News 2024

The Research Network celebrated the great British summer on 2nd July at Doggett’s Coat & Badge at the southern end of Blackfriars Bridge, and the seasonal weather (overcast skies and showers) did nothing to dampen members’ enthusiasm for a party.

The Archive of Market and Social Research (AMSR) annual summer event took place at Bush House in Aldwych on 10th June. The event was attended by many past and present research and insight luminaries, as well as a small number of students who are using the Archive.

Two members of the Research Network have been honoured in the latest MRS Excellence Awards: Ian Brace receives the Gold Medal while Don Osborne has been made a Fellow of the Society.

Two new recordings in the Oral Histories programme have recently been released. Interviews with Mike Kirkham and Sarah Taylor are now available on the AMSR website.

For this year’s Spring Lunch the Network returned to Ev, a favourite venue in the central but leafy environs of Southwark. Once again they did us proud, with a delicious menu of Turkish cuisine, and nearly 80 members and guests turned out.

The latest of this year’s NED Talks was held on Wednesday 20th March when John Griffiths spoke on the subject of ‘How electronic music went into the box and is coming out of it’. This was a fascinating “romp through the evolution of electronic music to the present day with examples of how it is being made and shared”, as John himself described it.

The Research Network was represented at the MRS Conference, with a prominent stand in the lively exhibition area. This was very busy during coffee and lunch breaks and recruited more than 25 potential new members.

Jane Frost and Debrah Harding, Chief Executive and Managing Director respectively of the MRS, have both been named in the 2024 Women in Trade Associations Powerlist.

The MRBA has launched its annual fundraising auction, which runs until Thursday 21st March. Bid now to snap up a bargain and support the MRBA.

This year’s MRBA Auction will start on Thursday 7th March and finish at 9pm on Thursday 21st March 2024. The MRBA are looking for donations, no matter how small, for this year’s Auction.

The first of our 2024 NED (Network Evening Drinks) Talks took place on Zoom on the evening of Wednesday 14th February, when Graham Woodham gave us a wonderful glimpse into his parallel life in the Bordeaux region in France.

Members of the Research Network will surely find plenty to interest them in the latest newsletter from the Archive of Market & Social Research (AMSR), which was distributed this week. In addition to updates on the Archive’s recent activities, it includes an exploration of new acquisitions, including an interesting and amusing discussion of the attitudes of potential recruits to the research industry, written by Mary Goodyear in 1988.