Welcome Mia!

We've had another great recent addition to the HKR team! Find out more about Mia below

Tell us a bit about you and your background / journey before Humankind Research

I've just started as a Researcher at Humankind Research. I graduated with a BSc in Sociology from UCL in 2024, where I fell in love with social research. Throughout my degree, I completed internships in social research and charity organisations, working across impact evaluation, theory of change modelling and social research. As a lover of qualitative methods, I enjoy getting to know people through interviews and ethnographic methods, providing them with a space to discuss their views, experiences and opinions. While I also value quantitative methods, for me uncovering more about individual people's opinions and thoughts feels exciting.

What drew you to Humankind Research?

After learning about Humankind Research and the work that they do, I knew I wanted to join the team. The knowledge and expertise of the team coupled with the organisation's focus on inclusion and their mission to create socially impactful insights immediately attracted me and aligned with my own ethos. Their work with organisations like Nike, Trussell, Cancer Research UK and so many others demonstrated to me their enthusiasm for using powerful research to support a range of organisations and their beneficiaries/customers. I knew that working with the team would be an excellent learning opportunity, and it certainly has been so far!

What have you enjoyed working on so far?

I have worked on a wide range of projects already. I have worked on an audience testing project, which was really interesting to see how market research, branding and marketing interact to unleash a new brand strategy or comms campaign. I have also worked with various charities, helping them to understand the experiences of their current volunteers and supporters and how to engage new volunteers and supporters. The projects I've worked on have also included a range of methods, some familiar and others new, e.g. interviews, focus groups, surveys and digital ethnographies.

What are you looking forward to getting more stuck into in the near future?

I would like to get involved in all different kinds of projects, from segmentations to brand tracking to lived experience work and would also love to use my experience in impact evaluation on a project.

What would you say is your 'research superpower'?

I would say my empathy. With the lived experience research I have worked on in previous roles and through my degree, I was able to use my empathy to understand the experiences of people I was interviewing, and turn their responses into compelling insights and conclusions. I love interacting with people and learning more about their lives, which allows participants to feel safe and valued.