Agenda

AMSR Summer Event

(Each name links to a short biography)

6.00pm – 6.30pm
Welcome refreshments

6.30pm – 7.30pm
Speakers:

Richard Asquith, Chief Executive, AMSR
Professor Patrick Barwise, Chair, AMSR
Rebecca Cole, Managing Director, Cobalt Sky; Chair Designate of the MRS board
Alan Kunna, Director of Studies, London Brookes College
Dr. Stella Moss, Lecturer in Modern British History, Royal Holloway, University of London​
Liz Watts, Schools Programme, AMSR
Judith Rose, Q&A Moderator, AMSR

Q & A and close

7.30pm – 8.30pm
Drinks, canapés, socialising

Sponsors

Our sincere thanks go to our sponsors for the evening’s proceedings.

The Policy Institute, King’s College London

OvationMR

TestSet

Logos link to the organisation’s website (will open in separate window).

Venue sponsor:

The Policy Institute at King’s College London works to solve society’s challenges with evidence and expertise. We combine the rigour of academia with the agility of a consultancy and the connectedness of a think tank. Our research draws on many disciplines and methods, making use of the skills, expertise and resources of not only the institute, but the university and its wider network too.

Event sponsors:

TestSet creates uncorrupted, unbiased, human-verified first-party data for reliable business outcomes. Harmonising the expertise and care only humans can provide with the efficiencies of modern technology, TestSet delivers data that is consistently reliable and easily accessible. Businesses rely on TestSet data to make informed decisions, improve marketing effectiveness, and gain deeper customer insights.

TestSet is an ACKWEST Group company with office locations worldwide.

Richard Asquith
Chief Executive, AMSR

Richard Asquith is Chief Executive at AMSR, a role he has held since April 2025. He has been part of the AMSR team since 2022.

He held several senior leadership positions during a twenty-year career at Kantar.  From 2012-17, he was Global CEO of Kantar Media Audiences, leading Kantar’s specialist division devoted to digital audience measurement across TV, Online and Radio, operating in more than 60 countries.  Prior to that, he was CEO of Kantar Media’s TGI & Custom division with responsibility for the Global TGI network of syndicated media and marketing studies.

For five years he was Managing Director of BMRB, the Top 10 UK market research agency specialising in media and social research. While leading BMRB, Richard was a founder member of the MRS Company Partner Scheme.

He has been a regular speaker at industry conferences and a member of the International Journal of Market Research editorial advisory board.

Having spent over 35 years working for large scale research suppliers, he set up his consulting practice in 2020. He advises on audience measurement, media and marketing research, leadership and change management in multi-country businesses.

Back to list of speakers

Patrick Barwise
Chair, AMSR

Patrick Barwise www.patrickbarwise.com is chairman of AMSR, emeritus professor of management and marketing at London Business School and former chairman of Which?.  He joined LBS in 1976 after an early career at IBM and has published widely on management, marketing and media. His 2004 book,Simply Better: Winning and Keeping Customers by Delivering What Matters Most, co-authored with Seán Meehan (IMD, Lausanne), won the American Marketing Association’s Berry-AMA Book Prize. His other books include Television and its Audience (1988) with Andrew Ehrenberg, The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader (2016) with former McKinsey partner Thomas Barta, and The War Against the BBC (2020) with cultural commentator Peter York. He is also an experienced expert witness in international commercial, tax and competition cases and an early investor in several online start-ups, including Research Now, Verve, Attest and OnKai.

Back to list of speakers

Rebecca Cole
Managing Director, Cobalt Sky
Chair Designate of the MRS board

Rebecca Cole is the Managing Director of Cobalt Sky, an award-winning UK-based market research operations company, where she has worked since 2006. She serves on the main board of the Market Research Society (MRS)  and is Chair Designate of the MRS board, set to assume the role in 2026. Cole is also Co-Chair of the Association for Survey Computing (ASC) and was named an MRS Research Hero in 2023 for her contributions to the industry.

Back to list of speakers

Alan Kunna
Director of Studies, London Brookes College

Back to list of speakers

Dr. Stella Moss
Lecturer in Modern British History
Royal Holloway, University of London

Dr. Stella Moss is a historian of modern Britain from Royal Holloway, University of London. With a doctorate from St John’s College Oxford, Stella’s research interests centre on the history of popular culture and consumption in twentieth-century Britain. She has long-standing interests in the history of alcohol and drinking cultures and is currently writing an oral history of London Irish pubs. Stella is also developing work on food in modern Britain, including around the growth of convenience food. An ardent devotee of the AMSR archive, Stella enjoys using the unique AMSR material in both her own research and her undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. 

Back to list of speakers

Liz Watts
Schools Programme, AMSR

Liz Watts has spent over 30 years working in insight, strategy and communications, with over 20 years in the education sector. Starting her career in market research, she moved into advertising as a planner working for Publicis, AMV and BBH, then brand consultancy for Interbrand before moving into education consultancy at EdComs.

Back to list of speakers

Judith Rose
Q&A Moderator, AMSR

Judith Rose first became involved with AMSR in 2020 and has volunteered as part of the marketing committee since then, helping to create its flagship publications, contributing to the newsletter and representing the Archive at events. She is Co-Founder of EXPLNERS as well as a writer, video-maker and content consultant, and has been in the sector for more than 30 years. She fell into market research by working as a telephone interviewer while at university and was thrilled to discover a whole industry devoted to being curious about people’s lives; she’s never looked back. Judith last had a job back in 2011, when she was a Research Director at GfK. Since then, she’s indulged her love of creativity and storytelling by providing freelance writing and content services to insights leaders and, with EXPLNERS, making videos to help brands communicate their insights with impact.

Back to list of speakers