AMEC student of the year – 2023

Paul Kasprovschi is on a mission to get us to think differently about the measurement and evaluation of PR and communication.

He wants us to think about, talk about and do “integrated evaluation”.  “The truth is that if we just talk about measurement it can end up being a couple of slides at the end of a PowerPoint presentation.

“We have such a good range of tools now, for example the AMEC Integrated Evaluation Framework – the IEF –  but we need to change the thinking and that’s the hardest part.”

Paul describes it as an ongoing process. “The findings from one campaign should inform the development of the next” he says.

As part of this mission Paul recently took on and completed the AMEC International Certificate in Measurement and Evaluation – perhaps not surprisingly he was an outstanding student! So outstanding in fact that he received the Student of the Year award at the recent AMEC award ceremony held at Church House in London a few days ago.

Paul is Director of Research and Evaluation GRF+ Bucharest, Romania. His career has its foundations in research – he was working on his dissertation about 20 years ago while also starting work at Synovate which ultimately became part of IPSOS.

However he then spent time working in the communication field but was frustrated but the lack of focus on what he calls “trackability” – the ability to track the effectiveness of PR & communication back to the organisation’s objectives. In fairness this was some years ago and not uncommon at the time.

Paul thinks that the idea of trackable contribution is key for the communication – as part  of a complex value chain. And this idea is also important for him personally. “It’s a key word for me, something I would love to see  more practitioners thinking about – and of course it’s a key part of the AMEC IEF – its where it all should start!”

Paul sees himself as a data geek. “Or perhaps I should say an insight geek,” he laughs. “But within the new perspective described by the great British data scientist and statistician David Spiegelhalter as a change of focus from mathematical methods to one based on an entire problem solving cycle. He describes his super power as being able to gain insights from the data. In his words ‘data is money. Insight is cash’.”

Paul’s mission to educate extends beyond his work colleagues and peers and into his other role as an educator.

He teaches on a Master’s programme at the University of Bucharest and has made the AMEC tools – which are all publicly available – a key part of his teaching. “I really believe in spreading the knowledge,” he says.

“Many of my students have yet to run a PR campaign but they go away from the programme equipped to do so using the tools that AMEC gives us.”

Undertaking the AMEC Certificate has underpinned Paul’s enthusiasm for research and his existing experience. “I’d returned to my research background and was starting to build the unit here,” he explains. “So post-pandemic I decided to go for it!”

Outside of work, Paul is a very active father which has given him an eye to the future. As a result, he has been able to bring to together his professional life with work for Geeks for Romania which is a key local civic organization to promote democracy. “2024 is such an important year here in terms of elections and I’m able to apply my professional skills here too, as we need as many informed and engaged citizens as we can get.”

There is no doubt that Paul is a great advocate for measurement and evaluation and the work of AMEC and a worthy winner of the award!

Find out more about the AMEC Certificate here.