVID-19 and population mental health, International Public Policy Observatory (IPPO). Role: Research Assistant.
Publications
Journal articles
Hall, J., Harvey-Pescott, L., Ko, S.Y.J., Stevens, R., Pathak, N., Ali, I., ... Dickson, K. (2025). The nature and extent of the literature on linked reproductive health datasets in the UK: a scoping review. International Journal of Population Data Science, 10 (1). http://doi.org/10.23889/ijpds.v10i1.2989
Dickson, K., Ko, J., Nguyen, C., Minchenko, D., & Bangpan, M. (2024). Mental health and psychosocial support programmes for displaced populations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs): A systematic review of process, perspectives and experiences. Cambridge Prisms: Global Mental Health, 11. http://doi.org/10.1017/gmh.2024.56
Ko, S.Y.J. (2022). Book review: Gender, Culture, and Disaster in Post–3.11 Japan, by Mire Koikari. London Review of Education, 20 (1). http://doi.org/10.14324/lre.20.1.51
Reports
Ang, L., O'Neill, S., Rogers, S., Ko, J., & Fox, K. (2025). The Power of Play (PoP) Study: Understanding the Role and Value of Play in Supporting Early Learning and Development. https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10211119/
Mendizabal-Espinosa, R., Bonhote, K., Ko, J., & Dickson, K. (2024). Increasing Access to Childcare for Ethnic Minority and Disadvantaged Communities. https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10198265/
O'Mara-Eves, A., Simon, A., Ko, J., & Anand, K. (2023). Rapid Systematic Evidence Review on Summative Assessment in Upper Secondary Education: A review across ten jurisdictions. EPPI Centre, UCL Institute of Education.
Dickson, K., Mendizabal-Espinosa, R., Vigurs, C., Meehan, L., Draper, A., Ko, J., ... Stansfield, C. (2022). COVID-19 and Population Mental Health. https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10159418/
Posters
Mendizabal-Espinosa, R., Skriczka, K., Ko, J., & Joymungul-Khan, S. (2024). Infant and family centred developmental care in neonatal intensive care units during the COVID-19 pandemic: interactive gap map of global evidence. Presented at: 10th SCENE Symposium, Uppsala, Sweden
Other publications
Ko, J., Grove, A., & Bohm, C. (2025). Healthy versus Unhealthy Jobs: An overview of reviews on the impact of work and employment practices/conditions on employees' health and wellbeing using the principles of framework synthesis. PROSPERO: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD420251148875
Smith, R., Chung, P., & Ko, J. (2025). The impact of befriending on informal carers of people living with dementia: A protocol for a systematic review. https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD420251109042