Nick Gemperle's (MFRE’19) role as Senior Research Analyst at Ipsos

Before completing the MFRE program, I had worked in agriculture, coming from several generations of farmers, and worked on sustainable agriculture projects. Through the program, I developed an economic toolkit that complimented my practical experience. I have been able to leverage that skillset into not only my current role at Ipsos but also some side projects, including sitting on the board of an NGO (Accelerating Community Empowerment) and leveraging research to build an evidence-based program.

As a research analyst within Ipsos, my main responsibilities include report drafting, survey field monitoring, building analysis plans, questionnaire development, maintaining data quality, and building cohesive data stories.

Whenever a project has an interesting finding or a trend is apparent, we generally try to connect outside sources and data to our survey data to try and give some context on what might be happening. This investigative process of trying to explain the “why” of our data can be challenging but is quite fun.

In the long run, I would hope to be able to build on my research skills and combine them more effectively with the specialization I have in agricultural and resource economics. The idea would be to transition into a research position that focused on policy or NGO efficacy within the problem areas of sustainable agriculture or climate change.

What excited me about the prospect of studying within the MFRE program was the unique combination of agricultural economics, which I have a predilection for, with resource economics, a particular passion of mine. I also preferred finding a program with relatively small cohort sizes because I valued the learning potential and lifelong connections that come from constant interaction.

My graduating project, working with Dr. Masoumeh Bejaei within Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), was a massive precursor to my current job in market research. The process of determining what data was needed to meet the research needs of AAFC and then developing proposals on how that data should be analyzed are fundamental market research tools that I was able to directly leverage into my position at Ipsos. This really felt like a linear path from project and skill development to a full-time position.

I am not sure I can point to a single initiative that I consciously made that led to my individual success. But I can say that the decision I made to go to graduate school and the subsequent constant interaction with extremely talented peers and professors lead to a step up in my ability to reason through and dissect challenging problems.

For someone coming into the MFRE program, my best piece of advice would be to stay curious, don’t be afraid to not know things, and try and enjoy the learning process. The pace of the program can be a challenge at times, so discipline is important, but taking everything too seriously will burn you out.