Staff Testimonial
Kirsten Everett
Research Assistant
I joined the ESRI in June 2022 as an Intern with Martina Lawless as my supervisor. Before that, I studied economics at the University of Cape Town and completed my MSc in Behavioural Economics at University College Dublin.
During my internship, I enjoyed spending time researching entrepreneurship, discussing the findings with Martina, writing the paper and presenting it to the staff. It was a privilege to hear feedback from top researchers whose papers I had read during my university studies. However, I was even more impressed with how kind the staff were and how motivated they were to provide evidence to drive policy discussions.
"I loved my experience at the ESRI, and so even though I had to move back to South Africa to work in ESG consulting, I hoped I would return."
I was thrilled to return to the ESRI in August 2023, starting my role as a Research Assistant in the Climate Team. My research has involved collecting data on a variety of topics, including energy use, air pollution, and climate change impacts, analysing this data and working with colleagues to write papers. Our team uses the Ireland Energy, Economy, and Environment (I3E) Computable General Equilibrium model to run scenarios and provide policymakers with insights to support the low-carbon transition. I have also had the opportunity to develop an air pollution sub-model. In our team, we are encouraged to write our code in R and learn to use GAMS (the General Algebraic Modelling System) to create models.
"Each day can look a little different, but you can typically find me either tapping away at my keyboard as I search for data sources for our latest research project, reading the literature, writing code, making presentations, writing journal articles or in meetings with policymakers."
I am also interested in how we can use AI responsibly to increase productivity within the ESRI; thus, I sit on the Gen AI Working Group. Through this, I have had the opportunity to evaluate AI tools, research the environmental impact of these tools and educate the wider ESRI staff on how to improve our prompts.
As an early-career researcher in Ireland, the ESRI is a great place to work. The staff are friendly, insightful and motivated to use their research to improve policy discussions. We have the option to work remotely some days, except team days and anchor days. On office days, the office is filled with excited chatter during lunch and coffee breaks, as well as detailed questions after seminars or research day presentations. It is a privilege to get to know other researchers, whether they are in the early stages of their careers or have more experience. Many of us participate in the Sports and Social activities, which range from quizzes to the monthly book club to the annual sports day event. These events are fun and provide a creative outlet. We also have a diverse range of nationalities represented at the ESRI, which has made the work experience even more enjoyable and has involved trying sweet treats from all over the world.