Angelfish Fieldwork marks 15 years in participant recruitment
05 August 2026

Authored by Lisa Boughton, Director & Co Founder of Angelfish Fieldwork

Angelfish Fieldwork is marking 15 years in business this year, having grown from a small recruitment start-up into one of the UK's leading specialist participant recruitment agencies.

The company was founded in Cheltenham in 2011 by Lisa Boughton, Sophie Zadeh and Rich Stephens on the idea that organisations make better decisions when they hear directly from the people they serve, support and sell to. Fifteen years on, that idea hasn't needed updating, even if the industry around it has changed considerably.

In that time, Angelfish has recruited tens of thousands of participants for research projects across charity, FMCG, media, consumer health and retail, working with brands, agencies and consultancies that need to hear from real people, not assumptions about them.

The anniversary comes at a time when the research industry is changing rapidly. AI and automation are reshaping many aspects of research, but for Angelfish they have reinforced something the team has believed from day one: behind every survey response, interview and insight is a real person.

Lisa Boughton, co-founder of Angelfish Fieldwork, said:

"When we started Angelfish in 2011, the thinking was pretty simple: if you want to understand people, you have to talk to people.

"The industry looks very different now. There's AI, automation and more data than any of us know what to do with. But behind every data point is still a person with their own experiences, opinions and story, and that's easy to lose sight of.

"One of the things I'm proudest of isn't a milestone or a number. It's the team we've built. Several people have been with us for years, and they've helped shape the business every step of the way. The relationships they've built with clients and participants are a huge part of who we are.

"Angelfish Opinions is another part of that story. We've built it slowly, over years, and the people in it take part because they trust us. They give up their time to share their experiences and perspectives because they know they'll be listened to. That's not something you can shortcut, and it matters more now than it ever has."

That continuity has helped create long-standing partnerships with clients, many of whom have worked with the same members of the Angelfish team for years. It has also underpinned the company’s reputation for delivering the right participants, even on complex or hard-to-reach audience projects.

It reflects the same principle that has guided the business from the start: real people, recruited and looked after properly, are what make research worth doing.

Boughton added:

"The research world has changed a lot since 2011. The tools are different. The conversations still matter.

"Good research starts with people. We're proud to have spent the last 15 years helping researchers find them, hear from them and understand them, and we're looking forward to the next fifteen."

Comment from MRS: Angelfish are proud champions of the MRS Ops Network, always supporting our agenda to raise the profile of Ops and support the sector. We would like to congratulate Angelfish on this huge milestone and can't wait to see what comes next!