B2B Research Conference 2026
Company Partners
Share
Book now
To book for someone else click here.
Date and time
Please note all times are GMT/GMT+1 UK Time
Location
Members
£599 + VAT
Non-Members
£699 + VAT
Company partners
£599 + VAT
Please let us know if you have any accessibility requirements ahead of the event
Share
Solving complex business challenges with smarter insight
Today’s business landscape is being shaped by economic uncertainty, technological disruption, changing customer expectations, and far-reaching organisational transformation. For B2B research practitioners, this means clients’ questions are more complex, the timelines shorter, and the stakes higher than ever. And in a world of complex, multi-layered business questions, a single methodology is rarely enough.
The MRS B2B Research Conference will tackle the specific and persistent demands of B2B research by showcasing methodological innovation, AI tools, and new thinking that are raising the bar and delivering insight fit for today’s challenges.
It will reveal what B2B buyers really want from their partners, while supporting researchers with the practical realities of delivering high-quality insight. The event will explore how to maintain sample quality, engage hard-to-reach, niche B2B audiences, combine methodologies for broader and deeper understanding, and meet the growing demands for faster, more scalable insight. It will also examine how researchers can demonstrate the rigour, credibility and commercial value of their work to stakeholders, and ensure insight is effectively activated across business decision-making.
Make sure you attend the B2B Research event to
- Explore how AI is reshaping B2B research and helping solve some of the sector’s most persistent challenges
- Examine multimodal approaches to tackling complex and large scale B2B challenges
- Discover the growing role of behavioural science for understanding nuanced B2B decision-making and adoption
- Compare recruitment strategies for delivering quality samples to support high-impact executive decision-making
- Learn how to embed insight more directly into commercial and strategic decision-making
- Understand how to balance technology advancements with expert human judgement across the B2B research processes
Key contributions from:
Google * Sage * ACCA * HSBC* British Business Bank
Who should attend?
This conference is designed for client-side and agency-side insight professionals responsible for generating, analysing and applying B2B insight to drive business decisions.
Ideal for senior insight, research and strategy professionals, including Heads of Insight, Research Directors, Insight Managers, Customer Insight leaders, Business Intelligence professionals, strategists and consultants from client organisations, agencies, and specialist research and technology providers.
With special thanks to:
Fieldlocker
Field Locker is a UK-based data collection partner specialising in CATI, Qual and Online research. Since 1989, we’ve supported agencies and brands with large-scale telephone studies to targeted online sampling. Our strength lies in delivery. With experienced interviewer teams, robust quality control and flexible mixed-method approaches, we consistently deliver accurate data at pace. We’re particularly trusted to reach hard-to-access audiences, including vulnerable and digitally excluded groups, where quality and care matter most.
IDR (Insights Driven Research)
IDR is a global Expert Network connecting leading institutions, corporations, consultancies and market research firms to vetted experts, across multiple functional roles, industry sectors and geographies.
What sets IDR apart is our unique ability to identify and custom recruit B2B targets quickly and efficiently, helping clients to access the right stakeholders, meet their deadlines, and achieve key business objectives.
With a team of 200+ international researchers, a fast-growing network of over 500,000 experts, and our advanced proprietary technology, we are able to offer truly competitive timelines and costs, as well as exceptional quality standards, for both Qualitative and Quantitative B2B studies
What sets IDR apart is our unique ability to identify and custom recruit B2B targets quickly and efficiently, helping clients to access the right stakeholders, meet their deadlines, and achieve key business objectives.
With a team of 200+ international researchers, a fast-growing network of over 500,000 experts, and our advanced proprietary technology, we are able to offer truly competitive timelines and costs, as well as exceptional quality standards, for both Qualitative and Quantitative B2B studies
Norstat
Norstat is a European data collection company with large proprietary active online panels in the UK, Ireland and 17 other countries. As we own the panels, we can profile the audiences our customers want to speak to as well as provide reassurance about the source of data. Data quality is about recruitment, registration, and engagement of panellists, as well as in-survey controls. Norstat is a trusted data collection partner for many market researchers, delivering stress free fieldwork with high-quality data.
Prevision Research
Established in 2009, Prevision Research provides a highly specialised and bespoke customer feedback service. Clients include small and medium sized research agencies, independent consultants, marketing and advertising agencies and large corporates. Many of our clients have worked with us for over 10 years. Our purpose is to provide our clients with top quality data, delivered on time and on budget. We are committed to providing a friendly and professional service on every project. We provide both telephone (CATI) data collection as well as online (CAWI) fieldwork, with a particular specialism in integrated CATI and CAWI approaches.
Ronin International
With over 25 years of global market research experience, RONIN has perfected the science of finding and engaging B2B and hard-to-reach audiences. At RONIN, we understand that there is no one-size-fits-all methodology when it comes to getting the right audience of real people. That’s why our team draws upon our vast experience and knowledge of the industry to work with you to ensure you get the audience you need. We use the best available methods to reach your research objectives, you can be confident that you’re getting the most accurate and reliable results. Trust RONIN to help you achieve your research goals.
We utilise online, phone, and digital platforms to ensure your targeted participants are engaged, delivering verified and high-quality data.
With approximately 400 multi-market projects annually and over 25 years of experience, RONIN specialises in market research.
Introducing RONIN Edge, our innovative platform for engaging senior-level audiences. With offices in the UK, Germany, Hong Kong, and the US, we are eager to discuss your international research needs.
MRS B2B Network
The MRS B2B Network is a new MRS special interest group, dedicated to supporting best practice in B2B research and encouraging networking. The group is open to both specialist B2B researchers and non-specialists. In particular, we welcome practitioners who have recently joined the industry, operational personnel and other groups involved in collecting and using B2B research data. The range of support services offered by the network includes a dedicated website/knowledge hub, training and education, awards, meeting others with a common interest and commercial opportunities.
Media Partner
Breaking market research news, latest job vacancies, industry reports, in-depth analysis and cutting-edge opinion for customer insight professionals.
Giulia Baldi, Principal, IDR
Stephen Bairfelt, Managing Director, Purple MR & Chair, MRS B2B Network
Jacqui Banerjee, Research Director, Ipsos
Jacqui has worked agency side specialising in financial services for over a decade, covering business and consumer needs. Her specialisms are communications, specifically within the remit of the FCA's Consumer Duty and strategy.
She has a personal passion for understanding and improving the lives of audiences with sensitivities covering neurodiversity, mental health financial vulnerabilities and disabilities.
Charlotte Burgess, Managing Director, Customer Insights, VML The Cocktail
Charlotte Burgess brings 15 years of experience at the intersection of brand strategy, customer insight, and innovation - working across agency and client-side environments in London, Madrid, and Boston. She is currently Managing Director of insights at VML The Cocktail, where she leads a team that combines qualitative, quantitative, and behavioural science methodologies to help organisations understand complex human behavior and turn it in to commercial advantage. Prior to that she led customer insight at C Space - as well as roles across advertising (Fallon), brand (Interbrand), and marketing roles client side (Ralph Lauren and Absolute Radio).
Anna Campbell, Associate Partner, and Human Insight Leadership Team, PA Consulting
Shiona Davies, Director, Ipsos
An acknowledged expert on SMEs and access to finance, Shiona has been the editor of the SME Finance Monitor since its inception in 2011. The survey of 17,000 SMEs a year provides robust and reliable data used by Government, the banks and business groups and informs the debate around this key part of the UK economy. The data is used regularly by the British Business Bank to measure trends but also for ad-hoc work including the segmentation that is the subject of this paper.
Natalie Hall, Senior Insight Consultant, VML The Cocktail
Lizzie Hartley, Customer Communications Manager, HSBC
Bertie Heppel, Director, Meridian West
Bertie has managed dozens of projects, providing strategic, research-led advice to firms on a variety of topics, from market strategy, to brand positioning, to client strategy. His clients include PwC, JLL, Addleshaw Goddard, Womble Bond Dickinson, Withers, BNP Paribas, BDO Global, and the Charity Retail Association.
Bertie has an extensive background in research-led consulting, having worked for four years in similar roles prior to joining Meridian West. Most of this time was spent InformaaÄôs Financial Intelligence division, where he had the inside track on the UKaÄôs banking sector, providing market intelligence, strategic insight, and competitor benchmarking to FS organisations of all sizes.
Proficient in both quantitative and qualitative research methods, Bertie has worked on laptop-busting data models, collected and analysed millions of data points, and conducted interviews with C-Suite members of some of the worldaÄôs largest companies. He likes his inputs broad, but his outputs narrow; he strives to distil his findings into advice that is commercial, clear, and concise. He holds a first-class degree in English Literature from Trinity College, Dublin.
Maxwell Minckler, Senior Market Insights Manager, Search and YouTube, EMEA, Google
Maxwell Minckler leads regional customer research for Google's Search and YouTube Ads Marketing teams in EMEA. He has spent over fifteen years driving scaled B2B and B2C market research programs that translate insights into business impact on local, regional, and global levels around the world. Before joining Google EMEA, Max led Google's Brand & Reputation and Devices & Services research for Asia Pacific, and built data-led insights functions for technology and media companies across North America.
Fiona Morrill, Senior Director & Economist, British Business Bank
Eddie O'Brien, Senior Director, Global Customer Insight, Sage
Colette Stevens, Managing Partner, B2B International
Leanne Tomasevic, Insight & Strategy Lead, Electric Twin
Jonathan Turner, Managing Partner, Dentsu Creative
Ted Utoft, Director, Ipsos
Ted leads our team of behavioural scientists who help clients reframe business objectives into behavioural objectives. He has led research & consulting engagements in over 25 markets, having spent 13 years in Asia, before nine here in the UK. He and his team work to go beyond what our audiences can tell us and provide tangible solutions clients can implement to drive impact.
Andrew Way, Joint Head of Life Sciences Research, Strat 7 Jigsaw
Andrew has >15 years' experience within primary market research, with the majority of this time dedicated to the Healthcare & Life Sciences sectors. Over this time, he has worked with some of the biggest names within the Pharmaceutical, MedTech & Life Sciences/Bioprocessing space.
Andrew, who currently leads the Life Sciences division at STRAT7 Jigsaw, regards himself to be a aÄúdualistaÄù, although has particular expertise within quantitative methods.
Outside of work, Andrew enjoys spending time with his large family (5 children, 2 dogs & 1 cat!) and either playing or watching a wide variety of sports.
Clive Webb, Head of Business Management, Policy and Insights, ACCA
Clive is a Chartered Accountant with global experience gained at KPMG, where he developed a strong foundation across audit and consulting. Over the course of his career, Clive has specialised in managing and leading learning and development teams, designing and facilitating training across both soft and technical skills in a range of formats.
Clive currently works with ACCA on research projects exploring the evolving role of accounting technicians and the growing use of robotics and artificial intelligence in accounting and finance. He has authored a number of reports on topics close to his heart, including technology (Race for Relevance; Cyber and the CFO), the future of the finance function (Finance: a journey to the future?), career development (Learning for the Future), and the digitalisation of small and medium-sized practices (Passionate Practitioner).
Beyond research and writing, Clive regularly contributes to podcasts and video content, and he is a frequent speaker at conferences where these subjects are at the forefront of conversation.
Conor Wilcock, Managing Partner, Basis Research
Conor is a Managing Partner at Basis B2B. He has worked in B2B research for 18 years, during which time he has consulted with the world’s leading companies to help their brands grow, develop winning value propositions and improve their customer experience. Other speaker and author credits include Quirk’s, Greenbook, Research Live, Research Industry Voices, and Marketing Week.
09.00 Registration & coffee
09.45 Extended opening address from the Chair: what B2B buyers say about you when you’re not in the room
In Conor’s opening remarks he’ll outline how B2B brand positioning is actually landing with buyers based on an analysis of 7.2 million real B2B buyer conversations; and what may need to change before it impacts revenue.
Conor Wilcock, Managing Partner, Basis Research
10.05 The UNSAID: hidden truths about AI transformation in marketing
VML and Google share findings from a two-year experimental study exploring the behavioural drivers of AI adoption in marketing organisations.
Combining qualitative interviews, semiotic and discourse analysis, the research identified three distinct “AI mindsets” linked to adoption behaviours. Live behavioural experiments with marketers and MBA students, examined how people responded to uncertainty, loss of control and ownership when working with AI systems and revealed that behavioural outcomes were shaped less by capability training alone, and more by the contexts, conditions and systems surrounding AI use.
Gain practical insight into how multi method research blended with behavioural science can help organisations design environments that enable more effective AI adoption and implementation.
Charlotte Burgess, Managing Director, Customer Insights, VML The Cocktail
Natalie Hall, Senior Insight Consultant, VML The Cocktail
Maxwell Minckler, Senior Market Insights Manager, Search and YouTube, EMEA
Google
10.35 AI in action: solving B2B research challenges
A quick pace PechaKucha style session which will look at three ways AI is enhancing B2B research.
- Can AI moderated conversations improve B2B quant?
- Boosting N-sizes - A quant case study on using synthetic samples to augment small B2B universes and the challenges it solves
- AI for Analysis - advanced segmentation and modelling
Chaired by:
Stephen Bairfelt, Managing Director, Purple MR & Chair, MRS B2B Network
Panel
Andrew Way, Joint Head of Life Sciences Research, Strat 7 Jigsaw
B2B Network members
11.05 Morning refreshments
11.35 Tracking to targeting: refreshing SME segments with the SME Finance Monitor
This session will show how to turn a longitudinal asset like the Ipsos SME Finance Monitor SMEFM into an always-on answer engine delivering sharper, faster answers to ad hoc briefs without the need for new fieldwork.
Hear how data and insights from the SMEFM were used to answer new and emerging challenges for the British Business Bank helping to refresh SME lending segments and then putting them to work for a range of practical applications across segmentation, campaign messaging, product testing and audience sizing.
Shiona Davies, Director, Ipsos
Fiona Morrill, Senior Director & Economist, British Business Bank
12.05 From gatekeeper to architect: how Sage made customer understanding everyone's business
Examine how Sage reimagined the role of insight in a fast-moving SaaS environment. Faced with increasing pressure for faster decision-making, Sage and Electric Twin developed synthetic audience models across key B2B segments, enabling non-research teams to test ideas, validate direction and access customer understanding without relying solely on traditional research cycles and shifting the insight team from gatekeeper to architect.
This presentation shares what it took to make this work in practice: the guardrails that protect quality, the cultural shift required, and what it means for B2B insight teams navigating the same pressure to be faster, broader and more embedded in decisions.
Leanne Tomasevic, Insight & Strategy Lead, Electric Twin
Eddie O'Brien, Senior Director, Global Customer Insight, Sage
12.35 SPONSOIRED SESSION: How verified human expertise is the competitive advantage in an AI dominated world
As AI and automation reshape the research landscape, high-stakes, executive level strategic decision making still relies on verified human expertise to guarantee credibility and quality.
This session explores how a €10B European electrical infrastructure organisation tackled complex decisions around the future of connected building systems in a rapidly evolving market. Faced with fragmented information and fast-moving technologies, IDR built a custom network of verified experts spanning engineering, software, academia, facility management and competitive intelligence. The result was a uniquely comprehensive market view that informed executive-level strategy and demonstrated why, in high-stakes B2B environments, verified human expertise delivered a critical competitive advantage.
Giulia Baldi, Principal, IDR
12.50 Lunch
14.00 Researching the revolution: a multi-modal global study into AI, career disruption and the future of B2B talent
ACCA commissioned a study across 180 countries to understand how AI, climate change, demographic shifts and geopolitical uncertainty will reshape careers in the accountancy profession by 2035.
With thousands of survey responses and hundreds of in-depth discussions, AI played a critical role in analysing and synthesising the data. To socialise the findings and drive actionability beyond the published report, a custom dashboard was built giving ACCA non-research staff direct access to the full dataset.
The session will explore how researchers balanced automation with expert judgement and delivered complex but digestible findings to non-specialist users. Hear how the research has informed ACCA's qualification design, career tools and policy positions.
Bertie Heppel, Director, Meridian West
Clive Webb, Head of Business Management, Policy and Insights, ACCA
14.30 Combining multi-method research and behavioural science to meet regulatory demands and enhance B2B customer outcomes
In this session, explore how Ipsos partnered with HSBC to combine quantitative, qualitative and behavioural science approaches to meet regulatory requirements while improving the B2B customer experience. Focusing on the complex mandates journey for business banking customers, the case study will demonstrate how communications testing, UX evaluation and behavioural science insights were used to reduce friction, confusion and improve application success. The session will highlight how behavioural science can help stakeholders better understand the drivers of customer difficulty and confusion, and identify practical interventions to improve journeys, communications and customer outcomes.
Jacqui Banerjee, Research Director, Ipsos
Ted Utoft, Director, Ipsos
Lizzie Hartley, Customer Communications Manager, HSBC
15.00 Afternoon refreshments
15.30 Blending insight, creative and strategy to sharpen positioning and power new B2B growth for Makita
Makita is a household name in power tools but far less so in professional gardening - a key B2B market. Examine how a strategic project partnership between insight and creativity helped Makita achieve growth in the professional gardening sector. Bringing together teams from Dentsu Creative and B2B International, the project combined brand health and audience insight to shape positioning, messaging, creative development and media strategy.
This case study showcases how insight directly informed campaign effectiveness, optimised brand investment, and supported measurable business growth in a complex B2B market.
Colette Stevens, Managing Partner, B2B International
Jonathan Turner, Managing Partner, Dentsu Creative
Senior representative, Makita
16.00 A blueprint for innovation: delivering large-scale, high-impact B2B research with senior decision makers
How do you conduct large-scale B2B research with senior decision-makers on some of the most complex, innovative and technical issues facing UK industry today? In this session, PA Consulting and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology share the story behind the UK’s first Innovation Adoption and Diffusion Survey. This nationwide study explores barriers and enablers of adoption of AI, biotech and quantum technologies. Discover how a network-led recruitment strategy, rigorous respondent verification and close policy collaboration enabled the team to deliver robust, actionable insight at scale. The session will explore methodological innovation, engaging hard-to-reach B2B audiences and how research directly shaped UK innovation policy and strategy.
Anna Campbell, Associate Partner, PA Consulting
Tyler Rickard, Lead Analyst on Innovation Policy, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
Tom Whittaker, Senior Quantitative Research Specialist, PA Consulting
Matt Humphries, Quantitative Research Specialist, PA Consulting
16.30 Closing chair remarks
16.35 Sponsored drinks reception
Additional Information
Company Partners
Share
Book now
To book for someone else click here.
Date and time
Please note all times are GMT/GMT+1 UK Time
Location
Members
£599 + VAT
Non-Members
£699 + VAT
Company partners
£599 + VAT
Please let us know if you have any accessibility requirements ahead of the event
Share
Related Events
MRSpride SHOW UP: After Hours
London
An evening of insight, connection and community
Join us this September for MRSpride SHOW UP After Hours; a new edition of our flagship SHOW UP series, bringing together the MRS community for a sociable evening combining insight and conversation. Taking place in central London, this relaxed after-hours gathering creates space to connect, reflect and engage with some of the most important conversations shaping LGBTQ+ lives and research today, supported by our sponsor Dy
Share
Behavioural Science Summit 2026
London
Beyond Awareness: Designing Behaviour Change for Commercial and Social Impact
Organisations are increasingly turning to behavioural science to better understand how people make decisions in real-world contexts, and in many cases to influence and shape those behaviours. For practitioners, demonstrating commercial value, measurable impact, and methodological rigour has become essential to establishing credibility with stakeholders and driving impact.
Share
Foresight Conference 2026
London
Where futures and insights converge.
Stakeholders want more for less and increasingly expect integrated research which combines insight with foresight. It’s no longer enough to explain the present. In disruptive and volatile times, organisations need insight that also anticipates what’s next.
Share
Get the latest MRS news
Our newsletters cover the latest MRS events, policy updates and research news.
©2026 The Market Research Society,
15 Northburgh Street, London, UK EC1V 0JR
Tel: +44 (0)20 7490 4911 Email: info@mrs.org.uk
The Market Research Society (MRS) is the world's leading research association. For all those who need, generate or interpret the evidence for making good business and policy decisions. Click here to find out more about us.
©2026 The Market Research Society,
15 Northburgh Street, London EC1V 0JR
Tel: +44 (0)20 7490 4911 Email: info@mrs.org.uk