Alistair Shutt
Co-Founder & Research Director, Made with Insight Ltd
Overview
Made with Insight helps organisations decide which opportunities are worth pursuing and how new products, services, programmes and partnerships can create value in practice. We combine user, market and stakeholder research across B2B, B2C and B2B2C settings.
Services
I design and deliver strategic mixed-method research, from early discovery and market opportunity assessment through proposition development, validation, pricing and prioritisation.
My work includes Jobs to Be Done (JTBD), UX and service research, stakeholder interviews, market and competitor analysis, survey design, segmentation, and trade-off research (incl. MaxDiff and conjoint approaches). I work with consumer, professional and public-sector audiences, on topics including fintech, technology, water, energy and public infrastructure.
I can lead a project from brief to recommendations, provide specialist support at a particular stage, or work as an embedded senior expert within a consultancy or client team.
When a brief needs broader capacity or specialist expertise, I assemble small, high-performing teams of trusted independent researchers. These may include another MWI co-founder and Research Director, alongside methodology, language or sector specialists. I shape each team around the problem, stay hands-on throughout and give clients one accountable senior lead, combining the flexibility and depth of an independent network with coherent, well-managed delivery.
About
I have more than 20 years’ experience in market research, user insight and innovation, including senior London-based roles at GfK, Verve and SKIM. I have also worked in the Netherlands, lived in Spain and led research across many EU nations, the US, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia, often supported by local research specialists.
After many years in London, I am now based in Newcastle, working remotely with clients across the UK and internationally, and well placed for in-person projects across Northern England and Scotland.
Since moving to the North East, I have developed a stronger interest in how research can support place-based innovation and inclusive growth outside London. Recent activity includes multidisciplinary work on water data, citizen science and trust, alongside exploring opportunities around community participation, healthy living and regional industrial growth, including renewables and downstream applications of space and geospatial data. I am particularly interested in user research, UX and GDS-style discovery that helps public-interest services work better for the people and organisations using them.
Outside work, I am involved in community initiatives around active travel, the coastal environment and widening access to public spaces.
