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

We face challenges on a daily basis, but I have to say that my arrival at F1 in 2017 was probably the biggest. I was part of F1’s first research team, having to help build the research programme from scratch and in some cases without input from stakeholders as the commercial division had also not been fully recruited yet. The challenge was huge but has been very rewarding.

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

I would really like there to be a standardised cross-media measurement system to allow us to measure our audience across different media in a consistent way. This has been an increasing frustration across my 15 years in research, and although there has been progress through things like Barb’s Project Dovetail, it’s probably not close enough to be the ‘next big thing', although it would be of huge benefit to organisations like F1, who have so much content available across so many different platforms.

Who inspires you as a researcher?

I’m really lucky to have worked with some really great people throughout my career and I’ve learned from so many people. From the point of view of my career, I’ve always loved working for people who have put trust in me and given me opportunities to lead on projects and raise my own profile in that way. Because of that, I probably have to mention two people – Matt Roberts at F1 and Mark Barber at Radiocentre. My time working with those two are periods where I think my development really accelerated.

View the full list of Research Heroes for summer 2021

Research Heroes is an ongoing programme throughout 2021, with a second tranche of Heroes to be published in the autumn.