The FLEX Forum on future working

Inger has worked - flexibly - in research operations since a student covering CATI training, recruitment and QA. In 2006 she joined RPCushing (now Aspire) as a specialist MR recruiter, particularly enjoying candidate development.
Taking this skill further, in 2009 she transitioned into career consultancy, on a DWP contract, followed by a project with flexible working specialist TimeWise.
In 2013 she helped launch Hannelius Recruitment, and was their Talent Manager until summer 2019. Now freelance, Inger wants to contribute to sharing and growing knowledge across the MR industry.

Inger is keen to support the practicalities of flexible working, and organised the Operations Network flexible working panel in January 2020, out of which the Flex Forum grew.

Annie Auerbach is an author and co-founder of cultural insight agency Starling. Her book FLEX is a revolutionary guide to living and working on your own terms. She has worked flexibly for 20 years and four years ago, she founded Starling which specialises in understanding socio-cultural change so that brands can be more relevant and do better. Starling’s clients include Nike, Google and Unilever. Annie is proud to be named a Timewise Power Founder alongside a range of trailblazers who are changing the future of work.
Find her at
Twitter @annieauerbach
Instagram @annie.auerbach
www.starlingstrategy.co.uk/

Lizzie has more than ten years’ experience in market research and has worked across methodologies, geographies and sectors – on everything from surveys about women’s education in Afghanistan to developing segmentations for UK insurance company. Currently at GfK she heads up a market leading product for the mobile and home services market involving the integration of survey and sales data.

Lizzie is passionate about diversity and inclusion, and was a founding member of GfK’s D&I group, Fast Forward. She believes that offering flexible work options is integral to driving diversity and inclusion across the industry, as well as in supporting employees with their other commitments, their overall sense of wellbeing and their mental health.

A research operations specialist with nearly 20 years’ in senior management, Colin has led and developed many teams focussed on delivering high quality field management, survey programming and data processing services.

He is a member of the MRS and ensures compliance to their Code of Conduct and the GDPR is maintained throughout by all project teams.

Himself an ‘agile worker’, he fully appreciates the need for a flexible working environment to help all employees manage the evolving demands and pressures of modern life.

Hannah Dunn is the People Manager at IFF Research and has a real passion for flexibility in the workplace and the impact that can have on wellbeing and productivity. Her previous experience in the hospitality sector involved, engaging a shift-based workforce and implementing adaptations for those working unsociable hours.

Chloe Fowler - Chloe has been a qualitative researcher since 1998. She started as a graduate at Leapfrog Research & Planning and has also worked at Firefish and TRBi (now Synovate). She co-founded Razor Research in 2007. She founded The Nest Research in 2020. She is currently Chair of AQR.

Katariina is the Director of Hannelius Recruitment.
Katariina enjoyed nine wonderful years at RPCushing (Aspire), expanding her role over the years to head up a team. With almost a decade's experience, Katariina felt she was ready to fly solo and in the summer of 2013 took the plunge and launched her own venture. Now Hannelius Recruitment has a team of 5.

Over the years Katariina has particularly recruited for more operational roles within market research from programming, data processing, panel management to sales and project management. She covers all levels, from junior to the highest senior level. Katariina has an incredible network of friends and contacts in the industry.

No Biography Available

Aakanksha has over 15 years of experience in research working with financial services, media, telecom, public sector, technology and digital clients; across complex quantitative and qualitative projects. Her experience spans across both B2B and B2C clients. She has been instrumental in setting up large studies including customer experience, segmentation, difficult to reach audience types and brand equity. She has worked across client side and agency side and brings the best of both worlds.

Aakanksha has completed her masters in marketing and holds a degree in electronics engineering. The best part of her work experience is she has always worked 4 days a week, never missed a school concert (almost never), has a second job as a dance choreographer and loves outdoor sports.

Sinead is SVP of Customer Expertise at Zappi where she leads a team of research, platform and programme management specialists to help clients use the power of connected insights and transform the impact that research has within their businesses. After a career of more than 20 years in research and insight, Sinead’s experience is wide-ranging - from full service agency to client side and now platform-based research technology. Beyond this she is passionate about positive and inclusive workplace culture and worked extensively on initiatives relating to flexible work.

Sinead has made a significant and long-term contribution to MRS as MRS Chair and MRS Main Board member. She was one of the founders of the MRS People and Talent initiative and the lead for the MRS Covid-19 research which tracked the sector’s challenges during Covid which helped to inform MRS policy and representation activities during the pandemic. Sinead also made a significant contribution to the Business Intelligence Group (BIG) particularly the BIG conference; and important contribution to the development of research, insight and data understanding via a range of published articles, training courses and award winning conference presentations.

Susanne has been working in the market research industry for more than 10 years. Previously leading teams at Research Now, she moved over to Lucid in 2016 as their employee number one to help build and scale up their European Operations team.
Over the years, she has hired and managed teams in various countries, time zones, multiple languages and cultural backgrounds.
As Lucid continues to evolve, she is now focused on global clients and how technology solutions can impact their day to day work.

Deborah is a highly experienced and future focused insight consultant. In 2013, following a number of years in agency and clientside marketing and research roles, Deborah set up Camino Insight with a view to focusing on the issues that are shaping our lifestyles.
Deborah’s interest in the future of work, community and urban design began in earnest when she swapped her ’regular’ life in London for a much less predicable life as a Digital Nomad. The challenges she faced when taking Camino on the road were echoed by so many of the other remote workers she met, that she decided to make this important area the focus of her work moving forward.
To expand her skillset and knowledge, Deborah conducted a self-funded year-long ethnographic study into the Digital Nomad movement #MyLifeAsADigitalNomad AKA #LocationIndependent. The intention of the study was to understand the motivations, needs, experiences and future of this growing audience, and the changing role of the workplace in facilitating these. Deborah has presented the findings of her study at conferences and coworking spaces, and her segmentation of Digital Nomad typologies has been used as a framework for an app designed to service this community. She continues to expand her knowledge in this area in order to be a resource for businesses and remote workers seeking to improve their quality of work and life.

Deborah Simmons
Founder & Director, Camino Insight

+447813 130558
deborah@caminoinsight.com
www.caminoinsight.com

Daniel is Commercial Director at Yonder Data Solutions who are a trusted fieldwork and data collection company and is an active member of the steering committee for MRS CORe who are a hub for all things concerning ethnic diversity with the industry. Daniel has over 18 years of experience in the research industry internationally having worked in cities such as Sydney, Beijing and back home here in London. The majority of Daniel’s career has been on the operational/panel/project management side and commercial side of businesses focussed on managing teams and delivering research to all sectors. Having lived and worked in different countries and cultures, Daniel is a strong advocate for equality, diversity and inclusion.

Alex has almost 15 years’ well-rounded experience in research across syndicated, agency and clientside, in almost every sector from FMCG to public sector and B2B in consistently mixed methods. With specific expertise in ‘male’ industries from video games to premium drinks, he is also a frequent user of many categories he’s contributed to developing.


Before lockdown being adamant that the office is the only place to get work done effectively (qual fieldwork notwithstanding), despite losing large chunks of his front room to home officing he’s come to appreciate both the scope for productivity in flexible working, and the significant mental benefits brought from it.