From “Happy Eggs” to the United Nations: an analytical journey

We are all on our own journeys. The circumstances in which we are born and raised, and how our education and career paths pan out are hardly ever the same between people. It goes without saying that doing the best with the hand you are dealt and pursuing personal and professional growth is central to realising your potential, providing value, and building a meaningful career.

My career thus far has been quite a diverse one. I have worked in the fields of biochemistry, nutrition and public service economics while applying cumulative skills and knowledge in analytical functions. In truth, this was not a plan I initially set out for myself. I envisioned a very different future. But analytical skills can be applied in so many areas, and I believe it’s important to not set a ceiling for yourself but rather embrace all available opportunities so you can find that meaningful growth.

From biomedical science to “Happy Eggs”

I commenced my undergraduate degree in Biochemistry with Immunology at Newcastle University. At the time, I envisioned a future where I would become a biochemist providing innovative scientific insights and solutions within a clinical or industrial environment. For various reasons, things did not turn out that way, but I did decide to undertake a PhD to further broaden my opportunities moving forward.

A PhD is a brutal journey. You are often isolated, need to juggle multiple intense deadlines at once, and have sole responsibility for completing the project with limited resource. However, I was interested in the project because it allowed me to apply my laboratory and scientific skills to generate insights for a diverse stakeholder panel, and it was a rare opportunity to enhance my analytical mindset in practice. Fast forward a few years and I got the PhD. At this stage, I was interested in pursuing further experience within academia to build on my skills and knowledge base.

I then secured my first post-doctoral project – an Innovate UK funded grant that was a collaboration between Newcastle University and Noble Foods, the largest egg supplier in the UK. Noble Food’s flagship brand was “Happy Egg”, an innovative food product wherein the eggs were enhanced with vitamin D. The project aimed to explore avenues to maximise the commercial potential of the brand, from assessing how vitamin D contents are affected by processing conditions to consumer perceptions. Despite complications from the COVID-19 pandemic, I was able to provide major insights for the brand, resulting in the publication of two peer-reviewed papers in accredited journals. During this time, I also ended up attending and presenting at national and international conferences, notably the American Society for Nutrition meeting in Baltimore, USA in 2019.

Not quite the early career journey I had anticipated, but I saw an opportunity to apply my skills in practice to achieve positive impact and I went for it. And I never looked back.

The jump from science to economic statistics

My next academic project centred around vertical farming, another innovative agri-food tech product where fresh produce is grown within vertically stacked columns. The unit would be set up within retail stores, with the main benefits including:

• no pesticide usage
• controlled conditions for growth
• removal of ‘food miles’ and associated processing and packaging

I was given another opportunity to build on my analytical skills and apply them in practice to provide insights and evidence for academic and commercial stakeholders. I also attended national conferences during this time, speaking at events such as the nutrition society meetings in Sheffield and Glasgow in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

But by this stage, I had made the choice that academia was not an area I wanted to stay in. Nevertheless, each project gave me approximately 2 years of breathing space, but I was at a stage where I wanted something more stable and an environment that would allow me to continue to develop and thrive. During these years, I also identified one area that I really enjoyed, more so than doing science experiments – data. Analysing data, navigating complex datasets and producing insights using tools such as Excel, SPPS and R gave me great satisfaction from a job perspective, and I realised this was an area I wanted to continue in.

I started exploring roles in the Civil Service and eventually secured a position at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in the public service productivity (PSP) team. It was a new area, topic, industry and culture for me, but I strove to take ownership of the field and make a positive impact for the organisation.

Speaking at the UN

Fast forward 3 years and the picture was completely different to when I first started. Not long after starting, I was given significant responsibility in helping the ONS deliver the PSP review, a multi-million pound funded by HM Treasury to improve the methodologies that underpinned public service productivity statistics. I got exposure to the various conceptual and technical challenges facing different service areas such as healthcare, education and social care, and continued to oversee production and development activities following the reviews submission in March 2025.

Education was an area that I developed some expertise in, particularly around how exam performance outcomes are linked to productivity. Due to my subject knowledge, I was invited to represent the UK’s approach to education productivity assessment to an international audience at the United Nations Network of Economic Statisticians (UNNES). The UNNES had organised sprint sessions centred on the challenges in measuring productivity of various public services, and the education session was hosted on July 15 2026. Find out more about the UNNES session and access a link to the recording.

Present day

If someone had told me at university that I would move into economics and speak at a prestigious event such as a UN meeting, I would probably have laughed. Yet this is where my career ended up taking me and I have no regrets whatsoever. I want the moral of this story to be that you should always keep an open mind on where your career takes you. Moving between fields and professions can be challenging and daunting, but it also offers you an opportunity to enrich your career, expand your knowledge and skills, and provide tangible impact. Never stop believing in yourself and enjoy the ride!