‌Peter van der Graaf is the AskFuse Research Manager and a Research Fellow at Teesside University.

For his role as AskFuse Research Manager, Peter draws upon his extensive career in applying research evidence and translating knowledge from the Social Sciences and, more recently, from Health, both in the Netherlands and the in the UK.

For the past six years, he has been a Research Fellow in the Social Futures Institute at Teesside University and joined the research team in the School of Health and Social Care in January 2013 to support the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research (HS&DR) project on research use and knowledge mobilisation in the commissioning and planning of public health services.

At the Social Futures Institute, Peter worked on a range of social research and consultancy projects, focusing particularly on social exclusion, non-formal education and youth participation. He was also involved in two short Knowledge Transfer Projects (sKTPs) for local housing associations, Fabrick Housing Group and North Star Housing Group.

Before coming to Teesside, Peter was employed for nine years as a researcher for the Verwey-Jonker institute in the Netherlands - an independent institute that carries out strategic policy and evaluation research into social issues, it was there that he gained extensive experience in researching social inequalities and wellbeing to inform social policies across the European Union.

Peter is married with two children; his wife is a senior business manager for a well-known sports company. Between work, modelling sports clothing and family life, Peter spends his time playing squash, running in the dark, cooking, reading fantasy books and avoiding DIY.