A fabulous time was had by all 4 finalists of this year’s Award for Independent Consultants at last night’s MRS Awards Dinner in London.
Huge congratulations go to our WINNERS:
Wren Insight: Hannah Beech and Judith Terry
Reimagining the Students’ Union: transforming student life through a closeness-led segmentation
Wren Insight partnered with Reading Students’ Union (RSU) to revolutionise how a Students’ Union should operate in 2025 and beyond. Our ethnographic and closeness-led approaches informed and embedded a statistically rigorous and richly human segmentation, with students’ emotional needs at its heart. The research challenged outdated assumptions about student lives and directly shaped a new RSU in strategy, structure and services – including better targeted student provision and refocused commercial planning. This enabled RSU to secure increased University funding and deliver to its purpose of helping all students to live a happy and fulfilled life at University.
https://www.linkedin.com/company/reading-students-union/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-beech-9bb60752/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jude-terry-b68b6914/
Congratulations also go to our Highly Commendeds;
Open Questions: Joe Bonnell and Rachel Lewis:
XLH UK Patient Stories – How ethnographic research led to life-changing results for people living with XLH
This research was conducted by independent researchers Joe Bonnell and Rachel Lewis. It was commissioned by XLH UK, a charity that supports people living with X-Linked Hypophosphatemia (XLH), a rare genetic condition.
Our client had two research objectives:
- Generate better awareness and understanding of XLH
- Provide evidence to NICE / NHS England as they were appraising a game-changing new drug, Burosumab, to receive funding for use in adults with XLH on the NHS
This was a creative, sensitive and collaborative research project that combined excellence in the use of qualitative interviews and the innovative use of visual ethnography and co-production. Our work had major impacts for our charity client, XLH UK, and the people it supports. Our research contributed to a “life-changing” new drug being approved for funding on the NHS for use in adults living with XLH. Our key analytical theme, “navigating uncertainty”, became central to our client’s strategic vision, shaping the way they frame and offer support, and guiding their communications. Our work also had a significant impact on our participants — feeling confident and empowered to share their personal stories publicly for the first time. This project highlights the impact that a small, specialist team of experienced, independent researchers, dedicated to working equitably and flexibly with our participants and our client, can achieve.
All outputs from the project are public domain, and you are welcome to view them here and here.
Joe Bonnell | LinkedIn Rachel Lewis | LinkedIn
All Finalists’ submissions here