Welcome Darius!

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

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

My background has been entirely in qualitative research; I studied International Development and Anthropology at uni and I’ve spent almost my entire career so far within market research - whether that’s as a project manager or as a researcher. I’ve always been fascinated by people - what shapes the way we think, behave and see the world – so research felt like a natural fit. 

Before joining Humankind, I’d worked across market research and the charity sector, as well as getting involved in communications and content. I spent time at The Good Side and Truth Consulting, where I worked on research projects across culture, entertainment, gaming, tech and social impact, while also helping to build their social media presence.

Across all of those experiences, I think I’ve always been drawn to the same thing: understanding the stories and cultural forces sitting beneath the surface of behaviour. Outside of work, I’m probably just as likely to be thinking about why a film resonates with people, what a particular fashion trend says about culture, or how the internet is changing the way we see ourselves and each other.

What drew you to Humankind Research?

What drew me to Humankind was the opportunity to do research that is built with the human impact in mind.

I’ve always been particularly interested in the intersection between people and culture - how the world around us shapes our attitudes, behaviours and identities - so the opportunity to work somewhere that takes a genuinely human and culturally curious approach to research really appealed to me.

I was also drawn to the variety of the work and the opportunity to keep learning. I like being thrown into a new topic, having to get under its skin, and then figuring out how to turn this information into something genuinely useful and meaningful.

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

I’m looking forward to getting stuck into more projects where culture is really at the heart of the question. I’m particularly fascinated by how quickly attitudes and behaviours are changing, especially among younger generations, and what that means for brands and organisations trying to stay relevant.

I’d love to keep exploring areas like entertainment, media, technology and identity - essentially the things people are talking about, watching, buying and sharing, and what those things can tell us about wider cultural shifts.

I’m also excited to keep developing as a researcher; getting better at spotting the story within the data, asking the question that unlocks something unexpected, and turning those findings into something that can have real impact.

What would you say is your 'research superpower'?

I’m naturally quite curious, and I don’t tend to be satisfied with the first answer. I’m always interested in what’s sitting underneath what someone has said - the contradiction, the cultural context, the thing they haven’t quite articulated yet.

I think my background and interests help with that. I’m constantly absorbing culture – films, music, fashion, social media, internet culture – so I tend to bring a fairly wide lens to research and make connections between things that might initially seem unrelated.

Ultimately, I think my superpower is being able to listen to what someone is saying, but also stay curious about why they’re saying it – and then work out what that might tell us about the bigger picture.