We’re pleased to announce that Chris Taylor and Marianne Highwood have joined the Research Academy. In their capacity as Academy Tutors they’ll both provide personal tutoring support to our MRS Advanced Certificate students.
Chris has more than 20 years of experience in research, consultancy and marketing services management. He has a long track record in academic research, having studied research methods at Aston University and subsequently worked as a policy analyst and as a senior lecturer in a business school. After moving into service management, Chris led market strategy at Staffordshire University and at Northumbria University and held a similar post in an NHS training college. He has also worked outside of the academic sector, spending four years as a management consultant in an advertising agency and has run his own research consultancy since 2007.
Marianne has worked in market research, in both agency and client side roles, for almost 30 years. She started off as a political and social researcher at Gallup and then moved on to lead the research team at a tourism and leisure consultancy. Marianne also worked with the market intelligence team for Smiths Medical, focusing on women’s healthcare. Currently she works as a freelance market researcher specialising in customer satisfaction, employee engagement and new product/service development. The “other half” of Marianne’s professional life is spent in the classroom. She is a Sessional Lecturer in the Business School at Canterbury Christ Church University. Prior to this she spent four years at Bromley College of Further and Higher Education, where she was Programme Director and Senior Lecturer in the HE Business Department.
The Research Academy hires senior researchers in active practice to ensure that its students get top-quality tuition and learn the latest in insight generation. Research Academy MD Mia Lorenz says, “I’m simply delighted that Chris and Marianne have agreed to join us. They’re lovely to work with and will make great personal tutors. Our MRS Advanced Certificate students are sure to benefit from their broad range of experience.”
Click here to learn more about our teaching team!
