About

Hi, I’m Naiyan. Or as some people call me, Nay.

I am a mixed-methods researcher bringing together statistics, social research, user research and data science to improve products, services and decision-making.

I currently work as a Customer Research Specialist at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, delivering qualitative and quantitative research to understand customer needs, inform strategy and support an increasingly insight-led organisation.

Previously, I worked at the Gambling Commission on the Gambling Survey for Great Britain and at the Office for National Statistics, where I helped improve some of the UK government’s largest economic surveys. If you have heard news about inflation or Gross Domestic Product in recent years, it is likely that I worked on the data collection behind it.

Alongside my professional work, I am a working group member of the Nature Medicine Commission on Quality Health Information for All, a global initiative to improve the quality and use of health information. I contribute expertise in mixed-methods research and large-scale surveys to help develop and test best-practice indicators, working with partners including the World Health Organization (WHO), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and universities around the world.

My academic interests include social media, online communities, health communication and research ethics. I have published internationally with researchers in North America, including several studies of the social media platform Reddit.

Wider afield, I have supported charities, community groups, co-operatives and mentoring schemes, and have also briefly worked in politics. I hold a postgraduate diploma in social research from the University of Birmingham.

I am a member of the Social Research Association, the Association of Internet Researchers and a member of the University of Alabama Reddit Research Group.