AI: Powering Up Insights 2025

Dr. Guillaume Aimetti, Co-founder / CTO, Inspirient
Dr. Guillaume Aimetti is co-founder of Inspirient – an analytics platform that uses AI to analyse quantitative survey data at scale. Guillaume holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Sheffield and has previously advised multi-national companies on IT strategies and implementation as a management consultant at Deloitte.

Ross Anderson, Senior Manager, Customer Insights, Viasat
Ross is a customer insight and market intelligence specialist with over 25 years of client-side experience across a range of sectors, including the telecoms, media and technology industries.  He has built and led new global functions at Vodafone, Sage and Macmillan Education.  In his current role at Viasat, the leading global satellite communications provider formerly known as Inmarsat, Ross leads the quantitative research team and is responsible for research enablers. At Viasat, he has completed a wide range of actionable research projects for decision-makers, including brand, concept-testing, conjoint, churn, segmentation and sustainability studies. Ross has also launched the Viasat Advisory Community and Insights Space, the AI-powered insights portal built on Cognni's platform. Insights Space, which was nominated for the Quirk's technology impact award in 2024, has transformed how Viasat collects, shares and uses customer insights and market intelligence.

Elin Barry, Senior Insight Manager, Human8
Elin has spent the last 8 and a half years training and working as a mixed-methods professional in boutique research agencies, with involvement to both primary and secondary research, and has spent the last 6 years with Human8. Her expertise is in the FMCG space, where she manages agency-side accounts with major multinationals. She graduated in Psychology and uses her passion in this subject to help drive behaviour change and commercial growth.
Outside of work, Elin is keenly into her fitness, having taken part in Manchester Marathon and multiple half marathons in 2024, and also travels around to compete in Hyrox competitions!

Sarah Brown, Head of Category & Insight, Avara
Sarah Brown is the Head of Category and Insight at Avara Foods, one of the UK’s leading poultry suppliers. In this role, she leads a team responsible for analysing market trends and consumer behaviours to inform strategic decisions across the company. Her work ensures that Avara Foods remains responsive to evolving market demands and continues to deliver high-quality products to its customers.
With a career spanning over 15 years in the food industry, Sarah has developed a deep expertise in category management and consumer insights. Prior to her current role she held senior positions in sales, technical, innovation and category and has worked on multiple retail and foodservice accounts at several major food retailers.
Throughout her career, Sarah has been a strong advocate for leveraging technology and data analytics to gain deeper consumer insights. She has led initiatives internally to integrate artificial intelligence into market analysis processes, enabling more effective and time efficient decision-making. Her innovative approach has been instrumental in driving Avara Foods’ commitment to staying at the forefront of industry trends.

Julius Colwyn, Director - Head of Design, Space Doctors
Julius Colwyn’s background and training weaves through the arts and the sciences, and his approach to research, design and strategy cuts across them. He is Director and Head of Design at Space Doctors, using cultural analysis, semiotics and human insight to shape resilient futures for clients across categories.

Babita Earle, Managing Director, Zappi
Babita Earle is a distinguished leader with over 25 years of experience in the insights industry, specializing in strategy, growth, and innovation. As Managing Director of Zappi’s International business, she partners with insight teams of all sizes to adopt systems, processes, and talent, ensuring the function delivers measurable business impact and earns its place at the strategic table.
A dedicated advocate for diversity, Babita has served on the WIRe Advisory Board and co-led its European Executive Group. Since April 2020, she has been an MRS Main Board member, chairing its ED&I Council for four years.

Luisa Gibbons, Global Head of Innovation, MMR Research 
As the Global Head of Innovation Strategy at MMR Research Worldwide, Luisa ensures that MMR delivers world-class solutions to meet evolving client needs. She connects Nova (MMR’s tech innovation hub), data science teams, and researchers to prioritize and accelerate impactful tools, particularly supporting FMCG brands in product development and testing, MMR’s core focus. With a forward-looking approach, Luisa contributes to future-proofing the organization through her role on MMR’s Strategic Leadership Team. With 20 years of experience in consumer and sensory research, she embraces technological advancements to enhance consumer connections and deliver more compelling insights.

Dr. Dirk Held, Co-Founder, aimpower
Dr. Dirk Held is one of the leading experts in translating scientific findings into concrete marketing measures. He is the author of several bestsellers on the subject of neuromarketing and advises international brands on optimising their marketing activities worldwide.
Following his studies in psychology, he earned his doctorate in the field of Behavioural Economics, especially with regard to the influence of brands on purchasing decisions.
Together with Dr. Christian Scheier, he founded DECODE Marketingberatung GmbH and in 2020 aimpower GmbH. He is also co-author of several bestselling books with Dr. Christian Scheier, e.g. in the field of brand management and neuropsychology, and most recently published "Künstliche Intelligenz in der Markenführung" in 2019.

Casper Henningsen CEO & Co-Founder, GetWhy

Emma Laney Smith, Founder, Syren
Emma founded Syren in 2005. Syren is a strategic insights agency that combines the collaborative and agile approach that you would expect from a small agency, with the reach and capability of a larger provider. Emma’s particular specialism lies in cultural insight, trends and strategic qual to unlock opportunities for her clients' brands. Prior to Syren, she worked in advertising for McCann London, clientside at Coca Cola and various brand consultancies.

Rachel Leaver, Global Practice Lead – Insights, Dentsu
Rachel is a seasoned data professional with over 25 years of experience in delivering insights about consumers, shoppers, brands, and media across various industries on a global scale. Her expertise spans multiple domains, including marketing analytics, advertising effectiveness, qualitative and quantitative research, and digital/data platforms.
As the Global Insights Practice Lead at Dentsu Media, Rachel is passionate about creating innovative insights and solutions through the creative use of data and technology. The recent advancements in generative AI have further fuelled her enthusiasm, enabling her to explore AI-driven solutions that elevate and support Dentsu teams worldwide.

Vanja Ljevar, Chief Data Scientist, Kubic Intelligence

Rollo McIntyre, Chief Innovation Officer (HI), Global Head of Qual ESG, Chief Storytelling Officer, Ipsos UU

Diana Mitkov, Senior Insight Manager, De Beers
For the last 13 years, Diana has driven strategic insight at De Beers Group, encompassing global consumer, customer and trade insight. She is a seasoned market researcher and before joining De Beers she spent about 20 years in the market research industry working for different sectors across a range of solutions. Diana’s current burning ambition is to unlock the full potential of big-data analytics and automation in the insight generation process. Diana holds an MBA from UEL, London and is a full member of the U.K. Market Research Society and a member of ESOMAR.

Chris Moore, Head of Data Science Transversal, Ipsos
Chris has spent over 25 years working in the Market research industry conducting advanced analytics. He is the Head of the Data Science Transversal at Ipsos, which includes more than 200 analysts, statistician, and data scientists/engineers.  He has a diverse role working across the business, both with the specialist analytics teams as well as the client service teams. This enables him to keep up to date with the latest thinking across multiple sectors.  He is a prominent figure in the global choice modelling community, having presented at numerous major events over the last decade. This has included Sawtooth Software conferences (2010, 2016, 2019, 2022, 2024, 2025), European Choice modelling conferences (2010, 2013, 2016, 2020) and other events such as MRS ADAN (2016, 2023), New MR (2021) and Quirks (2020). Chris is also a trainer for the MRS and regularly runs the MRS Statistical Masterclass sessions on choice modelling and pricing methods.

Maro Mouameletzi, Senior Strategy Partner, Carat
Maro has worked in media and marketing for more than 25 years both in local and global roles. She is a strategically minded Director with expertise driving global communications and high-impact media strategies as a key conduit between brand teams and media agencies.
She has worked with leading brands like IKEA, Unilever, and luxury brands to transform communication strategies and planning processes, unlocking long-term sustainable growth. She has successfully developed and implemented Global Communication Models for multiple clients, enabling transformations that drive brand growth and create seamless consumer experiences by integrating paid, owned, and earned media with content strategies.

Steve Phillips, Chief Innovation Officer, Zappi

Emese Pintér, Brand and Consumer Insight Manager, Asahi
Emese is part of Asahi's Strategy Planning & Insight team, specialising in consumer understanding across markets. She supports AEI's global brands with communication and innovation development, bringing several global campaigns to life with integrating consumers voice into business decisions. Her expertise lies in digital insights, her previous roles focused mainly on social media data-based research including social listening.

Gareth Ratcliffe, CEO, Cognni
Gareth Ratcliffe is the Co-Founder & CEO of Cognni, a global leader in Knowledge Management, enabling organisations to transform how they manage and use insights. Cognni partners with global enterprises such as Viasat, Vodafone, British Gas, Wells Fargo, ABN Amro, and M&G, delivering class-leading technology and exceptional service to help them make faster, more informed decisions.
With over 25 years of experience spanning agencies, telecoms, and the technology sector, Gareth has driven Cognni to deliver transformative solutions, including Viasat’s Insights Space—an AI-powered insights platform and finalist for the 2024 Quirk’s Technology Impact Award. This innovation has revolutionised how Viasat collects, shares, and leverages customer insights and market intelligence.
A Chartered Accountant with deep expertise in strategy and transformation, Gareth is committed to sustainable growth, championing purpose, people, and planet. Under his leadership, Cognni achieved B Corp certification in 2022 and has become a trusted partner to organisations striving to optimise their insights and maximise the value of their knowledge investments by making them more accessible, actionable, and impactful.

Jasmina Saleh, Senior Manager, Trends & Futures (Thought Leadership), National Research Group

Sunaina Schultz, Researcher and Strategist, Microsoft
Researcher and strategist with experience across multiple industries (CPG, healthcare, technology, education). With training in marketing and market research (BS, MBA, PhD) and a background in anthropology and sociology, my work leverages a deep understanding of consumers’ lived experiences and needs to inform product innovation and go-to-market strategies. At Microsoft, I lead market research for its consumer AI product Copilot. 

Hasdeep Sethi, Data Science Director, Bonamy Finch
Hasdeep is a Data Science Director and Group AI Lead at STRAT7. He has 10 years’ experience in data science, with a special focus on natural language processing (NLP) and predictive modelling. His current remit is split between delivering on STRAT7’s proprietary unstructured data toolkit (strat7.ai) and co-ordinating development of AI products and enhancements at a group level.
On the topic of synthetic data, he recently published material on STRAT7’s ‘Segment Chatbot’ product, robustly evaluating how synthetic conversations with the Chatbot compare to primary research outcomes and off-the-shelf Generative AI tools. He has also recently analysed synthetically boosted quantitative data for accuracy, reliability and return on investment.

Cameron Stronge, Data Scientist Manager, Ipsos

Phil Sutcliffe, Managing Partner, Nexxt Intelligence | inca
Phil Sutcliffe is Managing Partner at Nexxt Intelligence | inca. Nexxt Intelligence is a leader in the application of generative AI for market research through the company’s suite of conversational AI capabilities. The company’s purpose is to use technology, especially the latest AI, to put the human at the centre, creating delightful experiences for research participants and amplifying the human voice to deliver deeper insight. Phil has presented widely on the topic of generative AI and market research – including on conference platforms and through webinars for MRS, Esomar, IIEX, ASC, Quirks, GRBN, AURA and NewMR. Phil has over 30 years market research experience, mostly in senior roles at Kantar, before joining Nexxt Intelligence | inca three years ago.

Maria Trikalioti, Senior Insight Consultant, Human8
Maria Trikalioti is a Senior Insight Consultant at Human8, specializing in mixed-methods research and strategic marketing. With a background in Marketing and Research Methods (MSc in Social Research Methods from UCL, Distinction), Maria works at the intersection of people, culture, and brands – driving action and innovation, particularly in the foodservice and FMCG sectors. Her experience spans concept testing, ethnographic research, and AI-driven insights.
When she’s not immersed in insights work, Maria enjoys expressing herself through fashion and exploring new cultures through travel.

Owen Tudor, Director, Human8
Owen is a Director at Human8, the human-driven consultancy that connects brands with people and culture to drive positive change. He has 15 years’ experience in the insights industry, with a specialisation in online communities.
Owen is passionate about connecting with and understanding clients’ audiences as well as building strong ongoing relationships. He has worked with many food + drink and technology brands over the years including Avara, Mondelez, Just Eat Takeaway, KFC, Diageo, Kellogg’s and PlayStation.

Helen Vicary, Discover.AI
Helen is a Senior Strategist at Discover.AI. Working within Discover's methodologies of curating datasets of online content to conduct AI-accelerated qual at scale, Helen uses conversational quant to furnish clients with prioritized, stretchy insights. She brings a varied background in psychology, conversation analytics and commercial strategy to her work with clients, to uncover the human stories that weave through the tapestry of online data.

Vera Wagner, Head of Global Shopper Excellence, Henkel

Tom Woodnutt, Founder, Feeling Mutual
Tom Woodnutt is founder of multi-award winning qualitative research consultancy Feeling Mutual.  They specialise in helping inspire ideas that work.   
Feeling Mutual works with clients from across consumer categories, including Google, Amazon and The AA.   Typical projects range from advertising and brand development through to innovation.   
Tom describes his relationship with AI as “progressively humanist”; he seeks to benefit from AI’s efficiencies, without compromising the nuanced humanity at the heart of great qualitative research.  
In 2023, Tom co-designed a global, industry wide study with over 100 qual researchers to explore their feelings towards AI.  And over the last two years, he has experimented extensively with LLMs, including his work with PureGym that was nominated for the AQR Qualitative Research Excellence award in 2024. He has also written about AI and qual for Research Live and presented at various conferences on the topic.