It was a pleasure working with Giles during his role with the International Growth Centre as the Head of Country Programme. Giles was my direct supervisor during the wake of COVID-19, and under very difficult conditions working from home and huge time zone difference- Giles still managed to be very supportive and effective. I really liked Giles' diligence and positivity- it was really delightful working with him. As a manager, Giles encouraged my professional development and challenged me to grow my skills in data analysis, visualisation and public policy. This comes from his high competence in data science and experience working with governments. He also inspirational mentor, and very strategic in his approaches. I also really appreciate his use of technology to track and manage workflows, his encouragement in thinking through problems creatively and my professional career path. I highly recommend Giles as a colleague and manager.

Giles was my line manager as Head of Country Programmes at the International Growth Centre. He supervised me for over a year, under challenging remote working conditions with him in Australia and myself in the UK. Despite this, Giles brought a personable, effective, and inspiring approach which gave me a great platform to excel both professionally and personally. Giles has a wonderful ability to combine broad questions on why something should be done with the more intricate questions on how, by marrying his strategic foresight with his array of technical skills. He creates a dynamic and open working space which fosters creativity and feedback. I would highly recommend Giles as a manager and as a colleague.

It is a great privilege to write a recommendation for Giles who has been my line manager for the past one year, an experience that I can only describe as extremely enriching. More so given the unprecedented year that it has been with the COVID-19 pandemic and Giles line managing remotely in a challenging time-zone (+11 hours). I have identified three aspects that I most valued about my interactions with Giles. Great People Manager Giles has great people management skills. As a Policy Economist, I was directly line managed by him and he was exceptional with helping me chisel out my goals and aspirations both for the role and beyond. His approach of regular check-ins, use of technology to track progress, offering opportunities to mentor others, were important in helping me take the necessary steps to achieve my goals. He also fostered a strong team spirit among a set of people doing sometimes very different tasks but working towards a common goal. He led from the front with an incredible work ethic and sacrificial approach which motivated me to do more. His ability to lobby for the best outcomes for the team given the constraints was another reason I enjoyed being part of his team. Problem solver with exceptional organisation skills Giles approach of why does this matter? why are we doing this? is there a better way? how do we know if it’s working? Has helped change the way I approach my work. Measuring outcomes and productivity in the research and policy space can be challenging. Giles has mastered the ability of looking at a situation and then apply a set of methods that can solve the problem in the longer term. During his time as Head of Country Programmes he helped introduce technology that helped the team track their objectives and goals in a better way. This helped systemise aspects to my role that were subject to a lot of variability which led to higher productivity and better outcomes. Highly Data Competent The final thing is his high level of data competence. His skills with statistical packages particularly R and advocacy to use data and software to answer questions is a cornerstone of his approach. It led to great outputs such as the data visualisation of the IGC COVID-19 government policy response tracker. It certainly helped me think in more exciting ways on how I can present data in ways that are easily understood for my target audience and people who may not necessarily be working in my field.

It was a pleasure working with Giles during his role with the International Growth Centre as the Head of Country Programme. Giles was my direct supervisor during the wake of COVID-19, and under very difficult conditions working from home and huge time zone difference- Giles still managed to be very supportive and effective. I really liked Giles' diligence and positivity- it was really delightful working with him. As a manager, Giles encouraged my professional development and challenged me to grow my skills in data analysis, visualisation and public policy. This comes from his high competence in data science and experience working with governments. He also inspirational mentor, and very strategic in his approaches. I also really appreciate his use of technology to track and manage workflows, his encouragement in thinking through problems creatively and my professional career path. I highly recommend Giles as a colleague and manager.

Giles was my line manager as Head of Country Programmes at the International Growth Centre. He supervised me for over a year, under challenging remote working conditions with him in Australia and myself in the UK. Despite this, Giles brought a personable, effective, and inspiring approach which gave me a great platform to excel both professionally and personally. Giles has a wonderful ability to combine broad questions on why something should be done with the more intricate questions on how, by marrying his strategic foresight with his array of technical skills. He creates a dynamic and open working space which fosters creativity and feedback. I would highly recommend Giles as a manager and as a colleague.

It is a great privilege to write a recommendation for Giles who has been my line manager for the past one year, an experience that I can only describe as extremely enriching. More so given the unprecedented year that it has been with the COVID-19 pandemic and Giles line managing remotely in a challenging time-zone (+11 hours). I have identified three aspects that I most valued about my interactions with Giles. Great People Manager Giles has great people management skills. As a Policy Economist, I was directly line managed by him and he was exceptional with helping me chisel out my goals and aspirations both for the role and beyond. His approach of regular check-ins, use of technology to track progress, offering opportunities to mentor others, were important in helping me take the necessary steps to achieve my goals. He also fostered a strong team spirit among a set of people doing sometimes very different tasks but working towards a common goal. He led from the front with an incredible work ethic and sacrificial approach which motivated me to do more. His ability to lobby for the best outcomes for the team given the constraints was another reason I enjoyed being part of his team. Problem solver with exceptional organisation skills Giles approach of why does this matter? why are we doing this? is there a better way? how do we know if it’s working? Has helped change the way I approach my work. Measuring outcomes and productivity in the research and policy space can be challenging. Giles has mastered the ability of looking at a situation and then apply a set of methods that can solve the problem in the longer term. During his time as Head of Country Programmes he helped introduce technology that helped the team track their objectives and goals in a better way. This helped systemise aspects to my role that were subject to a lot of variability which led to higher productivity and better outcomes. Highly Data Competent The final thing is his high level of data competence. His skills with statistical packages particularly R and advocacy to use data and software to answer questions is a cornerstone of his approach. It led to great outputs such as the data visualisation of the IGC COVID-19 government policy response tracker. It certainly helped me think in more exciting ways on how I can present data in ways that are easily understood for my target audience and people who may not necessarily be working in my field.

It was a pleasure working with Giles during his role with the International Growth Centre as the Head of Country Programme. Giles was my direct supervisor during the wake of COVID-19, and under very difficult conditions working from home and huge time zone difference- Giles still managed to be very supportive and effective. I really liked Giles' diligence and positivity- it was really delightful working with him. As a manager, Giles encouraged my professional development and challenged me to grow my skills in data analysis, visualisation and public policy. This comes from his high competence in data science and experience working with governments. He also inspirational mentor, and very strategic in his approaches. I also really appreciate his use of technology to track and manage workflows, his encouragement in thinking through problems creatively and my professional career path. I highly recommend Giles as a colleague and manager.

Giles was my line manager as Head of Country Programmes at the International Growth Centre. He supervised me for over a year, under challenging remote working conditions with him in Australia and myself in the UK. Despite this, Giles brought a personable, effective, and inspiring approach which gave me a great platform to excel both professionally and personally. Giles has a wonderful ability to combine broad questions on why something should be done with the more intricate questions on how, by marrying his strategic foresight with his array of technical skills. He creates a dynamic and open working space which fosters creativity and feedback. I would highly recommend Giles as a manager and as a colleague.

It is a great privilege to write a recommendation for Giles who has been my line manager for the past one year, an experience that I can only describe as extremely enriching. More so given the unprecedented year that it has been with the COVID-19 pandemic and Giles line managing remotely in a challenging time-zone (+11 hours). I have identified three aspects that I most valued about my interactions with Giles. Great People Manager Giles has great people management skills. As a Policy Economist, I was directly line managed by him and he was exceptional with helping me chisel out my goals and aspirations both for the role and beyond. His approach of regular check-ins, use of technology to track progress, offering opportunities to mentor others, were important in helping me take the necessary steps to achieve my goals. He also fostered a strong team spirit among a set of people doing sometimes very different tasks but working towards a common goal. He led from the front with an incredible work ethic and sacrificial approach which motivated me to do more. His ability to lobby for the best outcomes for the team given the constraints was another reason I enjoyed being part of his team. Problem solver with exceptional organisation skills Giles approach of why does this matter? why are we doing this? is there a better way? how do we know if it’s working? Has helped change the way I approach my work. Measuring outcomes and productivity in the research and policy space can be challenging. Giles has mastered the ability of looking at a situation and then apply a set of methods that can solve the problem in the longer term. During his time as Head of Country Programmes he helped introduce technology that helped the team track their objectives and goals in a better way. This helped systemise aspects to my role that were subject to a lot of variability which led to higher productivity and better outcomes. Highly Data Competent The final thing is his high level of data competence. His skills with statistical packages particularly R and advocacy to use data and software to answer questions is a cornerstone of his approach. It led to great outputs such as the data visualisation of the IGC COVID-19 government policy response tracker. It certainly helped me think in more exciting ways on how I can present data in ways that are easily understood for my target audience and people who may not necessarily be working in my field.