Evidence Talks is a series of 30-minute podcasts produced by the Market Research Society (MRS) that bring together experts from the research, insight and data analytics communities to discuss the latest trends in customer intelligence.
www.mrs.org.uk
Open Windows: Exploring client side EDI guidelines
Nicole Smyth from Holland & Barrett and Clare Woodward from BT talk to Mark Thorpe about the MRS Senior Client Council diversity & inclusion best practice guidelines. The guidance under discussion is available here. Nicole Smyth, Customer Insight, Holland & Barrett Nicole Smyth is an experienced Insight leader, having worked client-side within a number of UK and Global retailers, including ASDA, George Clothing and Debenhams, and most recently leading Strategic Insights at H...
14 Jan 2025
Open Windows: talking inclusion with Sabrina Trinquetel
Sabrina Trinquetel, Co-Chair MRS Pride and MRS EDI Council member, shares her perspective on the MRS Inclusion Pledge and its impact on driving meaningful change in the industry.
12 Dec 2024
Open Windows: talking inclusion with Georgie White, Holland & Barrett
Georgie White, Chief Customer Officer at Holland & Barrett, shares her insights on what the MRS Inclusion Pledge means to her organisation, driving meaningful inclusion and diversity.
25 Oct 2024
Open Windows: talking inclusion with Kantar's Megan Cross
In the fourth episode of the Open Windows podcast, Megan Cross, People Director for Finance & Legal and Head of Inclusion & Diversity and at Kantar talks to Mark Thorpe about how the MRS Inclusion Pledge signals a commitment to progress over perfection, provides access to community and offers guidance for organisations at any stage in their EDI journey.Megan Cross, is People Director for Finance & Legal and Head of Inclusion & Diversity at Kantar. Megan is passionate about bu...
23 Oct 2024
AI: Adoption and Integration - Where are we now?
Two years on from the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, this episode asks 'where are we now?' in the journey to experiment with and embed AI into market research practice.Why are clients approaching AI with caution?How can small agencies use AI to punch above their weight and win new clients?Are fully autonomous research agents already a relaity? Host: Christian Walsh, Content & Digital Director, MRSPanel:Adelynne Chao, Founder, Untold Insights Gemma Proctor, Associate Partner, PA ...
18 Jun 2024
Open Windows: With Josephine Hansom, Savanta
Conversation with Josephine Hansom, Youth Practice lead at Savanta, Fellow of MRS and Chair of the MRS' ED&I Council.
Talking to Dr Mark Thorpe, Board Director, Truth
3 Jun 2024
Open Windows: Opinium - what the MRS Inclusion Pledge means to us
Podcast two in the series looking at EDI in the research and insight sector.
With James Endersby, CEO & Partner, Opinium and Priya Minas, Associate Director, Opinium
Talking to Dr Mark Thorpe, Board Director, Truth.
29 May 2024
Synthetic data and artificial respondents - do we need humans at all?
In this edition of Evidence Talks, we’re talking about a topic that has taken the research sector by storm - synthetic data.
But what do we mean by synthetic data? Are we just talking about filling gaps and augmenting real data based on primary research, or are we talking about taking the human out of the picture altogether, and asking questions of ChatGPT or another similar large language model?
What are the opportunities for the industry, and what are the risks for clients? Can AI convincingly simulate a customer? What are the ethical, legal and financial implications of doing this?
The MRS Delphi Group has published a report ‘Using synthetic participants for market research' (https://www.mrs.org.uk/campaign/id/synthetic?MKTG=SYNTHETIC) which is referenced during this podcast.
Host:
Christian Walsh, Content & Digital Director, MRS
Guests:
Reena Sooch, Partner, Day One Strategy
Ray Poynter, Founder of The Future Place, President of ESOMAR and Fellow of MRS
Colin Strong, Head of Behavioural Science at Ipsos, Honorary professor at Nottingham University, Fellow of MRS and Chair of the MRS Delphi Group.
24 Apr 2024
Open Windows: Research, Insight & EDI
‘To be a window on the world we must reflect the world.’ Jane Frost CBE, CEO of MRS
What does being an MRS Inclusion Pledge signatory mean?
Hear from Jane Frost, CEO of MRS and Mark Thorpe, Board Director at Truth on how MRS is supporting signatories to action their commitment to EDI in everyday work practices.
24 Jan 2020
Is consolidation good for everyone?
Welcome to Evidence Talks, the podcast that explores the latest trends in how we understand customer behaviour. In this episode we turn our attention to the UK market research industry itself which has undergone quite a shakeup in the last few years.
Barely a week passes on research-live.com (https://www.research-live.com/) without a new deal being announced. Just look at the dozens of notable sales in 2019: including Kantar to Bain Capital; Join the Dots to InSites; and Com Res to Savanta. The list goes on...
The market research industry is consolidating more rapidly than ever before. According to the Research Live Industry Report 2020 (https://www.research-live.com/industry-report?MKTG=RLINDREPORT2019), research agencies in the UK generate more than £5bn turnover every year. And over half of that comes from the top 10 agencies.
In this podcast we want to find out what the impact of this consolidation is on the people in the companies that are being bought and merged.
We’ll also hear what it’s like for buyers of research - are clients getting what they want from fewer, larger suppliers?
Ultimately, who are the winners and who are the losers in this new climate of deal making?
Host: Christian Walsh, Digital Director, Market Research Society (MRS)
Guests:
Rhea Fox – Head of Insight and Strategy at Aviva and member of MRS Delphi Group (https://www.mrs.org.uk/about/delphi-group)
Angela Morgans, Regional MD for Europe at Metrixlab
Jon Priest, former-ceo of Future Thinking and now Director of Capel Partners
8 Oct 2019
LGBTQ+ in the workplace - what every company needs to hear
Today we're talking about representation and inclusion.
Insight professionals are here to discover the truth and are in a unique position to increase understanding and amplify all voices within society – and organisations need to listen to what these communities have to say if they are to retain customers and staff, and grow their business.
We may feel that many battles have been won – everyone is talking about diversity; laws are in place and doors have been opened. But when we dig below the surface the picture is less positive.
According to Stonewall, 62% of graduates go back into the closet when they enter the job market.
Almost half of 18- to 24-year-olds identifying as something other than 100% heterosexual.
And a recent YouGov study found that almost two in five Brits don’t think it’s appropriate for colleagues to be out in the workplace.
To discuss all this, today's guests are:
Chantel Le Carpentier, project manager at YouGov
Michelle Fan, senior strategist in semiotics at Flamingo
Alex Turk, associate director at ICM Unlimited
The host is Jane Bainbridge, Head of Editorial for Impact magazine and Research-Live.com (https://www.research-live.com/), both of which are published by the Market Research Society (MRS).
The MRS Delphi Group (https://www.mrs.org.uk/about/delphi-group) is a collection of the most respected thinkers in the research, insight and data analytics sector.
17 Jun 2019
Faking it - can we trust social media data?
Social media research is an important source of insight for most organisations today. But fake profiles, fake sentiment and fake data is a growing problem. This podcast gets to the heart of how data analysis and traditional research can work better together, or fail spectacularly.
In 2018 Facebook suspended 1.3bn fake accounts.
The Mueller report stated 126 million Americans were influenced by fake profiles and content created by a Russian agency to influence the outcome of the 2016 US election.
In April 2019 research from Which? Magazine found that: ‘Amazon is losing the battle against fake reviews’.
Our guests discuss the impact that fake information online is having on customer insight.
Colin Strong, global head of behavioural science at Ipsos and member of MRS Delphi Group
Cordelia Hay, research director at Britain Thinks
Aji Ghose Head of Research & Data Science at Sky
The host is Christian Walsh, Digital Director at the Market Research Society (MRS).
The MRS Delphi Group (https://www.mrs.org.uk/about/delphi-group) is a collection of the most respected thinkers in the research, insight and data analytics sector.
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