Q&A with Best Client-Side Team finalist, University of Warwick
Editor’s note: The University of Warwick is a finalist of the 2025 Best Client-Side Team award, a category in the Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards. The winners of the awards will be announced on November 19 during a virtual celebration. To find out more about the awards, visit QuirksAwards.com.
The University of Warwick was named one of the finalists in the 2025 Best Client-Side Team award category, which is a part of the Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards.
The Market Research and Insight Team (MR&I) supports the university in navigating a complex and competitive global landscape. Their work guides student recruitment, course development and strategic planning, all while helping Warwick to make smarter decisions.
“The MR&I team doesn’t just respond to questions. They ask better ones. In doing so, they help shape Warwick’s next chapter,” the MR&I team said of themselves.
Learn more about this unique client-side research team in this Q&A with the MR&I team at the University of Warwick.
How has your team been able to influence decision-making and connecting with key stakeholders?
We see ourselves as more than just a research team – we’re partners to our stakeholders. From the very beginning of any project, we take the time to really understand their goals, challenges and the bigger picture they’re working within.
That means we don’t just jump into research, we help shape the questions, build context and make sure the objectives are clear and meaningful. And we don’t stop there. We revisit those objectives throughout the project, especially during analysis, to make sure we’re staying focused on what really matters.
What’s made a big difference is how intentional we are about building relationships. We map out who our key stakeholders are and invest time in getting to know them, building trust and showing the value of insight in their world.
Our aim is to make insights feel like a natural part of their decision-making process, not something that sits on the side. That way, when decisions are being made, we’re already part of the conversation.
What does it mean to your team to be named a finalist in the 2025 Quirk’s Awards?
We’re absolutely delighted to be named a finalist. It’s such a proud moment for the team. It feels like a real recognition of the passion, creativity and hard work we put into everything we do.
We’re always striving to deliver high-quality, meaningful insight, so to be acknowledged by the wider industry is incredibly rewarding.
Internally, it’s also helped raise our profile and reinforce our reputation as experts who bring real value. It’s sparked a lot of excitement and pride across the team, and it’s been a great reminder of how far we’ve come.
Being a finalist has given us even more motivation to keep pushing boundaries and finding new ways to make an impact.
What are some unique challenges your team faces as a university insight team and how do you overcome them?
One of the most unique, and rewarding, challenges we face is the diversity of our stakeholders.
We support colleagues across professional services, academic faculties, senior leadership and Warwick’s commercial businesses, from food and drink outlets to Warwick conferences and the award-winning Warwick Arts Centre. Each has distinct priorities, whether that’s course development, student recruitment, student experience or boosting commercial performance. No two projects are the same, so we’ve learned to be flexible in our approach and tailor our insights to meet the specific needs of each audience.
We’ve focused on building strong relationships and trust across the university, showing how commercial-style research can bring real value in an educational setting.
Working in education brings its own challenges too, which we see as opportunities to innovate.
For example, engaging with student audiences requires thoughtful design to avoid survey fatigue and ensure participation feels worthwhile. We’ve addressed this by designing innovative and inclusive methodologies, such as our student panel, that make participation engaging and meaningful.
With the education sector under increasing financial and political pressure, we’ve also had to be smart about how we prioritize and deliver our work. We’re always exploring new tools and approaches that help us stay agile and impactful, even when resources are tight. It’s a challenge, but it’s also what makes our work interesting and rewarding.