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Co-founder & Head of Research | HIPOPOTESIS

Norah Walsh

Social and cultural anthropologist, and the person who decides what each finding is allowed to claim.

2017
Co-founded HIPOPOTESIS in Asturias
7
Courses on LinkedIn Learning, with Abdo
100,000+
Learners so far
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At HIPOPOTESIS

She runs the research, and keeps the depth and the date together

Norah heads research. She designs the fieldwork, moderates it, analyses what comes back and decides what each finding is allowed to claim. She also runs the research teams and the schedule, which in practice means holding two things together that usually pull apart: the depth a question deserves and the date we promised you.

What Norah leads

  1. Fieldwork design, recruitment and moderation
  2. The qualitative lens, and the research team behind it
  3. The H3™ working groups and how they coordinate
  4. Quality standards and delivery dates, project by project
  5. What the evidence can and cannot be made to say

Where she goes deep

  • Qualitative market research and business anthropology
  • Design thinking, lean philosophy and futures studies
  • UX and UI research, and human centred design
  • Qualitative analysis, visualisation and computational social science tools

Fascinated by

Four fields, one crossroads

The four fields that fascinate Norah, and where each one shows up in her work.

  • TechnologyQualitative analysis, visualisation and computational social science tools
  • Social impactWho a decision helps, who it leaves out, and what it changes for them
  • Human centred designUX and UI research, and design thinking
  • Futures studiesLean philosophy and futures studies, to test what comes next before it arrives

Background

Where Norah comes from

Discipline
Social anthropologySocial and cultural anthropology. First graduating class of the degree at the University of Granada.
Roots
Irish and AndalusianHalf Irish and half from Málaga.
Has lived in
Chile, Spain and MexicoShe has visited many more countries since, and still takes every chance to travel.
Languages
BilingualSpanish and English, both at native level.
Teaching
LinkedIn LearningInstructor. With Abdo, seven courses in Spanish and more than 100,000 learners, plus classes at universities, business schools, accelerators and public programmes.
Method
Human StoriesLeads the qualitative lens of H3™ and the working groups that fuse it with social listening and quantitative research.

The road here, with Abdo

Read the full story
  1. 2016A technology companyMonths of validation, and the honesty to pivot.
  2. 2017HIPOPOTESIS | Aprende a EmprenderA blog on Lean Startup and Design Thinking, from Asturias.
  3. 2019Research for foundersClasses, workshops, an accelerator, validation for early teams.
  4. 2022HIPOPOTESIS | Strategic Market ResearchStudies for global brands. H3™ took shape here.
  5. since 2025HIPOPOTESIS | Insight-led Strategic IntelligenceResearch built around the decision. We turned down an acquisition to stay independent.

Teaching

Seven courses with Abdo, and more than 100,000 learners

All in Spanish, on LinkedIn Learning, about the subjects she works with every day.

Visit the Academy

Writing

Articles by Norah Walsh

Keep reading

The other half of HIPOPOTESIS

Co-founder & CEOAbdo LópezSocial & Cultural AnthropologistMeet AbdoAbdo López and Norah Walsh, co-founders of HIPOPOTESISAboutHow HIPOPOTESIS came to beOne pivot, four companies and the team around the core.Read about us

Talk to Norah about the decision you are facing

Tell her what you are deciding and what is at stake. You will get an honest view of what research it needs, with a fixed price and a date.

  1. You get in touchBy email, through the form or on a video call, whichever suits you.
  2. We ask for the briefEvery detail we need, so the proposal is shaped around what you actually require.
  3. We design the proposalThe approach that answers your objectives, with the timeline and the budget.
  4. Approval, and we beginYou sign off, the paperwork is settled, and the work starts.
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  • Senior researchers only. No juniors.
  • End to end. Design, fieldwork, reporting.
  • No AI automation. Any use, disclosed.