CV
Profile summary
I am an analytical and detail-oriented researcher and data analyst with wide-ranging experience in data management, social science research, and project coordination.
Highlights
- Grant Success: Secured competitive funding to lead innovative demographic research projects.
- Collaboration & Networking: Built strong partnerships across multiple universities and research institutes.
- Advanced Coding: Applied R, Python, and statistical programming to analyze complex social science data.
- Project Coordination: Effectively managed research timelines, stakeholder communication, and deliverables.
Experience
Freelance Research Consultant
University of Edinburgh
Jan 2024 – Jan 2025
- Invited to lead the development of a methodology framework to support the bid of a time-sensitive ESRC grant (value: £1 million).
- Explored multiple methodological approaches and compiled a glossary to support the proposal’s strategic direction.
- Provided proof of concept by collecting and analysing EU funding documents using R and Python.
Teaching Assistant
London School of Economics
Jan 2023 – Jan 2025
- Planned and led lectures and tutorials on sourcing and processing real-world data in R and Python, using examples from my own research.
- Reviewed assignments and provided one-on-one guidance to students on creating solid arguments in their research projects.
Freelance Research Consultant
London School of Economics
Oct 2023 – Oct 2024
- Part of a multinational research collaboration, leading the analytical section of a political science research paper, identifying patterns in mergers and acquisitions.
- Created a bespoke script in Python, which automatically downloaded relevant newspaper articles.
- Used visualisations to show patterns over time and across countries and presented the results.
Research Assistant
Austrian Academy of Sciences
Aug 2020 – Sept 2022
- Joined a leading European demography institute, deepening my interest in fertility and unmet childbearing desires.
- Led projects from concept to publication to understand fertility decision nuances.
- Harmonised complex cross-national survey data for meaningful international comparisons.
- Created bespoke variables (e.g., shifts in fertility plans) to uncover insights on emotional and structural barriers to starting a family.
- Designed and presented visual outputs to communicate findings to academic and non-academic audiences.
- Led and contributed to peer-reviewed publications, aiming for accessible and robust research.
- Participated in meetings and conferences in English and German, strengthening cross-cultural collaboration skills.
Education
MSc in Demography, Distinction
University of Southampton
2019 – 2020
BA in Geography, First
University of Leeds
2015 – 2019
Languages
- English: Native
- German: Advanced
Publications & Presentations
(For full list, see [publications page/link])
- Barker, R., Buber-Ennser, I. (2022). Uncertainty and flexibility of fertility intentions. VID Working Paper 03/2022. https://doi.org/10.1553/0x003e60ec
- Rampazzo, F., Raybould A., Rampazzo, P., Barker, R., Leasure, D. R. (2022). “UPDATE: I’m pregnant!”: Inferring global use of fertility tracking apps. SocArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/2va3n
Manuscripts in progress:
- Barker, R., Geerts, A., Rampazzo, F., Rampazzo, P., Leasure, D. It’s a match! A global view on the use of online dating applications.
- Barker, R., Minkus, L. The changing context of the word ‘childless’ in British media from 1969 to 2023.
Referees
Dr. Francesco Rampazzo
University of Oxford
Francesco.rampazzo@demography.ox.ac.uk
42–43 Park End Street, Oxford, OX1 1JD, United Kingdom
Dr. Isabella Buber-Ennser
Austrian Academy of Sciences
isabella.buber@oeaw.ac.at
Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2, 1010 Vienna, Austria
Dr. Niccolo Durazzi
London School of Economics
Niccolo.durazzi@ed.ac.uk
Chrystal Macmillan Building, 15A George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9LD, United Kingdom
Computer Skills
- Languages: R, Python
- Applications: LaTeX
- Version control: git
Outside Training
- Nuffield College, University of Oxford - Summer Institute of Computational Social Science, July 2022
- Hertie School - Data Science Summer School (Online), July 2021
- IMPRS-PHDS/IDEM - Topics in Digital and Computational Demography (Online), November 2020
- Barcelona RECSM Summer School (Online), June 2020