News 2018

We have two new venues for the Spring and Autumn lunches next year. On 30th April we shall be at Brigade Bar + Kitchen in Tooley Street, a stone’s throw from London Bridge station. In Autumn we shall be visiting Brasserie Blanc Southbank, close to the Royal Festival Hall and Waterloo station.

The Research Network Christmas get-together and AGM was held on Tuesday 4th December at the Kantar offices in More London Place.

Paul Richardson, Chief Financial Officer, has said the group is planning to sell up between 51% and 80% of Kantar,

The Network’s Autumn Lunch was held on 17 October at Azzurro, very close to Waterloo station, and attracted 60 members and a handful of guests.

The Market Research Benevolent Association (MRBA) has launched a new bursary programme to support the careers of UK researchers. The bursaries, branded as ‘MRBA Skills’, will offer financial help to researchers who are new to the industry as well as those who are eager to improve their skills and enhance their prospects.

Ipsos has announced that it has completed merger clearance of the agreement to acquire four of GfK’s global custom research divisions, covering customer experience, experience innovation, health and public affairs.

Qualitative researcher Judith Wardle has written to The Times in response to an article by journalist Ben Macintyre in which he advocated broadcasting courtroom proceedings in an attempt to redress the “lack of openness” in British justice. 

The number of data protection complaints received by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has risen by 160% after the GDPR came into force on 25th May.  Between 25 May and 3 July, the ICO received 6281 complaints, compared with 2417 in the same period last year. 

Kantar has announced that it is winding down the operations of Digitab.

“Regulation should enforce transparency, enforce co-operation with law, and compliance with it”. These were the words of The Times journalist Hugo Rifkind, proposing the motion ‘Social media can’t be trusted with self-regulation’ at the Debating Group debate on 16 July 2018 at the House of Commons.

More than fifty members and guests were at Doggett’s for the Network’s annual Summer Party, which was held this year on 4th July. You can read about the event and view the pictures in the gallery.

A BBC report published on 4 July, entitled “What kind of Brexit do voters want?” fails to answer its own question, but instead highlights once again that the way a question is asked affects the result.

Research Network member Bill Blyth will be awarded the MRS Gold Medal at the Excellence Awards Lunch on 8th June. The award recognises Bill’s outstanding contribution to market and social research over a 45 year career.

Following the departure of Sir Martin Sorrell last month, uncertainty over the future direction of the group continued

The sunshine made virtually its first appearance of the year, just in time for guests arriving at our Spring Lunch last week to enjoy mingling in the glorious outdoor area of Ev Restaurant.   

A House of Lords committee has found that opinion polling is no less accurate than in the past, reflecting the findings of a study we reported earlier this month from the Universities of Southampton and Texas.

The Network held its first evening meeting at the IPA on Monday 19th March. It was a well attended social evening with 50 members and guests who came to listen to a panel discussing the question; “Do we need research, now that we have big data?”

A new study from the University of Southampton and the University of Texas suggests that claims of a crisis in the accuracy of election polling are false, and that there is no evidence of polling error increasing over time.

The editor of Private Eye closed day one of the Market Research Society’s Impact 2018 conference, with a wide ranging talk encompassing, among other things, the art of satire, George Orwell, and how Private Eye digs behind the headlines. 

The MRBA’s annual auction has raised nearly £5000 so far this year and there’s still time to bid for any of the 45 lots on offer, which range from accommodation in the UK and abroad, meals and conference tickets through to hampers, bottles of wine, books and jigsaws.

This year’s annual charity auction for the MRBA is now in the final stages of preparation and MRBA is once again asking for donations. Holiday lets, fine wines, days out, tickets to industry events or special outings, food hampers and sought after services are very popular.

Graham Woodham has joined the Steering Group and has taken over from Nick Tanner as Editor of the Newsletter.