Ishmail is the Associate Director of IPA's Global Research & Data Support (GRDS) team. He leads the development of innovative data products to enhance data quality across research settings and has created key IPA Stata packages, including DMS 4 and ipaclean. Ishmail brings a wealth of field experience to his role, having worked as an independent enumerator for various institutions. He also served as a Project Coordinator for a rights-based youth advocacy organization in Northern Ghana. Ishmail holds a BA in Economics from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, and has completed a post-graduate summer school course in International Development Studies at the University of Oslo, Norway.