Every journey has a first step, and for me, this is one I will always remember ❤️ After two months of learnin…

By Irin Maria

Every journey has a first step, and for me, this is one I will always remember ❤️

After two months of learning, exploring, questioning, analysing, revising, and working together, I am incredibly happy to share that I have completed my first research paper as a member of the Integrated Frontier Research Buddy Lab.

Our paper is titled:

“Cereal Import Dependence as a Food-Security Vulnerability Multiplier: Does Inflation Intensify Undernourishment?”

Our research explores whether countries that rely heavily on cereal imports become more vulnerable to undernourishment when inflation rises. Using global data from FAOSTAT and the World Bank, we applied panel-data econometric methods, robustness checks, alternative specifications, and machine-learning validation to examine the relationship from different perspectives.

For me, however, this paper is about more than the research question or the results.

It marks the beginning of my journey into research.

When I first stepped into this project, I quickly realized that research is much more than running analyses and presenting results. It requires patience, curiosity, critical thinking, attention to detail, and most importantly - the courage to question your own work.

And this is where I feel especially fortunate to have had Gourav Roy Sir as our supervisor. ❤️

Sir played a truly important role throughout this journey. From helping us shape our initial idea to guiding us through methodology, data analysis, model selection, interpretation, robustness checks, and manuscript refinement, his guidance was present at every important step.

What I appreciate most is that Sir did not simply tell us what to do, he taught us how to think.

His questions often pushed us to look beyond our first interpretation. His feedback made us revisit things we thought were already finished. His corrections helped us understand our mistakes rather than simply fixing them. And his constant encouragement gave us the confidence to keep learning.

For a first research experience, that kind of mentorship means a lot.

Thank you, Gourav Roy Sir, for your time, patience, guidance, constructive criticism, and for believing in our ability to learn and grow as researchers. I am genuinely grateful that my first step into research happened under your guidance. 🤍

I am also thankful to my three teammates, who shared every part of this journey with me, the discussions, confusion, deadlines, revisions, discoveries, and finally, the happiness of seeing our work completed. 🫶

Being part of the Integrated Frontier Research Buddy Lab has given me an opportunity to learn far beyond what I could have learned from a classroom alone. I hope this paper is not an ending, but the first step toward many more research experiences to come.

My first research paper.

My first research journey.

A lot learned.

And a mentor I am truly grateful for.

@Gourav Roy Sir