Research 2009: The Annual Conference

Research 2009: The Annual Conference, was formatted to offer a celebratory festival for an industry at the top of its game. This flagship event and showcase for the industry brought together some 700 executives from client and supply-side companies for groundbreaking papers, discussions and networking.

The 2009 conference had no big agenda, no master theme, no particular axe to grind. Only the hope that, by bringing onto a single platform a variety of formats, content and approaches, the end product would be something that would stimulate, inform, entertain and engage. That is way Research 2009 had no overarching theme, only the spirit of a festival at its heart. And in this it succeeded.

In creating, or curating this conference the Co-chairs,Nick Coates (Promise) and Simon Lidington (Insight Exchange), put together a programme that celebrated the diversity of the research industry, the diversity of outlooks and techniques, but also the common fertile ground that links research to other disciplines that strive to make sense of the world. This year welcomed onto the platform were practicioners of anthropology, psychology, drama and improvisation, journalism, sociology, zoology and economics.

The programme team produced a strong line-up of papers that lay out best practise put to commercial effect and debates designed to tackle some of research’s most contentious issues. Professor Robert Winston, interviewed by Rebecca Wynberg discussed the interaction between research, science and public engagement, and Charles Leadbeater spoke on creativity and new forms of collaboration.

As ever, there were plenty of networking opportunities at The Annual Conference. Gold Sponsors Research Now entertained delegates with wine tasting sessions in The Networking Hub and attendees partied the night away at the Research 2009 party hosted by Illuminas in the elegant Skylon bar on the South Bank.