Riya Atanasova

Riya is from Bulgaria and lives in Dundee where she works as an assistant statistician for the Scottish Government. Riya graduated in 2020 with a BSc in Psychology from the School of Social Sciences.   

About Riya 

After I graduated from Dundee in 2020 I completed a Master’s in Research Methods at the University of St Andrews, as I’d always wanted a career in research and knew that the MSc would be a step towards this goal. During my postgraduate course I decided I didn’t want to stay in academia but I still wanted a career in research that also had a purpose, so I turned to my plan B – government research.   

I applied for an assistant statistician position at the Scottish Government and for a research officer at the Office of National Statistics as a back-up plan. Government recruitment has notoriously long timelines, so when I received an offer from the ONS first, I accepted it in the hope that I can transfer to the Scottish Government later, since this was the role I wanted more. About six months on the job, I received an offer from the Scottish Government and in January 2023 I started my role as an assistant statistician at the Equality Analysis team. Since then I have worked on Scotland’s Gender Equality Index, investigated how different people in Scotland use their time differently depending on the equality characteristics they have, and researched the attitudes of secondary school pupils towards violence against women and girls.   

In my spare time, I love sewing and other fiber crafts, volunteering for local charities, and weightlifting.  

Why are you interested in becoming an alumni ambassador? 

I loved my time at Dundee and I will forever be grateful for the opportunities the University provided me. I would love to be able to give back to the community and support students or recent graduates who might be struggling with getting on the career ladder, as I know how intimidating the job market can be.  

If you’d like to get in touch with Riya to hear about her experience or ask questions, then please email the Alumni Relations Team at alumni@dundee.ac.uk