Our team
We’re all active, senior researchers with significant agency and client-side experience in commercial and public sector settings. We’ve taught research methods, and specifically MRS professional qualifications, for many years. We promise to make your learning journey supportive, challenging, and fun!
Mia Walker
Co-FounderPrior to co-founding Research Academy, Mia was a postgraduate Lecturer in Research Methods at the University of Westminster. She worked a freelance social researcher for many years, specialising in social return on investment calculations and research with vulnerable participants. She later joined YouthSight (now Savanta) as Associate Director for Custom Research & Insight.
Mia holds an MA in Applied Social and Market Research and a PG Cert in Higher Education from the University of Westminster. She is a Certified Member of the MRS. Mia is also a qualified Mountain Leader and NatureWell facilitator.
Sia Shah
Co-FounderSia has worked with a range of research clients across education, government, and finance. His clients included, for example, the University of Cambridge, Lockwood Publishing, and UPP. He has worked as a data scientist and as a software engineer across several startups.
Sia holds a BA in Sociology, an MSc in Behavioural Science, and he is currently pursuing a PhD in Machine Learning. His academic work uses machine learning to detect and treat mental health conditions. In one of his recent studies, he predicted people’s mental health status from biomarkers in patient voices.
Becky Lewis
Academy AssociateBecky Lewis is an independent insight consultant with decades of research experience. She manages projects for clients such as the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), with a particular focus on analysis and insight.
Becky was Research Director at YouthSight (now Savanta), and has worked in insight roles at London Underground and BMRB.
Becky holds a BA in Society, Economy & Social Policy and an MA in Applied Population Research from the University of Exeter, as well as the MRS Diploma. She’s a Certified Member of the MRS and member of the Independent Consulting Group (ICG).
Liz Montgomery
Academy AssociateLiz Montgomery has worked in research for over 30 years. She runs her own research consultancy, working for clients such as Legal & General, the Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne, Kantar and GfK. She conducts a broad range of UK and international projects across businesses and consumers.
Before this, Liz was Director at several companies including GfK NOP (now GfK) and RI (now TNS). Liz has developed and run training courses at GfK NOP and the Business Intelligence Group (BIG). She also worked on the mentoring programme at GfK NOP.
Liz is a Certified Member of the MRS and a member of AQR, BIG and the ICG.
Sustainability
The planet is edging ever closer to climate disaster. Every company and every business leader must play their part, no matter how small the business. That’s why we signed the MRS Net Zero Pledge in October 2021. This commits us to:
- Making our businesses net zero by 2026.
- Tracking and publishing our carbon emissions, working to reduce and offset those emissions and publishing these figures annually.
- Collaborating with others to share learnings and best practices to achieve the above goals.
- Supporting and encouraging conversations with our employees, partners and clients about environmental concerns and viewpoints.
We’ve been a remote-first business since 2013, so our carbon footprint is different to that of the typical office-based business. Becoming carbon-neutral means we’ll shift to green web hosting, and help employees and contractors take their home offices to net zero.
Research Academy MD Mia Lorenz is a member of the MRS Sustainability Council, which works to take the MRS Net Zero Pledge forward.
Diversity and inclusion
The Research Academy’s founders are a woman and a man of colour. So we know what it’s like to face discrimination in educational and workplace settings. As you can imagine, inclusion and diversity are issues close to our hearts!
We aim to make learning engaging and effective for all our students, regardless of who you are or where you’re from. We want you to be able to express yourself and to broaden your horizons. So for instance when we teach questionnaire design, we talk about what’s appropriate when asking about gender and age.
Our pedagogical approach
We’ve done our homework on what works best for busy people studying part-time for professional qualifications. In a nutshell,