A Day in the Life at ImpactEd Group

We're delighted to share insights from our talented summer intern Ravi Venugopal, who has been working with the ImpactEd Evaluation team over the past few months. As a student joining us from UCL, he’s contributed a fresh perspective and some sharp analytical skills to the team.

From partner research to data analysis, Ravi has been an integral part of ImpactEd Evaluation, contributing to everything from survey data processing to methodology discussions. Ravi has shared with us a Day in the Life of his time at ImpactEd, to give a flavour of what working with us on a placement can look like.

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As part of my internship at ImpactEd, I travel in from Oxford to the London office in the City twice a week. Tuesdays and Thursdays are particularly busy, with many of the team in, so the day usually begins with a quick catch-up before settling into work.

I often start with a simpler task to start off the day. One of my ongoing responsibilities has been maintaining ImpactEd’s project spreadsheet, which involves researching new partners, updating partner information, and ensuring the team has accurate data to draw on. Despite this task having less visibility, it has given me an insight into how the organisation nurtures its networks.

A highlight of each day tends to be a meeting with a project manager, where I learn about the work currently underway, who is involved, how it is being resourced, and what stage the project is at. These conversations are a chance not just to understand the broader picture, but also to see where I can contribute. For example, I might be asked to clean and standardise raw survey data collected from schools, collating responses on demographics and outcomes into a usable format. From there, I often carry out analysis and create plots to illustrate key findings, working across R and Excel.

What I have enjoyed most is that through this role I’ve been encouraged to contribute ideas about methodology and analysis and being placed in central roles across evaluation projects. It has been rewarding to see my input shaping projects. I attended Parliament to represent ImpactEd at an APPG event on “The Loss of the Love of Learning”,  and I’ve gained experience in working as part of teams and the skills needed to collaborate on projects successfully. Working alongside such an enthusiastic team has been a real treat, giving me both technical skills and an appreciation of the challenges and opportunities in impact evaluation.

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