Ruth Cousens

Co-Founder and CEO

THIS Labs Ltd

As CEO Ruth is responsible for the strategy and leadership of THIS Labs, ensuring that it meets its ambitious goals for impact and long-term sustainability. Ruth started her career in the UK Civil Service, including a stint in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit. From there she moved into the third sector, focussing on management, business development and innovation in organisations that focus on mental health, voice and advocacy. More recently Ruth has concentrated on social innovation in the health space, working for Nesta’s HealthLab and People Powered Results teams. Ruth joined THIS Institute in 2019 as Strategic Development and Enterprise Lead, working on commercialising Thiscovery and also contributing to the overall leadership and strategy of the team. In May 2023 she became CEO of the new spin out company. She is passionate about finding ways to deliver meaningful collaboration with staff and patients at scale using online approaches, in order to improve the success of innovation and improvement efforts in health and care