Meet our people – Naomi Agius
Find out more about our staff, their roles, and what their day to day looks like!
What was your path into evaluation/ARTD?
My journey started when I was deciding what I wanted to do at uni. My mum did some work in behaviour change, and I’ve always been interested in people, policy and why we do things a certain way. That led me to doing a degree in social and political sciences, where I became interested in the way different systems work and how decisions are made.
In the final half of my degree, I met up with someone who had been working in evaluation for years and they gave me some great advice and introduced me to the work of ARTD. Things got in the way (including living a year abroad in France!) but when I got back, I met up with a senior manager at ARTD and chatted about the kind of work I wanted to do. I took a leap and here I am!
Can you sum up your role as an Analyst in one sentence?
I provide project support in any way I can. This may be looking at data, doing analysis and synthesis, organising interviews or writing up reports and findings. I have also worked on an ethics application. There’s a lot of reading, analysing and writing to help push projects along.
What was the best opportunity/ your proudest work moment since starting at ARTD?
A standout opportunity has been attending AES conference in Canberra last year. I was blown away by the different types of work others are doing and the ways they’ve contributed to genuine, meaningful change. I took myself out of my bubble, speaking to others in the field, asking questions, and I’m glad I did. It helped me consolidate the things I’d learnt at ARTD and understand the work other people do in the field. I also spoke on a podcast at the event.
What is your favourite thing about working at ARTD?
Many things, but number one is the people. My colleagues are kind, patient and incredibly intelligent. Seeing everyone so motivated to create change in the areas they work in, inspires me to do more and do better each day.
What does a ‘day in the life’ look like for you?
Because of my role no two days are the same. What generally stays consistent is that I take a lot of notes, then go through those notes, coding and analysing them to pull out key findings and help turn them into reports. There’s a lot of emails with clients, and I’m learning different programs and tools like R for data analysis, which is exciting. You’ll also find me doing the crossword in my lunchtime break, and I sometimes head out of the office for a quick walk!
What’s something your clients may not know about you?
Probably the fact that I lived a year in France and can speak a little bit of French. I’m also in a band with my brothers, and I sing!
