Profiles

• Katie Gronow
• Farida Iskandar
• Graham Oliver
• David Cope
• Rob Palmer

Farida Iskandar

Reasons for joining GORS

Initially attracted by an advertisement in the New Scientist, to me the idea of 'applying scientific methods to real government problems', sounded both appealing and intriguing. In all honesty, Operational Research wasn't a field I was familiar with or had knowledge of before coming across this job advertisement. However, upon making it through the selection process and starting my role as an OR analyst at GORS Level 1, I quickly realised that the idea of applying methods widely used in science to help make sense of real world problems no longer seemed surprising.
Also interesting was that GORS recruits people from a wide range of academic backgrounds - from Psychology to the Physical Sciences to Maths and Computer Science. I have noticed that the underlying ability among my peers and colleagues is to think through problems analytically and logically.

Career path and experience

I left my career in forensic science (as exciting as the television portrays it at times) in search of a more challenging role in which I could learn more widely applicable skills. This is certainly what I have found in GORS, and I definitely still get the buzz of learning something new every day - whether this is a function I have just discovered in Excel to ease a spreadsheet task, or through brainstorming ideas with colleagues to think about an issue at hand for a customer.

Current role and responsibilities

I currently work in the Evidence & Analysis Unit in the Office for Criminal Justice Reform, an organisation that reports trilaterally to the Ministry of Justice, the Home Office and the Attorney General's Office. Because of OCJR's unique position, a lot of my work is cross-cutting with the different Criminal Justice agencies. Most, if not all, of the work we do, is aimed at helping senior managers and policy colleagues in their decision making. For example, I have been involved in projects such as simulation modelling of a London Crown Court to help test new operational strategies and also in performance reporting of the Criminal Justice System to help monitor performance against our department's PSA targets.

Life in GORS

I joined GORS in May 2008 and remain in the same team - GORS members tend to move between departments every two years or so, as a way to learn new skills and support their own development. The team has expanded greatly since I first joined and from my perspective, the reputation of OR across government seems to be one that is growing.