Julia Loh

What first attracted you to the IFS? 

I first worked at IFS as a summer student during the second year of my undergraduate degree, and later as a part-time research assistant. I learned a lot during that time, and my colleagues were kind, supportive, and fun to work with. Coming straight from my Master’s, the Research Economist role felt like the right fit as I wanted to explore my interests in applied microeconomics research, which I had enjoyed during university.  

Which projects are you working on at the moment? 

As part of the Human Capital Development sector, I work on projects across a range of contexts. In England, we study how childhood circumstances shape adult outcomes across local authorities. In Ghana, we are evaluating the impacts of a programme that trains midwives as informal leaders on knowledge and maternal care through a randomised controlled trial. In Peru, we are running survey experiments to understand how politicians and bureaucrats make hiring and job choices, to improve the performance of politically appointed bureaucrats. 

What kind of things do you do during a typical day at work? 

No two days are the same, which is one of the things I enjoy most about the job! Much of my time is spent cleaning and analysing data in Stata and R, as well as writing up and presenting results. I also design, program, and monitor surveys and experiments for projects involving primary data collection. I make time to read academic papers and books relevant to my projects, and I regularly discuss progress and ideas with colleagues. 

What do you particularly enjoy about the job?

I really enjoy that my job is constantly challenging and that there’s always something new to learn. It’s exciting to dig into a question, explore it with colleagues, and share what we’ve discovered with others. In the past two years, I’ve never once had the ‘Sunday scaries’!  

How has your career progressed so far? 

I joined IFS as a Research Economist almost two years ago. Since then, I’ve been supported to develop my career in ways that reflect my interests and have worked on a range of interesting projects. This has helped me discover where my research interests lie and grow in confidence as a researcher. I’ll soon be starting a part-time DPhil in Economics at the University of Oxford alongside my role as a Research Economist. 

What have you learned from working here? 

In the two years I’ve been at IFS, I’ve developed skills that make me a better researcher. I’ve built technical skills in programming and econometric analysis, and gained a deeper understanding of the full research process, from shaping research questions to revising papers for academic journal submissions. I’ve also learned to communicate findings more effectively to different audiences.  

How would you describe the working environment? 

IFS is a supportive and collaborative place to work. You are surrounded by incredibly smart people who are generous with their time and expertise, and even as a junior researcher, your contributions are trusted and valued.