Rethinking Sustainability for Market Research and Insights

Explore how sustainability is reshaping markets, consumer behaviour and categories and learn how to integrate these shifts into stronger insight, sharper recommendations and greater advantage.

Sustainability is now shaping how organisations innovate, compete, build trust, manage risk and create value. It is rising on corporate agendas, while challenger brands are using environmental and social expectations to disrupt established categories. For market research and insights professionals, this makes it increasingly important to understand how sustainability can influence the wider market context around a brief, from consumer trade-offs and emerging competitors to reputational risk, proposition development and future growth.

This foundational and interactive course helps delegates rethink sustainability as a practical strategic lens for market research and insights. Using cross-category examples, delegates will explore how sustainability affects behaviour, value perception, trust, convenience, customer experience and innovation. They will learn how to spot sustainability signals, ask sharper questions and integrate sustainability thinking into research conversations that support marketing, innovation and business strategy. The course will help delegates strengthen their role in helping organisations make better decisions and accelerate progress towards more future-ready growth.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, delegates will be able to:

• Understand how sustainability is reshaping markets, consumer behaviour and category dynamics
• Explore foundational concepts including systems thinking, circularity and emerging models of value
• Recognise where sustainability may influence a research brief, category context or research question
• Understand how environmental and social factors can influence brand relevance, customer experience and innovation
• Apply sustainability thinking to strengthen research methods, interpretation and the strategic influence of insight
• Develop a simple action plan for integrating sustainability thinking into future research work

Who will benefit

This is a foundational course suitable for professionals across different levels of research experience who are beginning to explore sustainability or are curious about how sustainability and research increasingly intersect.

Learning Method

The course uses an engaging mix of cross-category examples, group discussion, practical exercises and applied frameworks to help participants connect sustainability thinking to real research and insight challenges.

Course Delivery Mode

The course will be delivered as a one-day, virtual and interactive workshop.

Trainer biography

Ruchi Aul Ruchi is the Founder and Managing Director of Knowmera, where she helps organisations build insight capability, strengthen strategic influence and embed sustainability thinking into marketing, innovation and decision-making. With close to 20 years’ experience in research and insights across sectors, she combines hands-on research expertise with commercial leadership and transformation experience. She has led research teams, built new capabilities, partnered with global clients and designed graduate, leadership and team learning programmes. Ruchi is an alumna of the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, with a certification in Business Sustainability Management, and has completed the Mini MBA in Brand Management.