New Fellows 2026

Aiswariya is a life sciences consultant and industry leader with 15 years of experience across clinical, regulatory, medical affairs, and commercial functions. She specializes in evidence-led strategy, regulatory intelligence, digital transformation, and AI-enabled innovation within the biopharma industry. Her work has spanned market research, competitive intelligence, and strategic consulting across global pharmaceutical organizations. Recognized as a U.S. EB1A recipient for Extraordinary Ability in life sciences market research and consulting, Aiswariya actively contributes to industry thought leadership and professional forums, with a strong commitment to advancing scientific rigor, innovation, and impactful healthcare outcomes.

Aiswariya was recommended for Fellowship in recognition for her leadership and contributions to the advancement of research, analytics, and competitive intelligence within the global life sciences sector. Aiswariya has demonstrated excellence in translating complex market and regulatory data into actionable insights, authoring more than 75 research-led publications, and delivering keynote presentations at international conferences. Her work has shaped industry understanding of market dynamics, digital analytics integration, and evidence-based strategy, with her research cited extensively across trade and academic contexts.

Aiswariya has made meaningful voluntary contributions as an industry expert for the Beroe VOX network and as Honorary Chair of Young Women in Bio (Capital Region, USA). Recognition of Aiswariya's impact includes the prestigious EB1A “Alien of Extraordinary Ability” Green Card, the Indian Achievers’ Award, and inclusion in Marquis Who’s Who in America, underscoring her influence and sustained commitment to advancing research-led consulting in life sciences.

Clare is an experienced client-side researcher and was recommended for Fellowship for her sector-leading work to raise professional standards and embed inclusive best practice, including authoring the MRS Client-side EDI best practice guides and developing additional MRS guidance on AI and treating participants fairly.

Clare has made sustained voluntary contributions through the MRS Senior Client Council and as Chair of the MRS People and Talent Network’s New and Returning Talent subgroup, supporting initiatives such as apprenticeships, graduate schemes, and the university roadshow. Clare’s wider influence includes strengthening collaboration with AURA and sharing best practice through conferences, webinars, and industry panels.

David is CEO at The Nursery Research & Planning. He joined The Nursery in 2007 to establish a quantitative research business and has been CEO since 2022. David has had a long career in market research, starting as a graduate trainee in Hangar Lane and subsequently working in the UK, NZ, Australia, and Asia and is a recognised specialist in brand and communications research. He is a regular presenter at industry events, sharing his experience of leading a BCorp Employee-Owned Business.

David was recommended for Fellowship in recognition of a distinguished career of over 40 years in market research, alongside sustained service, and leadership within the profession. David served six years as an MRS Main Board member, is an active MRS Mentor supporting MRS mentees and has continued to support MRS through thought leadership contributions at MRS Leaders & Owners events, particularly championing employee ownership as a model that helps preserve independent agencies. David has also supported other associations including the IPA as an award judge.

David leads economics and insights at the British Chambers of Commerce, where he established the BCC Insights Unit, now one of the UK’s leading sources of business and economic intelligence. The Unit produces the long-running Quarterly Economic Survey, an award-winning economic forecast, and extensive polling of businesses and consumers. The insights are used by HM Government, the Bank of England, and major institutions, directly informing business and monetary policy.

David was recommended for Fellowship for building and leading one of the UK’s independent sources of business insight which has informed policy and shaped national debate through widely cited outputs (including Covid-era business tracking, economic surveys, and forecasting), underpinned by strong methodological standards and transparent communication of evidence. David has strengthened the reach and influence of applied research by creating new datasets and practical tools used by government, central banks, and media, and by actively promoting MRS standards and good practice within a nationally visible research programme. David is a regular media spokesperson, contributing research and insight to national debates on topics such as trade, tax, investment, and labour markets.

Diane is the founder of Vox Pops International, an agency that specialises in bringing the voice of the consumer, through video, into organisations to help them with marketing, sales, and internal communications. The company have worked with leading brands and agencies including the BBC, Barclays, PHD, OMD, Daily Telegraph, Sky, HSBC, HMCTS, RHS, Just Eat, Unilever, Vodafone, and Pepsico.

Diane was recommended for Fellowship for her pioneering, sector-shaping contribution over more than 35 years to the development and adoption of video as both a qualitative research methodology and an impactful means of communicating insight. Diane has helped embed video-based approaches (including diaries, ethnography, and in-depth interviewing) across a wide range of sectors, supporting organisations to make insight more accessible, engaging, and actionable across the business. Diane has also contributed to capability-building and knowledge-sharing through conference speaking and industry events, alongside voluntary and pro bono work including creating association content, donating a significant archive of social videos for posterity, and supporting charities through free video research and production.

Gemma’s experience in research, insight and strategy, spans senior in-house roles at organisations including the BBC, CBS and Twitter, and consulting at PA since 2019.

She specialises in helping organisations harness insight to drive better decision-making and long-term growth, with a particular focus on the evolving role of research in an AI-enabled world. Gemma is a strong advocate for ensuring that advances in data and technology are grounded in a deep understanding of human behaviour, enabling more meaningful and responsible outcomes. Currently Global Lead for Human Insight & Strategy, she shapes the strategic direction of the capability and champions the role of insight within wider organisational decision-making.

Gemma was recommended for Fellowship for advancing understanding and application of insight across the profession over more than 20 years, including recognised, award-winning published work. Gemma has made sustained voluntary contributions through the MRS Delphi Committee since 2019, including authorship of thought-leadership reports (notably as lead author on AI Adoption and Integration), and regular knowledge-sharing through conferences and events including the MRS annual conference. Gemma has also strengthened the profile of evidence-based decision-making via her leadership of the MRS Business of Evidence 2026 report.

Jake is the UK General Manager at Canva, where he leads the company in the UK. With a career built at the intersection of data and storytelling, Jake previously served as Chief Marketing and Insight Officer at Access Intelligence, Customer Insight Lead at Deliveroo, and spent seven years at Twitter as Senior Director of Insight and Analytics. Based in London, Jake is passionate about using creative, data-led storytelling to drive real business impact.

Jake was recommended for Fellowship for his significant contribution to the profession through leadership and knowledge-sharing, including nine years supporting the MRS Main Board and four years leading the MRS Advanced Insights and Analytics Council. Jake has also strengthened practitioner understanding of emerging methodologies through a wide range of published papers, with recent work on AI and synthetic data helping the sector engage confidently with rapidly evolving technologies. Jake’s contributions demonstrate sustained commitment to MRS and to raising capability and standards across insight and analytics.

Lee is a strategic insights leader drawing on her extensive market and social researcher expertise to solve complex public health problems. Her current role is Insight Lead within the Behavioural Science and Insights Unit at the government body UKHSA, building on her previous experience which covers market research agencies, local government, and the third sector.

Lee was recommended for Fellowship in recognition of her contribution to MRS including as an MRS judge for the MRS awards and as a member of the MRS Equality, Diversity and Inclusion/Voice4All Council including developing refreshed case studies supporting the benefits of inclusion. Lee has also made a sustained voluntary contribution to two association charities – as a Social Research Association trustee for five years and before that as a trustee for the Local Area Research & Intelligence Association. Lee is also a regular speaker, writer and contributor across a range of publications, conferences and webinars.

Louise is a multidisciplinary insight strategist, working across cultural insight and foresight, qualitative and quantitative methods, to tackle diverse challenges, including brand positioning, innovation, category strategy, and creative big idea development. She is chair of trustees of Talking Taboos Foundation and currently undertaking an MSc in Applied Neuroscience.

Louise was recommended for Fellowship for her sustained thought leadership and capability-building across the insight profession, including regular published commentary and delivery of training and webinars on topics such as scenario planning, communications, AI in research and qualitative futures. Louise has made meaningful voluntary contributions to MRS through the MRS People & Talent initiative (including co-authoring outputs on retention), conference involvement and multi year service as an awards judge, alongside work that helped shape the sector’s response to climate and Net Zero through the Insight Climate Collective. Louise’s wider contribution includes leadership in research-informed charitable and pro bono initiatives, applying insight to advance public benefit and promoting the value of evidence-based decision-making beyond the sector.

Dr Matilda Andersson is a highly accomplished market insight and strategic planning expert with over 15 years of senior leadership experience across the UK and international markets. Since joining Truth Consulting, Matilda has successfully returned the business to growth and profitability. She has revitalised the agency’s strategic direction, launched new service offers to future-proof the business, secured high-profile new clients, and led the successful sale of Truth to Paritee in December. Analytically and commercially astute, and culturally fluent, Matilda leads and grows client accounts, as well as agencies, to reach their full potential.

Dr Matilda Andersson was recommended for Fellowship for her influential work developing and sharing innovative methods and frameworks that deepen understanding of culture, participation, and hard-to-reach audiences, spanning early digital audience research at the BBC through to senior consultancy and agency leadership. Matilda has made a sustained contribution to published and presented thought leadership, strengthening practitioner understanding of culture-led insight and participatory approaches. Matilda has also strengthened professional standards through extensive training and development delivered across industry bodies and the education sector (including AURA, MRG, AQR and higher education), supporting capability-building for both early-career and experienced researchers. Matilda has further supported MRS through inclusion-focused activity, including establishing and sponsoring the MRS ED&I Changemaker Award, and by contributing to conferences and sector debate to promote more representative, equitable research practice.

Neil is Director of ITV Insights Group where he has responsibility for Insight across the company and sits on the BARB Board and the ITV Executive Leadership Team. He is a Fellow of the IPA and his fields of expertise include: audience measurement, research, analytics, broadcasting and streaming, TV trading, platform strategy, advertising effectiveness, content, and regulation. He is a recognised industry leader with a long record of transforming insight functions, championing measurement standards, and delivering commercial impact. Previously he was Research & Planning Director at Thinkbox, and Research Director at Omnicom.

Neil was recommended for Fellowship for his pioneering, high-impact contribution to media and insight practice over more than 30 years, introducing approaches that have since become established across the industry (including early online panels, influential TV ethnography and need state frameworks, and contribution to major effectiveness work). Neil has been a visible ambassador for the value of robust, impartial insight through extensive speaking and leadership, and has strengthened professional standards through long-standing service on industry bodies including BARB and through roles such as Chair of the Media Research Group, where he initiated the MRG Awards. Neil has also supported MRS serving for six years on the MRS Senior Client Council, MRS conference involvement, and awards judging, promoting the inclusion Pledge and continues to lead transformation by integrating insight with analytics and data science while promoting responsible use of emerging AI techniques.

Dr Nicki Morley is Global MD, Innovation Solutions at Kantar, where she shapes how organisations drive growth through meaningful, differentiated innovation. With over 20 years’ experience across Unilever and Kantar, and a PhD in Psychology, she brings deep expertise in Innovation and Behavioural science. Nicki is a pioneer in embedding AI into innovation, co-developing advanced solutions that blend human insight with cutting-edge analytics. She is passionate about elevating the role of insight in driving impactful, future-facing innovation and strengthening the profession’s contribution to business and society.

Dr Nicki Morley was recommended for Fellowship for her sustained senior leadership and significant contribution to advancing innovation research, behavioural science, and analytics across the profession, spanning client-side roles and global responsibility within major agencies. Nicki has strengthened knowledge and practice through an extensive body of published thought leadership and peer reviewed work, development of widely used tools and frameworks, and active teaching and speaking that bridges theory and application. Nicki has also made meaningful voluntary contributions to MRS, including recognition as a Research Hero, chairing the MRS Behavioural Science Summit, and speaking at other MRS events, and continues to champion rigorous, ethical, human centred research and responsible AI adoption across the sector.

Richard Asquith is Chief Executive at AMSR, the Archive of Market and Social Research, a registered charity set up to preserve work that tells the story of our industry, and therefore society in general, and make it freely available to academics, students, and researchers. During a twenty-year career at Kantar, his roles included Global CEO of Kantar’s TV and Video audience measurement business, CEO of the TGI division and Managing Director of BMRB International.


Richard was recommended for Fellowship in recognition of a distinguished career of over 40 years in research and audience measurement, including senior leadership roles across major agencies and global responsibility for large-scale measurement businesses. Richard has contributed to developing greater understanding within the profession through conference presentations and published work, including a co-authored IJMR paper recognised as runner-up for the MRS Silver Medal. Richard has made sustained voluntary contributions to MRS through Company Partner Scheme governance, contributing to the IJMR’s editorial board and peer review process, and ongoing mentoring, alongside current leadership of AMSR where Richard is helping preserve and extend the use of the UK research archive for academics, educators and future generations of researchers.

Ruth has a 20-year career in client-side consumer insight and commercial impact at major hospitality and retail brands including Vue, M&S and McDonald’s. She is chair of Aura, a supportive community of over 900 client-side insight people, providing real examples, quality advice and fresh perspectives, via events and networking. Ruth also leads the Working Well Together campaign to inspire and embed better client-agency relationships; and was a founding member of the Cinema First Insights Group in the UK cinema industry, with a shared mission to grow cinema admissions via greater audience understanding.

Ruth was recommended for Fellowship for her sustained leadership in strengthening client-side insight and partnership across the sector, notably as Chair of AURA where Ruth has grown and energised the AURA community and expanded collaboration with MRS and other industry bodies. Ruth has made meaningful voluntary contributions to MRS through People & Talent initiatives (including helping deliver the Client Sight research and shaping the MRS Client Conference), conference participation, mentoring and regular client-perspective contributions to Research Live. Ruth spearheaded the AURA “Working Well Together” principles providing practical tools to improve client–agency collaboration and wellbeing, and Ruth continues to champion the application of insight beyond her organisation through a wide number of speaker opportunities and cross sector initiatives.

Shazia is a purpose-driven leader and as founder of Mint Research, she helps organisations understand diverse communities, elevating voices too often overlooked. Known for her warm, collaborative approach and deep cultural expertise, Shazia brings a unique ability to engage with complex and sensitive issues around identity, belonging, and representation. She has worked across sectors to design and lead impactful research, always ensuring projects are inclusive, thoughtful, and grounded in real-world experience. She was recognised as a Research Hero (2022) and is a multiple time Global Insight 250 winner.

Shazia was recommended for Fellowship for her sustained leadership and contribution to professional standards and inclusive research practice over 30 years across market, social and qualitative research. Shazia has advanced capability within the profession through academic lecturing, peer reviewed publication translating applied work into wider learning, and delivery of MRS training. Shazia has made further meaningful voluntary contributions to MRS through involvement in the Social Equity Group at its formation, service as an elected MRS Board Member for three years, and as an MRS awards judge for the Changemaker Awards and MRS Annual Awards. Shazia’s wider impact includes long-term voluntary leadership of the research strand at the Children’s Media Conference, mentoring and inclusion work through Women in Research, and championing insight-led decision-making beyond the sector.

Tariq has built a reputation as both an industry innovator and a trusted voice within the global research community. From his early days in fieldwork through to leading international Restech businesses including Voxco, NEBU, Kinesis, and Intellex, he has consistently helped organisations stay ahead of industry change. As Co-founder and CEO of Sample Ninja, he is passionate about improving data quality, respondent experience, and the future of sampling through smarter, more sustainable technology. Known for combining deep technical expertise with a highly collaborative and people-focused approach, he is a regular contributor, mentor, and familiar face across the global insights industry.

Tariq was recommended for Fellowship for his sustained, high-impact contribution over 30 years to the development and scaling of research technology, data collection, and panel management, with a consistent focus on data integrity, participant experience, and methodological robustness. In senior leadership roles Tariq introduced first-to-market capabilities that have since become standard practice, including modern panel management with embedded fraud detection. Tariq has also strengthened the wider profession through international thought leadership on emerging methodological shifts, extensive mentoring and advisory support, and community-building initiatives including scaling ESOMAR networking events and revitalising data-sector forums.

Dr Zsolt Kiss is founder and director of o-x.ai, a research consultancy at the forefront of applying AI, data science and advanced analytics to market, social and evaluation research. His career began in academia as a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Oxford, before moving into roles at organisations including Bain & Company, NatCen Social Research and Delineate Strategy.

He has developed a number of innovative methodologies, including psychographic weighting, machine-learning approaches to survey data fusion and signAl™?, a directed AI engine for large-scale qualitative, documentary, and quantitative analysis. These methods have been applied in major projects for UK Government departments, UN agencies, the European Commission, and private sector clients, enabling robust insight from complex datasets that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to analyse at scale.

Dr Zsolt Kiss CMRS was recommended for Fellowship for his cross-disciplinary though leadership contribution over 15 years to strengthening the analytical and methodological capability of the profession, spanning market research, social research, evaluation, and data science. Zsolt has made meaningful voluntary contributions to research standards and governance through service on the ISO 20252 Technical Committee and ISO AI Working Group, as a Board Member of the MRS Market Research Quality Standards Advisory Board, and previously within the MRS Census and Geodemographics Group. Zsolt has advanced understanding across the profession through thought leadership and speaking on the convergence of data science, behavioural science, and survey research (including the Association for Survey Computing), and through award recognised work applying AI to impact evaluation. Zsolt was a finalist for the Tony Cowling Foundation Market Research Industry Innovation Award, 2024, and continues to develop research thinking on synthetic data methods to extend insight while protecting confidentiality.