School of Business & Management

Queen Mary University of London

Research Assistant

KEEP SCROLING

Situation

Selected for the Queen Mary University of London, Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Student Bursary Project under the supervision of Dr. Zahra Sharifonnasabi to support academic research on “Investigating Consumer Perception of Plant-Based Food”. The study explores how consumers evaluate hybrid food products combining plant and animal proteins, in the context of health, sustainability, and marketing.

Selection

Task

Task 1: conducting online search on forums about plant-based food as well as searching for and documenting product reviews (with focus on products that mix plant and animal proteins/sugar/ etc.). The student will be given some initial examples of products that can be used as an inspiration for their search.
Task 2: finding consumers of plant-based food (specially products that mix animal and plant protein) and conducting informal interviews (interview questions and a mini-training on conducting interviews will be supplied by the lead researcher).

Job Role

Approach

My approach was grounded in precision, speed, and smart integration of digital tools. Leveraging ChatGPT’s deep research capabilities, I conducted an extensive mapping of over 20 hybrid food products through secondary research completed within minutes. After careful verification, 13 products qualified as valid entries.

Collaborating with my colleague, we expanded the list to 34 verified hybrid food products, forming the foundation for our qualitative study. To recruit participants effectively, I designed a visual participant outreach document, ensuring clarity and engagement in communication.

For the interviews, I utilised Otter.ai to record, transcribe, and summarise 11 interview sessions, streamlining the data collection and analysis process. This allowed for faster synthesis of insights while maintaining accuracy and depth, ensuring the study aligned with academic rigor.

Results

Through eleven in-depth interviews, we discovered that hybrid foods are already part of people’s lives, just without their awareness. Products like Smug Dairy’s blended milk and Hybrid Herbs’ Mushroom Coffee are being consumed daily by individuals who don’t even realise they’re hybrid.

Hidden Awareness → Silent Adoption – Nearly 40 % of participants had unknowingly used hybrid products, showing that the category exists but remains undefined.

Health Over Sustainability – Most consumers associate hybrids with
personal benefits such as better digestion and less bloating rather than ethical motives.

Taste and Trust as Gatekeepers – Scepticism about taste and artificiality keeps trial rates low despite visual appeal and brand presence.

COMPLETE

Work Portfolio