Young Researcher of the Year Award

The topics were recommended by the Ambassadors of the award to test your research skills related to current global challenges. The questions posed are just some ideas on the direction your submission can take. Get creative within the scope of the topic and feel free to interpret it. Choose one of the broad topics below for your research project:

Resolving the Repercussions of Recession

After almost half a decade of recession, the global economic crisis has affected everyone in one way or another. The youth have been at the forefront of the economic malaise, with the past years presenting them with economic stagnancy and a lack of opportunities. In Western societies, enormously high unemployment figures are leaving whole generations struggling to start the next steps in their personal evolution and leading social unrest. Family ties are being strained to the limits as young people remain “in the nest” far longer than anticipated. While in emerging markets, income growth brought millions of young people out of poverty and gave them hope for decades of prosperity.

What can young researchers bring to the debate around a post recession world? As we (hopefully) start to see a light at the end of the tunnel, what innovative ideas can re-galvanize this “doom and gloom” economy? Where will they come from and who will be around to implement them?

Moving and Shaking - People on the Move

The movement of people is nothing new, but in the last decade it has seemingly accelerated. The world is shrinking and due to technology it has become easier and cheaper to form and maintain distant ties.

This is not just a perception. For example, in the UK, the immigrant population has grown from 9% to 13% in just the last 10 years – a huge jump considering that for the previous 20 years it increased only by 2%. For the first time ever, the Brits are a minority in London.

What is fuelling this radical shift? Is it choice or necessity, a thirst for adventure or a pursuit of elusive happiness? What are the consequences for those who make the journey and for their new host destinations? Can this movement of people save the countries struggling with ageing populations and a lack of young workforce or will it deprive them of their own identity? Will this result in creating homogenous communities with shared values or in a clash of civilisations?

Where Are We Going? The Journey of the Market Research Industry

Research, like many industries, is changing irrevocably. Advances in technology, social and economic changes as well as consumer expectations are all contributing to a new era for us. As the next generation of researchers, how can we (re)define our thinking and approaches? What is our role in the future? How has our journey been so far and where are we going next?

Whether it’s gamification, social media research, mobile technology or search technology, how will they shape our tomorrow and will they really change the name of the game?

Each topic above will have selected Ambassadors who are known thought leaders in the topic area. They are here to help you, to inspire you and to stimulate debate on each topic. Do you have a question related to your submission? Feel free to email Marta (m.mucha@esomar.org) who can pass your query onto the ambassadors.

Ambassadors for Resolving the Repercussions of Recession

Preriit Souda

Consultant, TNS Global, India (2011 Winner of the Young Researcher of the Year Award)

Preriit K. Souda works in the Marketing Science department at TNS Global (London; previously was with Mumbai office). He consults internal clients on analytical & design requirements on their projects, works on client studies that deploy Pricing techniques, Driver Analysis, Segmentation, Product Testing, New Product Development and other advanced analytical techniques. His key role is to interrogate the data through suitable techniques to extract actionable insights. Before joining TNS Global, Preriit was Research Assistant to Chair of Marketing Department at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA, where he assisted in research on Advertising Elasticity. Preriit has an engineering background (Sardar Patel University-India and University of California, Los Angeles- USA) with postgraduate studies done in Management Sciences from Southern Methodist University, Texas, USA. He was awarded ESOMAR’s Young Researcher Award in 2011 and recently won Best Analytics paper at MRSI 2012.

 

Nick Johnson

Managing Director, Volante Research, UK

Nick Johnson is a research and insight entrepreneur, setting up agencies in the UK, Germany and the US. He has over 15 years experience in research and in advertising agencies as a planner and has conducted research in over 40 markets. Nick is the Managing Director of Volante Research, a global consumer insight agency based in London. He has three young children and all his own teeth.

 

Ambassadors for Moving and Shaking – People on the Move

Robin Brown

Senior Vice President, Environics Research, Canada

Robin Brown has been a member of the Environics Research Group since 2008. Prior to joining Environics Research Group, he held senior project management positions with Synovate in Canada and Asia. Robin has 20 years of experience in the market research industry, working in the UK, Asia and Canada. He spent 10 years working in greater China and has leveraged his understanding of Asian consumers to develop a strong track record of research into Canadian newcomers and visible minority communities. Robin’s primary areas of expertise are retail and packaged goods although he has worked with companies from a wide variety of industries including telecoms, financial services and media. He has extensive experience of research into branding, consumer decision-making and shopper behaviour. Robin's writing on consumer behaviour and trends appears in many publications, including the Canadian Market Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA)'s VUE and Imprints magazines and Canadian Journal of Market Research as well as C Store Life magazine. He has presented papers at MRIA's national conferences in 2007 in Ontario and 2011 in British Columbia.

 

Annelies Verhaeghe

Head of Research Innovation, InSites Consulting, Belgium

Annelies Verhaeghe is Head of Research Innovation at InSites Consulting. She has an interest in consumer insight activation and neo-observational research techniques such as multimedia ethnography and social media netnography. Annelies won the ESOMAR Young Researcher of the Year Award in 2009 and has been a regular speaker at ESOMAR and other market research events and has several publications in academic and trade journals. In addition she is also in charge of the daily operations at the research hub of InSites Consulting in Romania.

 

Ambassadors for Where Are We Going? The Journey of the Market Research Industry

Abhishek Sharma

Senior Manager, Ipsos, India

Abishek Sharma currently works with Ipsos Research in India and was a previous finalist for the ESOMAR Young Researcher Award. A database engineer, his strengths lie in defining, describing variables and analysing relationships between them. His goal towards pursuing any analysis is to make understanding of processes and systems simple. He also has a fascination with marketing and supply chain and business statistics.

Abishek got his first break in marketing research as an internship in Pathfinders, a marketing research arm of Lintas India (Now Lowe Worldwide). Working towards maintaining a high standard in research, it was an ideal atmosphere to develop his skills into various aspects of the research craft. He truly enjoys market research and looks forward to continuing to contribute time and effort to the industry.

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Rakesh Kumar

Chairman, Global Firefly Board & Head of Firefly AMAP, Singapore

Rakesh is responsible for conceptualizing and implementing the Firefly global strategy along with the global board. His specific focus is on talent, client & business growth strategies. Prior to this role, he was managing the qualitative work in the Middle East /North Africa region. After a degree in management he started his career in qualitative research with an exposure to the Indian market. In his current role, he is responsible for certain key global client relationships. Rakesh has a personal interest in the new / evolving media space and has been working in the digital + media + social media space extensively over the last 2 years. He has conceptualized Firefly’s offering ‘e-mmersions’ – an attempt to understand the digital schizophrenics. He is a regular to present in universities, client forums and research forums such as ESOMAR, AQR/QRCA etc.

 

1. Who can enter?

Any researchers born in 1983 or after.

2. Deadline of submission

The submission deadline is 24 May 2013.

3. How will the winner be selected?

The submissions will be reviewed by an international jury of specialists, who will select a shortlist of three finalists to present their submissions at the ESOMAR Congress 2013 in Istanbul. A reserve candidate will also be chosen, in the event that one of the three selected finalists cannot participate. The jury, which will be chaired by the President or Vice President of ESOMAR, will then select a winner from the three finalists. If none of the finalists are judged to have attained the requisite standard, the jury shall be free to not award a prize.

4. What happens if you are a finalist?

The 3 shortlisted finalists will be invited to present their findings in an exclusive session at the ESOMAR Congress 2013.

5. What happens if you win?

The award carries an ESOMAR-sponsored prize of €2500.
The winner will be announced at the ESOMAR Congress 2013. He or she will receive a unique trophy to commemorate this achievement and their paper will be published on the ESOMAR website. The winner will also receive 2 free registrations for ESOMAR workshops of their choice.

Eligible submissions will be judged on the following criteria:

• Contributes to excellence and best practice in research.
• Is innovative (i.e. breaks new ground). Shows a high level of creativity, fresh thinking and innovation in the approach and conclusion on broad global issues.
• Shows a real understanding of the issues by proving its actual or potential impact on decision making.
• Indicates how, and under what circumstances, the theory (or the findings) may be best applied.
• Focuses on applications across cultures, demographics and countries.
• Values scientific, statistical and analytical methods and techniques to gain insight or support decision making.
• Makes recommendations and provides an "answer" based on the research results. In short it uses a holistic approach to achieve concrete answers to a difficult and topical worldwide challenge.
• In addition, the jury will take into account the extent to which the research is in line with ESOMAR principles.