1. What is the biggest challenge you have faced during your career?

My biggest challenge isn’t industry specific but rather something we can all relate to, and that’s simply…life! Starting out in my career I am not ashamed to say I ‘lived to work’. I adore what we do; I enjoy the travel, the interaction, the problem solving and the connections and I’m proud to have given more than 100% to it. This attitude and commitment unlocked incredible opportunities for me across my career and I’m honoured to have had those experiences.

But, with time comes change. In the last five years, I have become a mother to two small children, I have taken on primary care responsibilities for a parent, and I have experienced some deeply profound grief. This isn’t just challenging for obvious reasons, but because it forced me to recalibrate my attitude and practice when it comes to what I do and where and how I show up, no less, just differently. Change is a challenge, but accepting it, adapting to it and allowing it to evolve who you are and how you work is an invaluable skill and I believe one can that can make you a more astute researcher. My career is in a new phase now, but I’m proud to say, and hope my clients would agree, that I’m no less, possibly better.

2. What will be the next big trend or development in the research industry, and why?

Us, the people within it. We can talk about AI, we can talk about digitisation and tools but fundamentally I believe it’s us and the nature of what we do and how we think that I believe is where we will, or certainly should be seeing evolution.

I recall being asked this question on a panel many years ago for ‘young researchers’ at Marketing Week Live and my response then was the same as now… I think we need to start thinking more like multi-hyphenates in our roles. In meeting clients needs now it isn’t enough to just ‘deliver insight’, we need to think like journalists, content creators, event planners, strategists, designers, Ted talkers, etc.

Not everyone can or should be good at everything, but I think the people we hire, the skills we demand and the make up of client and agency side insight teams needs to evolve to ensure we hold our own amidst this world of technological change.

3. Who inspires you as a researcher? 

I’m incredibly fortunate to have worked with an endless amount of talented people in my career, a recent reunion with many reminded me of that and just how lucky I was in my early career to be nurtured by such phenomenal people and leaders, as I still am today. I’ve also had to joy of interviewing some incredible women working across the globe in my mini podcast series for the AQR ‘Qualversations’ series who have been particularly inspiring during this phase of life that I referenced.

But if I had to pick one person, it would be the late Jon Beaumont, who welcomed a curious young researcher into his team and the world of research business development and changed the trajectory of my career and life, for many years to come. Jon had an unmatched passion, energy and enthusiasm for our industry that you simply cannot understand unless you had the honour of ever being in his orbit. He taught me to never give up, to always strive for better and to be open minded and excited about new people, new things and new ways of doing things no matter how many years you have been in a role. To this day I still try and see new challenges and new opportunities through his lens and am forever grateful I had the privilege to work with him, a feeling I know is shared by many.

• The full MRS Research Heroes list for 2026 can be found here.