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.

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.

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.

Jenny Kedros is an independent research consultant, specialising in education and sustainability. As Shift Insight’s Research and Insights Director until 2023, Jenny developed sustainability as a specialism under the Shift Sustainability brand, and led projects for clients including ReLondon, Take Action Global, EarthDay.org, and the UK Green Building Council, alongside education projects for major UK publishers, public sector bodies, professional and scholarly societies and universities. Jenny continues to work in a consultancy role on projects with the Shift team, while also partnering with other independent researchers and working independently with agencies and clients.

Alongside her research, Jenny explores new and existing approaches to climate education. She led the development of the accredited training programme, Carbon Literacy for the Insights Sector, which she continues to deliver in partnership with Shift, via MRS and to in-house agency teams. She is a Climate Fresk Facilitator and completed the Oxford Climate Emergency Programme at the University of Oxford (Saïd Business School and the Smith Institute of Enterprise and Environment).

As the latest member to join the MRS sustainability council, Estelle brings with her 25 years of experience in marketing, insight and innovation from the client side, having worked for muti-national corporations like British Airways, Canon, Mars and more recently O2, to drive customer centricity within these businesses.

Passionate about sustainability, Estelle recently completed the Business and Climate Change: Towards Net Zero emissions course from the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and she’s Certified Carbon Literate. She’s now the director and founder of her own consulting business, to help SMEs innovate and achieve their net zero targets. She is also the founder of the programme Make An Impact for Good, whose aim is to bring together the latest thinking from professors, researchers and decision makers to tackle the urgent challenge of climate change. She is excited to join the council to drive the net zero climate pledge further with all MRS members.

Potential announcement (thanks to AI!)

We're thrilled to announce that Estelle has joined our Sustainability Council. With over 25 years of experience in marketing, insight, and innovation, Estelle brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to our team.

Passionate about sustainability, Estelle recently graduated from the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership with a focus on Business and Climate Change. She's now dedicated to helping SMEs innovate and achieve their net zero targets through her consulting business.

Estelle is also the founder of Make An Impact for Good, a programme connecting professors, researchers, and decision-makers to address the urgent challenge of climate change.

We're excited to work with Estelle to drive the MRS Net Zero Climate Pledge forward and create a more sustainable future for all.

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.

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.

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 is a strategic insights partner to exciting organisations such as the BBC, Sky, Channel 4, Spotify, Google, CNN, Ancestry. Her specialism is creating bespoke solutions to address the thorniest client challenges – often helping drive impact around DEI, product take-up, or more successful and responsible advertising. She is MD and co-founder of MTM, multiple winners of MRS Agency of the Year, comprising consumer and b2b insights, commercial strategy, cultural insights, and UXR.

Caroline has made a significant contribution to the development of research, insight and data understanding on a diverse range of topics including consumer behaviour, the mechanics of media and advertising, and digital culture via a wide range of published articles and conference presentations. Her important contribution to MRS includes being a member of the MRS Sustainability Council, leading the update of the MRS Climate Pledge and presenting at a number of MRS Sustainability Summits.

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.