Equality Summit 2024

Lauren Adrover, Senior UX Researcher, Reality Labs, Accessibility and Equity Lead, Meta

Loulwa Al Rasheed-Wright, Associate Director, Thinks Insight & Strategy
Loulwa is an Associate Director at Thinks Insight & Strategy. She has a particular interest in lived experience and giving a voice to less heard audiences. Recent examples of her work include research with vulnerable and hard to reach consumers for Vodafone and Ofgem, centred on video-ethnographic methods.
Prior to a career in research, Loulwa worked at an organisational change consultancy, developing workplace engagement programmes. She has since brought this experience to research on equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace for clients in the financial services, health and utilities sectors. Last year, she worked with Ofgem and the Tackling Inclusion and Diversity in Energy (TIDE) taskforce to conduct stakeholder research on ED&I within the energy sector. Insights from this research have helped to shape and spark momentum for key ED&I workstreams. This includes equipping senior leaders with the tools and information they need to deliver on ED&I objectives, and harnessing communications to influence change across a range of audiences.

Hakeem Allen, Founder, Anti Racist Social Club
Hakeem is a business designer, creative strategist, ethnographic researcher, and Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, & Access (IDEA) architect. He is also the Founder & Executive Director of The Anti-Racist Social Club (‘The Club’), a registered charity startup that works to create spaces and resources for education and open dialogue about becoming anti-racist allies and creating psychological safety in business and education. As anti-racism is inherently intersectional, The Club helps organisations improve their cultures – and the work they create – and be more diverse and inclusive in all aspects of identity and ability. 
Hakeem started his career at Deloitte Consulting, developing corporate strategies for some of the largest organisations in the world and advising on mergers & acquisitions. He has also worked in PR, advertising, and brand consulting, where he’s led the rebrands of both B2B and B2C clients and developed strategic points of view, brand messaging, and creative campaigns. Hakeem also works in the innovation space, helping organisations develop new products, services, and ventures. 
Hakeem uses his strategy and research background in the corporate space to bridge the gap between IDEA and business. As Executive Director of The Club, Hakeem leads interactive and engaging workshops geared towards educating employees about bias and discrimination, equipping senior leadership with IDEA best practices, improving recruitment and retention, and reshaping corporate culture to be more inclusive of groups that have been marginalised. He is also a leadership coach and trained mediator. 
For nearly a decade, Hakeem has created strategies, facilitated client and team workshops, and developed strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders. He has consistently been recognised for his innovative thinking, creative research methods, ability to execute and deliver impact, collaborative leadership style, and ability to adapt to new environments. Hakeem keeps his audiences engaged by taking an intersectional approach to topics, avoiding dull presentations, and using games and discussion-based activities to keep content relevant and exciting. Outside of work, Hakeem is an avid tennis player, creative writer, mental health first aider, and stand-up comedian.

Nas Allmomen, Associate Director & DE&I Lead, Magenta
Nas has worked in research for over 10 years and is Magenta’s DE&I specialist, ensuring DE&I is woven into every stage of the research process from recruitment to reporting. She is an MRS trainer on inclusivity and also delivers training courses to clients, supporting them to implement inclusive research practices. Prior to Magenta she worked at Further, a research agency specialising in research with marginalised groups across different specialisms such as health and customer experience. She also worked as an Insight Manager for a mental health charity for 5 years, conducting research with those who have complex mental health problems and co-morbidities. Nas has worked extensively with a range of ‘lesser heard’ groups. She believes organisations have the opportunity to redress inequity both internally and in wider society by placing a spotlight on underrepresented groups and learning more about their specific needs and experiences.

Ayesha Begum, Programme Manager, Strategy & Impact, Fair4All Finance

Philip Belsey, Insight Lead, The FA
Phil has worked in the research industry for over 20 years. He has split his time on both the agency side, with companies including Synovate, 2CV and Ipsos, as well as spending 10 years as a buyer of research on the client side at giants such as Samsung and Sky but also within a start up environment too.  Phil is currently the Research & Insight Lead at The Football Association where he leads the organisational research spanning the full breadth of the organisation. The team covers everything from Grassroots football development to understanding the inner workings of corporate box holders at Wembley stadium and everything in between where understanding the game’s participants is crucial to keeping players playing and attracting new players of all ages, genders and abilities to the beautiful game.

Priya Brahmbhatt-Patel, Director of Communications, Ofgem
Priya joined Ofgem in early 2021 as Director of Communications and Engagement where her team covers internal communications, media relations & public affairs, stakeholder engagement, strategic communications, and campaigns, as well as the regulator’s web and digital output.  As a source of keen media interest, her department manages the competing demands of Ofgem’s stakeholders.
With more than 18 years of communications & media experience behind her, Priya began her career as a press officer for the Royal College of Surgeons of England.  She continued her press officer role throughout Whitehall, including the Department for Transport and the Home Office, before becoming chief press officer at the Department for Education and Skills. Priya rose to become Deputy Director DCMS and BEIS before taking on the role of Director of Communications at MHCLG.

Michael Brown, Chair, MRS Pride
Michael started his career as a marketing graduate at American Express.  After receiving his vocation to work in market research, he worked at 2 of the sector’s most innovative businesses, Research Now and MESH Experience. For the last 9 years, he has been working in media research for global media agency, UM.
Michael has extensive consumer research experience and has led studies for many brands including Fitbit, Johnson & Johnson, ITV, Spotify and The Economist. He prides himself on delivering a deep level of human insight, always with a focus on actionable recommendations.
Michael has recently taken on the leadership of UM’s Data Solutions division, harnessing the agency’s best-in-class audience data stack, and client data, to deliver effective campaigns.
Michael has a particular passion for using traditional research methods to give a platform to marginalised voices in society and for understanding the role and responsibility of ads in creating and tackling stereotypes. He was named in the IPA’s inaugural iList of industry equality advocates.
Michael sits on the IPA’s Talent Leadership Group and is founder and chair of #MRSpride, the market research sector’s LGBTQ+ network. He was made a Fellow of the Market Research Society in 2023 in recognition of his contribution to the market research sector.

Emily Conway, Senior Research Manager, Ofcom
With both agency and clientside experience, Emily currently works in Ofcom's Research and Intelligence team, specialising primarily in research related to the broadcast and media sector, but also with an interest in D&I. She has led large scale quantitative and qualitative projects, including a recent piece on access services across TV and on-demand, which explored use of and preferences for these services amongst people with hearing loss, sight loss, cognitive and neurodevelopmental conditions and British Sign Language users. Before Ofcom, she worked at ComRes, and has a degree in Geography from the University of Cambridge.

Megan Cross, Head of Inclusion & Diversity | People Director for Finance & Legal, Kantar
Megan is the Head of Inclusion & Diversity at Kantar. Under her leadership, Kantar has created its first Inclusion & Diversity team, enhanced its parental leave policies and introduced a Life Leave policy, evolved its 6 Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) so ERG leaders are financially rewarded for their efforts, and has set targets for diversity in its senior leadership population to drive accountability and progress. In 2023, Kantar was named as Diverse Company of the Year in the British Diversity Awards and the National Diversity Awards.
She is also a member of the Market Research Society’s DE&I Council and is passionate about the market research industry being truly accessible, inclusive and representative.
Megan is proudly queer and dedicated to increasing the representation of LGBTQ+ women and non-binary people in the workplace.

Anne Cunliffe, Senior Consultant Data Services, 2CV, Co-Chair, CoRe

Babita Earle, Zappi

Ella Fryer-smith, Founder, Do You Research 

Chandrima Ganguly, Project Lead, Diverse AI and Chief Data & Analytics Officer, Lloyds Banking Group

Shazia Ginai, Chief Marketing Officer, Basis Research

Josephine Hansom, SVP and Youth Practice lead, Savanta
Josephine is the Chair of the Market Research Society ED&I Council and a member if its Board. She is passionate about making the research industry a welcoming place and the research it conducts as representative as possible. As a researcher Josephine has focused on understanding Gen Z and Millennials for the last decade and before that she was a social researcher working for central and local government clients. She is a mixed methods researcher which allows her to focus on the identifying insights that deliver change.
Josephine is a regular on the conference circuit, sharing her take on generational theory supported by Savanta’s unique State of the Youth Nation tracking data. She is also the host of the MRSpride podcast - OUTsights - which highlights community issues and role models to industry colleagues.

Clare Harding, Managing Director, 7th Sense Research
Claire co-founded 7^th Sense Research UK in 2015 with a clear goal: to provide highly bespoke solutions to their clients. She is a qual specialist with over 20 years ad-hoc expertise and previous leader of GfK’s Qualitative Centre of Excellence. Focusing on the automotive, retail and sports sectors, she's worked with numerous luxury, premium and niche clients. And her expertise ranges from stakeholder engagement to new product development. 
Passionate about 7^th Sense’s DE&I development, Claire jumped at the chance to get involved with the 10,000 Black Interns Scheme. The programme offered paid work experience across a wide range of sectors, training and development opportunities and sustainable support for the Black community. In Summer 2022, she recruited 7^th Sense’s first intern from the programme, Yoofi Toku Quashie, and he’s been with the company ever since. 
In her free time, Claire can be found engaging in body combat or playing Hot Wheels with her son, Harry.

Christine Hemphill, Managing Director, Open Inclusion
Christine is a disability and age-inclusive inclusive researcher, designer, and innovator.  She founded and leads Open Inclusion, based in the UK and operating globally. Open is a global leader in market, social, design and innovation research that includes disabled and older participants. We help our clients better understand the impacts of functional human diversity to inform better decisions and empower better solutions. We work with governments, large commercial organisations, academia, NGOs, accelerators and entrepreneurial start-ups to help them understand their target markets / audiences more broadly and completely to identify, design and deliver more valuable outcomes. Christine is the current Co-Chair of MRS Unlimited, on the Strategy Committee for XRAccess, a member of the Global Accessibility and Inclusion Leaders (GAILs) group, a judge for a number of inclusive innovation award programmes and an ambassador for Co-Innovate at Brunel University. 

Tom Holliss, Chief People Officer, Zappi
Tom is an HR Leader and Coach with a background in Product Development and Agile Coaching. In a past life he was also a qualitative researcher! Tom is passionate about social justice and creating experiences of work which are progressive, inclusive and where everyone can contribute to their fullest potential.
In addition to his work as a Chief People Officer Tom is a trustee of Camden Giving, a charity that works to alleviate inequality and social exclusion in Camden through a revolutionary participatory model of grant giving. As part of his role he chairs Camden Giving’s anti-racism and social justice trustee group.

Graham Idehen, Representation in Research Group
Graham is a Senior Director at dscout, a global research experiences platform. He has over 25 years of operational experience within the industry across CAPI, CATI and Online methodologies, and was one of the first in the industry to be recognised as one of the MRS' "Research Heroes”.
Graham is also a long-standing member of the MRS Representation in Research Steering Committee and a co-founder of Colour of Research (CORe), which aims to increase diversity & representation in the Market Research space. 
Hailing from South London, Graham is keen to inspire change and to see others like him creating an impact at every level throughout the industry. He believes it is vital to focus on giving a voice to those who are generally underrepresented and wants to be at the frontline for welcoming the next generation into the industry, from all walks of life.

Kenny Imafidon, Managing Director, Clearview
Kenny Imafidon is an entrepreneur, author, and social commentator. He is the co-founder & Managing Director of ClearView Research, an agency that specialises in research, strategy, and engagement projects focused on diverse and underrepresented communities. Kenny has worked on projects across the world, with global businesses such as Vodafone, Uber, Starbucks, and Twitter and with international charities, and large philanthropic foundations, such as Wellcome Trust, Macmillan, One Young World and UNICEF UK. 
Kenny is a trustee of several charities, including BBC Children in Need. And, alongside Lord Michael Hastings CBE, he is also the co-founder of My Brother's Keeper, a voluntary group that supports men (mainly serving long-term sentences) in 6 prisons across the UK. In 2022 he was featured in Forbes' annual 30 under 30 list for Social Impact.

Sarah Jenkins, Managing Director, Magenta
Sarah has 20 years’ experience delivering high-quality insights for clients. She is a published author who began her career conducting social policy research before joining Ipsos MORI, where she served as Head of Qualitative within their Media and Technology team. In 2013, Sarah won the prestigious AQR Award for Qualitative Effectiveness for her work with the BBC. Sarah has worked with a wide range of marginalised groups, including travellers, transgender people, LGBTQ+ individuals, lower socio-economic income households, and those living on welfare benefits and below the poverty line. Since founding Magenta in 2016, Sarah has prioritised DE&I both internally and externally, delivering many pro bono projects for charities working to improve the outcomes of minority groups and delivering training to clients on how best to embed inclusive practices in the workplace.

 Luba Kassova, Director, AKAS

Dr Sarah Key, Senior Analyst, WRAP
WRAP is a climate action NGO working around the globe to tackle the causes of the climate crisis and give the planet a sustainable future. Working around the globe with governments, businesses, and citizens, our mission is to make the world a more sustainable place. We bring people together, we act on the facts, and we drive change. To bring about a diverse and sustainable world, we need to be a diverse and sustainable organisation. WRAP is proud to have achieved the Investors in Diversity Award, which is recognised as the national equality standard. We’re also a Disability Confident – Employer (level 2) organisation, and registered with the government’s Disability Confident Scheme. We are committed to continue our journey towards ensuring that FREDIE (Fairness, Respect, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion, and Engagement) principles are fully embedded across all that we do at WRAP.  We will further invest in and take actions that makes WRAP an organisation that people want to work for and partner with, because of the inclusivity that we offer.

Christina Lai, Consultant User Researcher, Kainos
Christina is a UX Research & Design Lead at Kainos. Having started her career in technology 13 years ago, she has over 8 years’ user research experience across private and public sector, with clients from John Lewis, Rated People to the Labour Party.
Christina was a 2023 MRS EDI Changemaker finalist and is a noted neurodiversity, responsible technology and inclusive design advocate. She seeks to become the change she wants to see in the world; by inspiring, leading and collaborating, ensuring diverse voices are considered in the development process and innovation is aligned with the public interest.

Elise McNamara, Senior Consultant, PA Consulting

Sibs Mjali, Head of Research and Insights, Diversity Standards Collective

Risham Nadeem, Business Director, C-Space

Annabelle Phillips, Founder, AP Research

Yoofi Quashie, Researcher, 7th Sense Research
Yoofi holds a BSc in Business Management and an MSc in International Business and Finance. During his undergraduate years, he embarked on a series of internships, spanning Rwanda, South Africa, Mauritius, and Japan across various industries.
Yoofi was particularly interested in roles that fostered innovative thinking and creativity, post Master’s degree, which led him to apply for the 10,000 Black Intern Scheme while completing his Master's at the University of Aberdeen. This scheme offered paid work experience across a wide range of sectors, training and development opportunities and sustainable support for the Black community. It was during this time that he discovered 7th Sense Research UK, an organisation perfectly aligned with his career aspirations.
Transitioning from internship to full-time employment, Yoofi has been an integral part of the team for nearly two years. He has worked with clients across diverse sectors, including automotive, sports, and the public sector, where he put his quantitative and qualitative skills to good use.In his free time, Yoofi can be found lifting weights at the gym or embarking on a 5km run.

Tom Richer, Qualitative Researcher, Open Inclusion
Tom is a creative disability-inclusive researcher at Open Inclusion with a drive for community engagement. Tom has been recognised for his research around neurodiversity and was awarded a finalist spot for MRS Young Researcher of the Year 2023 and also a finalist for the MRS ED&I Changemaker Award 2023. 
Tom has taken a sharper direction towards disability and age-inclusive research through the lens of his initiative The Bridge Between and looks forward to bringing his experience as a carer and community advocate to Open Inclusion. 

Daniel Singham, Lead, CoRe
Daniel is Commercial Director at Yonder Data Solutions who are a trusted fieldwork and data collection company both in the UK and Internationally and is an active member of the steering committee for MRS CORe who are a hub for all things concerning ethnic diversity within the industry. Daniel has over 18 years of experience in the research industry internationally having worked in cities such as Sydney, Beijing and back home here in London. The majority of Daniel’s career has been on the operational/panel/project management side and commercial side of businesses focussed on managing teams and delivering research to all sectors. Having lived and worked in different countries and cultures, Daniel is a strong advocate for equality, diversity and inclusion.

Nicole Smyth, Customer Insight, Holland & Barrett

Maciej Stryjek, Head of Marketing, The Valuable 500
Maciej is a passionate advocate for the power of brands to drive societal change and normalise disability inclusion without sacrificing business success. As the Interim Head of Marketing at the Valuable 500, the global organisation of 500 partners and companies working together to end disability exclusion. Maciej is leading the charge of the Authentic Disability Representation Synchronised Collective Action.
Maciej, in collaboration with Open Inclusion and Yale University, has led a pioneering global research initiative. It involved conducting surveys with disabled individuals worldwide and hosting focus groups with thought leaders across continents. The results, unveiled in a whitepaper at the World Economic Forum in Davos 2024, revealed a distressing dearth of appropriate disability representation in marketing and media.
The whitepaper serves as a clarion call for companies to adopt a higher, more consistent, scalable, and sustainable performance standard in this crucial area. With the help of an expert panel, the insights from the whitepaper are now being translated into a set of corporate action standards for authentic representation.
Before his role at the Valuable 500, Maciej spent 14 years at leading advertising agencies, where he had the privilege of working with renowned companies such as Mars Inc., Unilever, Procter & Gamble, and Bacardi Martini. At AMV BBDO, his long-term home, Maciej contributed to the agency's recognition as the most creatively awarded in the world, securing the 'Global Agency of the Year' title at all significant 2021 creative award shows.

Dr Antonia Sudkaemper, Organisational Psychologist and DE&I Consultant

Mark Thorpe, Director, Truth Consulting 
Mark has worked in strategic insight for over twenty-five years and is an expert in human behaviour and psychology. He has worked with many organisations, from small to leading global businesses, advising them on a range of issues.
Mark is an elected Fellow of the Market Research Society and is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Market Research.   He is also a member of the Delphi Group – the MRS think-tank advising government and business on a range of matters.

Danielle Todd, UK Lead, WiRe
Danielle is a Director at insight-driven strategy consultancy The Forge. Danielle is passionate about elevating our industry; being the Women in Research (WIRe) London lead, previous WIRe Advisory Board member, MRS Diversity, Inclusion and Equality MRS Council member and is often seen presenting, Chairing or judging at IIEX, ESOMAR or MRS conferences. Danielle also enjoys exploring wine, dystopian fiction and CrossFit, but usually not at the same time.

Fiona McCabe, WRAP
WRAP is a climate action NGO working around the globe to tackle the causes of the climate crisis and give the planet a sustainable future. Working around the globe with governments, businesses, and citizens, our mission is to make the world a more sustainable place. We bring people together, we act on the facts, and we drive change. To bring about a diverse and sustainable world, we need to be a diverse and sustainable organisation. WRAP is proud to have achieved the Investors in Diversity Award, which is recognised as the national equality standard. We’re also a Disability Confident – Employer (level 2) organisation, and registered with the government’s Disability Confident Scheme. We are committed to continue our journey towards ensuring that FREDIE (Fairness, Respect, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion, and Engagement) principles are fully embedded across all that we do at WRAP.  We will further invest in and take actions that makes WRAP an organisation that people want to work for and partner with, because of the inclusivity that we offer.

Helen Wing, Associate Director, Ipsos