UMR

I joined UMR straight out of university as a research assistant in Wellington. It was an apprenticeship in research and political strategy: I learned to code open-ended survey responses, design and program questionnaires, analyze results and run focus groups.

Learning the craft

I worked under Stephen Mills and John Utting, political advisers to Labour in New Zealand and Australia, and with Darshan Goux. Alongside political research, I worked on projects for corporate, entertainment and public-sector clients.

The 2002 election

I was part of the research team supporting Helen Clark and New Zealand Labour’s successful 2002 re-election campaign. Our work explored tactical voting and how voters understood the consequences of their choices under the mixed-member proportional electoral system.

I also liaised with the prime minister’s chief of staff on research projects and presented findings to senior government and corporate leaders.

Making research more useful

I helped standardize the company’s brand across New Zealand and Australia and introduced video from qualitative research into client presentations. It brought people’s own words into the room alongside the numbers.