Chloé Brun, scientific associate at Interface

I began my university studies with a Bachelor's degree in social sciences and environmental geography at the UNIL. I then did an internship with the agricultural department in Valais, followed by an internship in the canton of Vaud, where I was responsible for carrying out a survey on participatory approaches. I then started a Master's degree at IDHEAP in public policy and management, which I completed in 2019. After a brief period of unemployment, during which I still worked on a project for my dissertation supervisor, I found a one-year internship in project management, communication and marketing at cinfo, the centre of competence for international cooperation professions commissioned by the Swiss Confederation and other partner organisations... After my internship, I worked for a year as a specialist collaborator for the COVID unit of the public health department of the canton of Valais, and I've just found a new job as a scientific collaborator for a public policy evaluation, consultancy and strategy agency.

I'm a research associate at Interface, an agency based mainly in Lucerne, which has opened a branch in Lausanne. It's growing because it's getting more and more assignments in French-speaking Switzerland. I'm very lucky because my job is exactly what I studied! We carry out research on different themes, evaluations and interviews, so that we can then support and advise organisations in their development and in devising strategies. In concrete terms, for example, we may receive a mandate from a canton that has set up a pilot project on health for two years, and wants us to evaluate the impact of this project. On this basis, we will submit a bid, including the time and resources that this evaluation will require. Once the mandate has been accepted, my tasks are varied and consist, for example, of analysing documents and data, conducting interviews and focus groups, leading workshops, making (inter)national comparisons, etc. All of this helps us to come up with the best possible conclusions. All of this leads to assessments and recommendations.

This is a sector that used to have a strong presence in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, but is now beginning to expand in French-speaking Switzerland. However, you may need to be able to speak German, as there is inter-cantonal collaboration. It's also good to have a good overall understanding of the issues (even if I have colleagues who specialise in themes such as health, culture, etc.), to be able to carry out documentary research, to have qualitative and quantitative skills (for example, to be able to conduct interviews as well as analyse statistical studies), and to have good speaking and presentation skills. You also need to be able to manage stress well, as the workload is not always evenly distributed, depending on the assignment. What's more, you need to be able to manage a variety of issues at the same time, because the mandates can be simultaneous! It's very difficult to describe a typical day, because there are days in the field when you're conducting interviews, days of research in the office, days of presentations to organisations... It's very varied.

I found my first internship through internet research, my second position through my network, and my current position directly on the organisation's website. I knew I wanted to work in evaluation, so I listed the different companies and evaluation groups in Switzerland and regularly visited their websites. I also took the opportunity to spend a semester of my Masters in Berne to improve my German, which probably helped to make my application more attractive.