Three Rocket Scientists give an insight into their day-to-day roles and what it’s like to work at Rocket Science.
Cristiana Orlando, Research Intern
Looking back to when I first started as an Research Intern in September 2018, it’s incredible how much I have learned in the span of six short months. Having just graduated from the University of Oxford with an MSc in Comparative Social Policy I applied to the internship thinking it would be a great opportunity to dip my toes in the worlds of public policy and social justice. I can now say it’s been a lot more than that.
From day one I have been working on tasks ranging from interviews with service managers and directors of health boards, to presenting to clients and writing our final reports. I’ve had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects including health and social care, criminal justice, and employability. During my time at Rocket Science, I have not only developed a wide set of skills, but I have also felt valued and that my work was having a genuine impact on both services and people.
Max Lohnert, Consultant
Much of what I do now as a Consultant was uncharted territory for me when I joined the Rocket Science team in Edinburgh as Research Intern in October 2017 after completing my MSc in the Psychology of Mental at the University of Edinburgh. Since then, every week has been filled with different activities for a range of projects across different sectors: ranging from doing fieldwork with vulnerable young people on employability programmes, large-scale survey analyses, all the way to conducting workshops with health service providers. Not only have I been supported through training and mentoring to develop a wide range skills, but our culturally flat structure means that there is much room for me bring my own ideas to the table and to develop my own areas of interest.
Charlotte Wu, Senior Consultant
I can honestly say that no day at Rocket Science is the same – we are always working on a revolving range of projects for a wide range of clients, which means we’re always getting to learn about new social issues and meet new people! There also isn’t a typical ‘Rocket Scientist’ – we have people from both humanities and sciences backgrounds (my BA was in English and MPhil in Gender Studies) and that variety helps us bring an interesting array of skills, interests and perspectives to any project. The thing that we all have in common is a commitment to supporting social change and fairness, and helping organisations to strengthen and demonstrate their impact.
I also appreciate that while it’s a busy and fast-paced working environment, Rocket Science is encouraging of us pursuing development (both professionally and outside the company) and work-life balance. I actually started at the organisation back in 2013 as a Consultant and decided I wanted to go back to studying, so went away and did a PhD in Global Health Humanities, freelancing for Rocket Science part-time, and then joined again full time in November 2018 as a Senior Consultant. The different ways that I’ve worked for Rocket Science over the years, which have changed with my own circumstances, is an example of the willingness to be flexible around individual staff members’ needs that I really appreciate and value.
See bit.ly/2Fm5b8n for more information about the open positions in Edinburgh or contact Clare Hammond for an informal chat on 0131 226 4949 or clare.hammond@rocketsciencelab.co.uk.
