CX|UX|MR Conference 2025

Sarah Ackling, Senior Client Success Director, Customer Experience, Kantar

Peter Aitken, Head of Customer Strategy & Insights, Kantar
Peter is Kantar’s UK Head of Customer Strategy & Insight, and supports an award-winning team of customer experience researchers and strategists. Peter leads the development of the latest methods for CX research and assessment, bringing a unique perspective for how customer experience is a critical enabler of brand growth. Most recently, he co-authored the Global Customer Experience Standards in collaboration with experts from Bain & Company and Qualtrics.
He draws from 17 years working in research and experience consulting across sectors, including financial services, telco, retail, automotive and consumer products. Between 2023 and 2025 the Kantar CX team with our clients have won 5 UK and international awards, including Best Use of Customer Insight by the Institute for Customer Service for our work with Virgin Atlantic, Gold at the European Customer Experience Awards with Hyundai for Best Customer Insight.

Patrick Alcantara, Director of Compliance and Insight, Lending Standards Board
Patrick Alcantara CMRS is the Director of Compliance and Insight at the Lending Standards Board, the leading non-statutory regulator for the UK's financial services sector. In this role, he contributes to the LSB's mission by challenging financial services providers to deliver better outcomes for their customers. He has regulated industry experience and has worked for household brands like AXA, Co-op Insurance, and O2. He previously chaired the MRS CX/UX/MR Conference (2023), was featured for Consumer Duty work in Impact magazine (2024), and recently judged the Research Live awards (2024). Patrick is also a member of the MRS Delphi Group.

Claire Alexopoulou, UX Research Knowledge Manager, Springer Nature Group
Claire Alexopoulou is a driven knowledge manager with eight years of experience in building and scaling knowledge platforms, establishing governance frameworks, and fostering knowledge-sharing cultures. In 2022, she joined Springer Nature to delve deeper into the world of User Research, focusing on bridging the gap between research accessibility and real-world impact. She is currently leading the end-to-end development of an Insights Library, transforming fragmented knowledge into structured, actionable insights that empower teams across the organisation. Claire thrives at the intersection of strategy and execution, using creativity to turn complex challenges into scalable, sustainable solutions. With a collaborative mindset, boundless curiosity, and a people-centered approach, she builds knowledge ecosystems that enable organisations to make smarter, research-driven decisions.

Dr Nick Baker, Chief Research Officer, Savanta
Nick has a track record of building commercially successful research businesses that put insights at the heart of organisational decision-making. He has deep expertise in behavioural theory and its practical application within Social and Commercial research and insights programmes - with a particular focus on the use of Values and Personality trait frameworks within segmentation, brand and customer experience programmes.
Nick is Global Chief Research Officer at Savanta alongside his current responsibilities for leading Savanta’s Americas business. He also has held non-executive roles with Severn Trent Water, HMRC (Hidden economy advisory group) and as a Board member then Chair of the Market Research Society. He holds a PhD in Anti-Authoritarian Green Politics in Germany.

Rachel Cope, Global Head of Growth, 2CV
Rachel is a seasoned insight and customer experience expert with a passion for helping businesses truly understand their customers and turn insight into action.
She’s a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP), recognised for her expertise in designing and implementing strategies that enhance customer relationships and drive business growth. With decades of experience spanning multiple industries and markets worldwide, she helps clients to design smart customer metrics, optimise digital and physical experiences, and embed customer-centric thinking into business strategy.
Rachel has spent her career committed to upholding the highest standards in insight and research. A proud Certified Member of the Market Research Society (CMRS), she’s a hands-on mentor, dynamic trainer, with a passionate advocate for using research to create seamless, human-centred experiences that drive real impact.
As Chair of the CX|UX|MR Conference 2025, Rachel is excited to lead thought-provoking discussions on how CX, UX, and market research can work together to shape the future of customer experience—helping businesses unlock deeper insights, build stronger connections, and deliver game-changing results.

Steven Darby, Customer Research Manager, Leeds Building Society
After a diverse career giving including customer service, project management, operational management and even some HR project work, in 2014 Steven found his passion for research and has never looked back! This varied early career has given Steven a first-hand understanding of how the needs and expectations of customers have changed and where they remain consistent. Steven is responsible for the Leeds Building Society research department, maximising his ten plus year client-side industry experience across B2B and B2C. He works with leading partners and agencies across the industry to bring the needs of customer to the heart of the organisation. Alongside his “day job” Steven became AURA Director of Events and Awards in 2018, and Vice Chair in 2023 where he is responsible for delivering the AURA program of webinars, seminars, conference content and the AURA awards. Steven is a regular judge of the AURAs and MRS Awards.

Emma Dark CCXP, Director of Customer Experience and Operations, Cuckoo Broadband
With over 25 years of leadership experience across multiple sectors, Emma has always placed 'customers' and 'people' at the heart of her work.
As a multi-award-winning leader in the Customer & CX Industry, she has a proven track record of driving successful customer, operational, transformation and organisational design changes.
Renowned for fostering cultural shifts where customer experience is a shared responsibility across the entire organization.
As a customer brand ambassador, Emma brings in-depth knowledge of customer service excellence. Her strategic visionary thinking is fuelled by a passion for continuous improvement, reducing friction, and creating authentic experiences.
Emma is acknowledged as a key contributor within the CX and Contact Centre Industry - recognised in the CXFO Power 100 2022 & 2023 and CXA Top 50 Women Shaping CX 2024.
Additionally, Emma actively serves as a host, judge, and EX Ambassador for CX/EX awards in the UK and EU.

Natasha S. den Dekker, Lead User Researcher, Santander
Natasha den Dekker is currently a Lead UX Researcher at Santander UK. Her role is focussed on developing the ongoing UX Research strategy for multiple areas of the bank as well as supporting with Global UX research.  Her areas of focus are currently onboarding, a programme of democratization and good repository management. Prior to this she worked at LexisNexis, working across current products and the new development of products. She has also worked at varying agencies as a User Research consultant focussed on improving digital services for different government departments across the UK government and abroad. Natasha has also worked as an information professional in the NHS and a Librarian at Microsoft. Outside of work Natasha is most likely to be found planning a holiday, hanging out with her dog Goose, playing the drums or lifting weights (not necessarily in that order!).

Rita Duarte, UX Research Operations Senior, Springer Nature Group
Rita Duarte (she/her) is a seasoned operations professional with 8 years of experience, including 3 years dedicated to UX research operations. She has a strong background in UX research, particularly in conducting internal research to streamline company processes. Rita specialises in inclusive research and accessibility, ensuring that all user experiences are equitable and accessible. She approaches operations from a user-centered perspective by applying design thinking to internal processes. Since 2020, she has been also publishing work in the area of culture and new media.

Katie Heard, Head of Research and Data Insights, Good Things Foundation
Katie Heard is Head of Research and Data Insights at Good Things Foundation.  She is responsible for evolving the way Good Things Foundation understands the impact they are making. Experienced in multi method research for health, education and public sector and surfacing seldom heard voices. Her insightful approach has impacted and influenced organisational policy, service and strategy development.

Nathan Hester, Client Director, Human8
Nat Hester is a Client Director at Human8 with over 20 years’ insight experience. Nat is heavily involved in the global Haleon account and leads in the key US market. With a history in retail and shopper research, he has a natural affinity for Haleon’s drive to support and develop critical retailer partnerships. 
His previous experience has seen him work in a wide range of sectors beyond healthcare, including FMCG, financial services and telco. Nat has a passion for innovation, proposition development and consumer closeness work.  

Steve Lord, Shopper Insights Lead – Oral Health, Haleon
Steve’s focus is on bringing shopper insights to the oral health category. This involves both developing Haleon’s own understanding of shopper behaviour in the category and providing thought leadership to influence the strategy of key oral health retail partners.

Stephanie Marsh, UX Research Operations Lead, Springer Nature Group
Stephanie Marsh (she/they) is a leading customer research professional, working in and around human focussed research since 2003. She has been UX Research Operations Lead at Springer Nature based in London, UK since 2019. They are the former Head of User Research and Analysis for the UK Government Digital Service and former Head of Digital for the UK Ministry of Defence. She was previously a consultant at Bunnyfoot, a leading UX consultancy in the UK. They have contributed chapters to a range of peer-reviewed texts in related fields and has delivered talks on UX Research, Research Operations and UX strategies at a range of conferences and industry events as well as a published book author. 

Brittney Mcgeough, Insights Lead, HSBC
Brittney drove Global CEO’s communications strategy and delivery for 7 years at UBS and HSBC, before becoming a customer insights manager for HSBC’s International, Wealth and Premier Banking business in 2022. She specialises in actively supporting evolving existing products, propositions and journeys with both traditional and design research; while also looking ahead with strategic research to shape what’s next. As the competitor benchmarking lead, she also ensures our business has access to and is learning from best-in-class designs and experiences to build an insight backed pipeline to improve our digital customer experiences.

Neha Mittal, CX & UX Lead - EMEA, C Space 

Rachel Mulcahy, Digital Insights Director, Mindshare UK
Rachel Mulcahy is a digital insights specialist with eight years of experience deciphering online behaviour and uncovering the "why" behind it. Her background includes over three years at Mindshare UK and prior experience at IPG Mediabrands.  She specialises in understanding human motivations and cultural trends through the lens of online data, such as search behaviours, website traffic, and online conversations. Recently her focus has been on CX / UX, leveraging both traditional research techniques and the wealth of available online data to help clients create stronger, data led customer experiences.

Coco Ravan, Senior research Executive, Magenta
Coco is a passionate qualitative researcher, with over 3 years’ industry experience. Her career began in the public sector, where she conducted mixed methodology projects to advise communication strategies for government departments’ policy teams, including the Department for Education and Cabinet Office. More recently Coco’s career has moved to commercial research. With Magenta’s focus on diversity, equality and inclusion, Coco’s work focuses on uncovering social research insights for clients in health, digital exclusion, transport and beauty industries – even extending to a research proposal on boobs that was shortlisted for the Insight for Impact Award, no topic is off limits!

Jo Reynolds, Research & Evaluation Manager, Good Things Foundation

Gareth Wallis, CX Measurement and Analytics Manager, Halfords
Gareth Wallis is the Cx Measurement and Analytics manager at Halfords and has been with the company for almost 3 years. He is a self styled 'Data nerd' with  a strong commitment to using the data to understand and enhance customer experiences. He recently completed a MSc in 'Applied Data Analytics' through an apprenticeship course further enhancing his skills and knowledge and resulting in him growing his ability to deliver tailored solutions to meet requirements.

Joe Yates, Insight Manager, Human8
Joe Yates, Insight Manager at Human8 has experience in a variety of sectors during his time in the market research industry, including hospitality, FMCG and healthcare. With a wealth of experience in both qualitative and quantitative research methods, and known for data-driven insights, Joe pushes to deliver actionable, comprehensive market research solutions.  
Over the past 2 years, Joe has worked across a range of markets to support Haleon access ‘deeper human understanding’ with diverse consumer groups, through research communities, ethnographic methodologies and more.  Joe further supports Haleon by providing strategic insight which is used to strengthen relationships with their own retail partners.