Meet Our People – Alexandra Lorigan
Find out more about our staff, their roles, and what their day to day looks like!
What was your path into evaluation and ARTD?
I had just finished my Bachelor degree in Economics/ Arts and while the subject matter interested me, I didn’t necessarily want to pursue a career in Economics or Development Studies. I’d contemplated going on to do a Masters in Social Work in keeping with my desire to support people, but then I happened to be talking to my friend about what she did at ARTD. It seemed like the perfect balance between doing rewarding work and still being able to use some of what I had learned in my degree. So here I am.
Can you sum up your role as a Senior Consultant in one sentence?
As a Senior Consultant working primarily in the Disability and Mental Health sectors, I manage several small evaluations and components of larger projects, often working alongside people with lived experience from design through to data collection, analysis and reporting.
What was the best opportunity/ your proudest work moment since starting at ARTD?
I have always been given so many opportunities to learn and grow at ARTD so I’ve had many memorable moments as I’ve accomplished new things, but my proudest moment would have to be the first time I did fieldwork alone. I travelled to Melbourne to conduct focus groups with young people with disability and youth workers.
What is your favourite thing about working at ARTD?
Where do I start?! I love working with such dedicated, professional and compassionate people. I value the nature of the work we do and the clients we work for. I’m motivated by the opportunities we are given, as employees, to develop professionally and the choice we have in the type of work we do and the sectors in which we work. Is that too many things?
What does a ‘day in the life’ look like for you?
The great thing about working at ARTD is that each day can be so different from the next depending on what projects you’re working on at the time.
As I manage a number of smaller projects, I tend to be involved in all aspects of the projects and generally do a mix of qualitative and quantitative analysis. So I would be liaising with clients to coordinate project activities, organising and conducting interviews or workshops and analysing data for different projects on any given day.
Sometimes my days will also involve proposal writing, reporting, or training and working with peer researchers.
What’s something your clients may not know about you?
I lived in Singapore and New York City as a child.
