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Dione Hills obituary

Dione Hills, who has died aged 73 from complications following surgery for a brain tumour, was a social scientist at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, leading innovative research in many areas.

She was born in Fareham, Hampshire, to Betty (nee Norton Stephens) and “Bunny” Crousaz, a commander in the Royal Navy. She was the youngest of three siblings. At the age of seven, Dione moved with her family to Guernsey, where she attended the Ladies’ college, in St Peter Port, becoming a prefect and head girl. She loved gardening throughout her life, became a member of several spiritual groups – where she was known as Sanji – and sponsored a young Tibetan refugee.

Dione studied psychology and sociology at Bristol University before spending time working for the Simon Community, supporting homeless people, in Glasgow. She completed her PhD in complementary health studies at Exeter University. In 1979 she married Tony Hills, whom she later divorced, though she remained very close to her stepson, Owen.

After working for the Department of Health, Dione joined the Tavistock Institute in 1986 and, apart from a two-year secondment to the Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health, she remained at the institute for 35 years, where I got to know her and where she was a valued colleague to me and to many others. Notable among her research were evaluations of initiatives such as Helios II, an EU programme for equal rights and integration of disabled people, London Lighthouse, a centre for people with HIV and Aids, and Healthy Living Centre initiatives, as well as, later, several in the environment and transport arena. She often stepped into potentially complicated spaces, as she did when leading the action research project to promote intercultural dialogue between mental health services and African traditional healers to improve integrated care.

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She was a valued member of the council of the UK Evaluation Society (UKES), sitting on several working groups, interested in developing the professionalisation of evaluation practitioners. In 2020, Dione was a lead author, in association with CECAN (the Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus), of the annex on Handling Complexity in Policy Evaluation for the Magenta Book, published by HM Treasury, which provides central government guidance on evaluation.

An avid spiritual practitioner, Dione – or Sanji – developed the Tavistock Awakening Organisations (TAO) programme, to bring spiritual matters to business and organisational matters to spiritual bodies. Recently, she wrote a report on spiritual and alternative organisations in Glastonbury, supported locally by the Glaston Centre.

Dione had a wide circle of family, friends and colleagues. She is survived by her partner, Sean and her sister, Chris.