Sustainability Council

Steve is the CEO of revolutionary consumer insights platform Zappi, with a passion in understanding consumer motivation. By embracing automated technology and fusing it with new thinking in Behavioural Economics, his goal has been to empower brands and drive for abundant, boundless research. His work on Consumer Purchase Journeys has won multiple awards from ESOMAR and the ARF, among others.

He has developed research and technology thinking via contributors to a wide range of papers, media and events, plus contributions to MRS as a member of the Company Partner Board and avid support of the MRS SME initiative. He also actively supports other business initiatives such as The Supper Club and Abundance 360.

On receiving his Fellowship, Steve says: "The research industry is a wonderful place to work and has been a great source of both friendships and intellectual stimulation for me for many years, so it is great to get this honour from MRS."

Richard Barton is Managing Director at RED C Research in London. An agency side researcher since 1999 in businesses both large and small, Richard now specialises in strategic global studies, mainly for clients in the media and technology sectors. With a degree in Geography & Politics, understanding the natural world, human impact and government policy are all key areas of interest. Recently Richard has run numerous international studies looking at innovation and trends in reducing meat consumption, including how to encourage a consumer switch to innovative meat and dairy alternatives. Outside of work, Richard worries about how to reduce the environmental impact of his international travel and how to more sustainably heat a draughty Georgian house.

Jane is responsible for the leadership of MRS. Jane was previously at HM Revenue & Customs where she developed and led the individual customer function and the behavioural evidence and insight unit.

Before moving to HMRC in 2006, she held senior roles in both public and private sector organisations including Shell, Unilever, the Department of Constitutional Affairs and the BBC, where she was responsible for the iconic 'Perfect Day' campaign which, as well as winning advertisement of the year, raised £2.5m for Children in Need.

Rebecca Cole is Managing Director of Cobalt Sky, an award-winning market research operations company specialising in online data collection and data processing. She joined Cobalt Sky as a graduate in 2006 and is a highly experienced web scripter and quantum programmer. As well as being on the main board of the MRS, Rebecca chairs the MRS Representation in Research steering group and has spent over 10 years on the board of the Association for Survey Computing (ASC) which she now co-chairs.

Mia Lorenz is Managing Director for Business at the Research Academy. She co-founded the company in 2013 to deliver courses for the MRS Diploma and MRS Advanced Certificate in Market and Social Research. She serves as the course leader for the MRS Diploma, and specialises in teaching qualitative methods. Her aim is to make learning both rigorous and fun.

As a freelance social researcher, Mia specialised in social return on investment calculations. She was also a postgraduate Lecturer in Research Methods at the University of Westminster. She later joined YouthSight as Associate Director for Custom Research & Insight. Here, she managed quant and qual projects for high street brands and numerous universities.

Mia holds an MA in Applied Social and Market Research and a PG Cert in Higher Education from the University of Westminster. Her first degree was a BA in Government and Politics with Environmental Management. Mia is a Certified Member of the MRS and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

A lifelong lover of nature, Mia is passionate about sustainability. Outside of work, she loves to read, hike, grow vegetables, and make adventurous plant-based meals. She volunteers to restore local habitats and footpaths with the Snowdonia Society.

Delivery Development Director, Human8

Lian entered her research via a non-conventual route after attending the inaugural year of Dragon Den’s Peter Jones’ National Enterprise Academy, and landing an internship at telecoms giant EE before later transitioning to be (predominantly) agency side. From her decade in research Lian has experience in a wide range of sectors, from FMCG, fashion and groceries, to travel & tourism, media and food & drink, but also including work for clients in the third sector too. Lian has spent the majority of her career managing and running research via communities, from both a client and agency perspective, and has a wealth of experience in both qualitative and quantitative research.

Outside of work, Lian enjoys countryside walks with her rescue dog Cassie, reading, spa days, crafting, cocktails, cheese and going on adventures. Lian has also taken an increasing personal interest in how to minimize her impact on the environment over the years from going Veggie and buying local, to being a bamboo toothbrush and reusable cotton pad convert – which is why she jumped at the chance to support the MRS and their sustainability goals (initially via &More) as soon as the opportunity arose.

Meg Rudman-Walsh is a Research Director with more than 15 years agency side experience working in partnership with brands across various sectors. Since joining MM-Eye in 2014 she has specialised in large scale global studies, both consumer and B2B.

Meg is currently leading a project in its sixth year guiding an automotive client’s business strategy for alternative fuel vehicle development, helping them to understand consumer barriers and motivations. As a result they have developed communications strategies that inform and guide consumer choice, initiated product development work to ensure vehicles that are fit for the future and are able to understand and address the non-vehicle related issues that consumers face when moving to alternative fuels.

More recently Meg has become MM-Eye’s B Corp Champion, working closely with the board to ensure the business is truly sustainable both socially and environmentally.

Caroline Wren is one of the founders of MTM, and has 20+ years’ experience in quantitative market research. Her specialism is media engagement and advertising effectiveness, and career highlights include the award-winning ‘In VoD We Trust’ (Channel 4), ‘TV+Online: Better Together’ (IAB & Thinkbox), and ‘Blurred Lines: Gender portrayal in the media’ (BBC). More recently she’s also found it enjoyable to support product launches such as BBC Sounds and Sky Glass, and to help clients be better corporate citizens in terms of issues like representation for diverse audiences, or understanding user privacy concerns.

Outside of work, Caroline has practised martial arts at the Shaolin Temple, played the trumpet at the Royal Albert Hall, cycled 100 miles for charity, and helped run successful election campaigns for the Green Party in her local area (Richmond & Twickenham). She has a young son and is becoming increasingly driven by the thought of the world he will grow up in.

A member of Kantar's Sustainable Transformation Practice global team, Jack Young provides an expert voice in corporate ESG strategy, reporting and regulation to Kantar’s sustainability work with clients. Jack also leads on the development of Kantar’s strategic and pro-bono partnerships with some of the world's biggest brands and non-for-profits. Sitting on Kantar's Group ESG Governance Committee he works closely alongside Kantar’s executive and wider global operational leadership teams, developing and executing its own sustainable operational practices and futureproofing its ESG strategy as an advisor globally for the Kantar group.

Helen is responsible for the marketing and membership activities within MRS covering training, membership, company accreditation and sales. Having worked in marketing for three professional organisations over the past 20 years, she specialises in marketing for membership bodies.
She worked for six years from 1986 for the Chartered Institute of Quality (CQI) as editor and then head of communications, and in 1993 moved to head up the marketing team for 11 years at the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM).
With a degree in social science focusing on society and psychology, her original subject matter interests are proving very useful for working in the research sector. Helen recently completed the Marketing Week Mini-MBA in Marketing and was awarded an A.

Dan is the Head of Facilities and IT Infrastructure; he has worked at the MRS for 17 years. Dan is responsible for IT and Facilities, this includes Health & Safety, contract & contractor management and project management. He is responsible for putting in place various green initiatives, the day to day management of the same and liaising with the Green Mark and applying for the certification. Prior to working at MRS Dan worked for several solicitor’s companies for 16 years in similar roles.

Dan has a BSc in Environmental Geology, and has put a PhD in Palaeoclimatology on hold. Outside of work he has advanced scuba diving certification and loves to spend winter months traveling to sunny climes and diving world famous as well as some lesser known dive sites with his wife – which was scuppered by the pandemic!