Young Offenders and Litter Louts Battle it out with Railway Vandals for Inaugural MRS Award

Date: 14 October 2004

Four research projects aiming to reduce crime on railway lines, decrease litter in Britain, raise interest in the children's hearings system in Scotland and understand the views of young people in Tameside, Greater Manchester, have been shortlisted to receive this year's inaugural MRS Public Policy / Social Research Effectiveness Award.

The contenders for this coveted Award are, respectively, CML Market Research, Encams - the charity behind the 'Keep Britain Tidy' campaign, TNS UK and the Scottish Executive, and Nunwood Consulting and Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council.

Professor Michael Thomas, former President of the MRS and Chair of the Awards judging panel, commented, "This is the first year that the MRS has presented an award for work conducted in the public policy and social research arena and the standard of the entries has been exceptional. All of the four finalists have demonstrated considerable creativity in tackling highly sensitive topics with outstanding results. It is going to be a very difficult task for the judges to select a winner."

All the projects demonstrate the effective use of research in tackling complicated social issues. Working on behalf of the Rail Safety & Standards Board (RSSB), CML Market Research was tasked with understanding why people interfere with electric railway lines. The findings allowed CML to develop a communications plan for the RSSB to target offenders. Similarly, Encams used a range of group discussions to pinpoint how people define litter and why they litter the streets. Its findings led to the development of two individual campaigns aimed at reducing dog fouling and fast food litter.

In its project for Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council, Nunwood Consulting investigated the opinions of young people living within the Borough. The results helped to inform the development of the Council's services and policy for young people.

The Scottish Executive gave TNS UK the task of finding a way to reverse the decline in the recruitment of panel members for hearings dealing with young offenders and children in need of care and protection. The results were used to develop an entirely fresh recruitment advertising campaign for the children's hearing system.

The winner of the MRS Public Policy / Social Research Effectiveness Award.will be announced by BBC News presenter Emma Howard during a prestigious ceremony at the Research Excellence and Effectiveness Awards, which is taking place on 26 October 2004 at the Café Royal in London.

In addition to the shortlisted entrants for the MRS Public Policy / Social Research Effectiveness Award, other awards and finalists include:

ISBA Award (for Advertising Research Effectiveness):

Robert Heath, The Value Creation Company, & Pam Hyder, Standard Life
Nick Newall & Jeremy Martin, CML Research
Omobono Ltd

MRS Applications of Research Award (Research Effectiveness Case History):

Orian Brook, Audiences London
Simpson Carpenter for Nokia Mobile Phones
TNS UK & Nationwide

MRS/AURA Insight Management Effectiveness Award:

Link Consumer Strategies UK Ltd & Kraft Foods
Lorien Customer Focus
Maritz Research
Nunwood Consulting

David Winton Award sponsored by TNS:

John Griffiths, Planning Above & Beyond, Siamack Salari, Everyday Lives, Greg Rowland, Semiotics for Brand, & John Beasley-Murray, University of Manchester
John Habershon, Momentum Research
Robert Heath, The Value Creation Company, & Pam Hyder, Standard Life

Note for editors

The MRS is the world's largest international membership organisation for professional researchers and others involved or interested in market, social or opinion research.
For more information on The MRS, its activities, events and training programme, please visit its website at www.mrs.org.uk.
The Research Excellence and Effectiveness Awards is the annual industry awards dinner celebrating achievement, excellence and effectiveness in market and social research.

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