RESEARCH LIVE

UK – Consumer and sensory research business MMR Research has appointed Chris Sinclair as global commercial director and promoted Laura Smith to global head of marketing. Sinclair (pictured left) worked at MMR Research 20 years ago, and has since held executive positions at Ipsos across Europe and the US and most recently as global practice leader for NIQ Innovation at NIQ Bases.

The tool, called Research Desk MCP Server, allows users to connect to LLMs such as ChatGPT and Claude, using supported AI tools to interact with Rep Data’s Research Desk platform using natural language. Users can use the tool to create and manage projects, configure project parameters and generate survey deployment URLs. Rep Data said it would add to the MCP Server throughout the rest of the year, including deepening integration across the Rep Data research platform.

European B2B venture capital firm Hi inov is leading the funding round, with pre-seed investor, tech investment firm Axeleo Capital, increasing its stake. Actionable will use the funding for hiring in product, engineering and sales, and developing internationally through a network of reseller partners and expansion in the US market. Founded in 2024, Actionable ingests a company’s raw customer data and reconstructs the customer journey inside a data model specific to its industry.

A confidence crisis is emerging in the insights industry. Research professionals are rapidly adopting AI across the research process, from sampling to analysis, but as it becomes more deeply embedded in research, many are starting to wonder if the outputs are grounded in real consumer understanding, or if they simply sound convincing. Fraud has always existed within online research, targeting high-paying or easy-to-access surveys to maximise rewards.

Loranger (pictured) is currently serving as chief statistician of Canada, and has spent 29 years at Statistics Canada, as well as chairing the United Nations Conference of European Statisticians. Loranger replaces Emma Rourke, who was interim UK national statistician following the departure of Professor Sir Ian Diamond in 2025, before also leaving at the end of last year.

UK – Insights agency Acacia Avenue has appointed Helen Doran as associate director. Doran (pictured) is a mixed methods researcher covering both qualitative and quantitative research with a focus on behavioural economics. Prior to joining Acacia Avenue, Doran led multi-phase behavioural and communications programmes for the public sector at Quantum Market Research in Melbourne. Acacia Avenue was founded in 2002 and is a full-service international insights agency.

The partnership will see members of Amárach’s Irish consumer panel move to Strat7 Audiences’ panel platform, adding to the existing Republic of Ireland panel within the company’s network. The purpose of the agreement is to combine Amárach’s knowledge of the Irish market with Strat7 Audiences’ international reach, operational infrastructure and panel management.

The survey of children aged 10-15 in England and Wales, launched in 2009, was previously conducted through face-to-face interviews alongside the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), but fewer people were taking part following the Covid-19 pandemic. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has moved the survey online, which allows children to complete their responses independently without an interviewer or parent alongside them.

Doran (pictured) is a mixed methods researcher covering both qualitative and quantitative research with a focus on behavioural economics. Prior to joining Acacia Avenue, Doran led multi-phase behavioural and communications programmes for the public sector at Quantum Market Research in Melbourne. Acacia Avenue was founded in 2002 and is a full-service international insights agency. It is part of Accord Marketing Group.

Jakub Pachocki, writing in a blog post dated 6th September, said if AI development continues as currently, systems in the next few years are likely to increasingly drive their own development. “This is a time that calls for extreme caution,” he wrote in the article published on OpenAI’s website.