Hugo Marchant - Senior Analyst

BEng Mechanical Engineering; BSc Physics

Hugo is a key member of ORS’ Quantitative Research team taking particular responsibility for data manipulation through database design and implementation and the graphical representation of data through GIS and other charting systems.

In addition to his research work, he has been involved with the development of our business information systems and the implementation of our quality control systems.

Darren Ivey - Associate Researcher

BSc (Econ) Sociology

Darren is a specialist qualitative researcher and has led numerous social research, media and consumer projects. Darren has provided a Welsh capability for many of the UK’s top research agencies and has worked on several large scale awareness and reaction studies to National advertising and marketing campaigns, including the Broadband Wales campaign aimed at SMEs in Wales. He has also worked extensively with S4C in Wales, informing changes to branding and brand positioning and marketing strategy for the channel.

Darren’s particular areas of interest are in sport, health and exercise, young people, media and new technologies, advertising and branding and the Welsh Language.

Darren has gained over seven years research experience managing projects for the academic, media, advertising and public sectors. Darren completed a research fellowship period at The Open University in Wales, undertaking a nationwide research project commissioned by the main media institutions in Wales, which looked into the everyday uses of technology and temporal rhythms of the use of media in the home.

Working with ORS, Darren has consulted on a number of topics, ranging from community safety and crime to budget planning, customer service standards to community involvement and action. Darren has extensive experience of consulting within the diversity of the population and is also very experienced in researching hard-to-reach groups.

Catherine Nock - Researcher

BA (Ed) Educational Studies (Primary) with Geography; MSc (Econ) Social Research

Catherine joined ORS in November 2007 and provides invaluable project support for many Strategic Housing Market Assessments and Housing Requirement Studies for public sector clients across the UK.

Her role mainly involves the handling and analysis of both secondary and primary data and report writing. This includes complex reports profiling the characteristics of both the local population and housing stock to form an evidence base to model housing requirements; as well as detailed niche-group and sub-area reports. She is also involved in managing the day-to-day running of projects, including survey design and set-up, and liaising with clients.

Through studying Social Research at Swansea University, Catherine completed a dissertation based upon a quantitative study of issues affecting a rural community in Wales, seeking to understand the impact of migration and local housing pressures. As part of her first degree Catherine spent several months working as part of an Evacuee research team based at the University of Reading, helping to create and maintain a large database of evacuee movements and accounts. Between her two degrees, she worked for a year as a local authority recycling officer, collecting data door-to-door and reporting on recycling habits in the local area.

Ciara Small - Researcher

BSc (Econ) Social Policy; MSc Social Research

Ciara works on numerous research projects for Fire and Rescue Services and Police Forces across the UK. She specialises in quantitative research, mainly in the context of the FSCA framework.

Prior to joining the emergency services team, Ciara gained invaluable experience as one of our telephone interviewers, working on projects for the police service, the fire service and local government. A one month placement with South Birmingham Primary Care Trust’s Public Health department also gave Ciara the opportunity to undertake a small but valuable research project regarding physical activity opportunities in the South Birmingham locality.

Hannah Champion - Researcher

BA Psychology

Hannah works within the Emergency Services Research Team at ORS, and since joining the team she has worked on a number of research projects for Fire and Rescue Services and Police Forces across the UK. She works on both quantitative and qualitative research.

Before joining ORS, Hannah graduated in Psychology from Swansea University. She has particular interests in attitudinal and opinion surveys. While at Swansea University, Hannah carried out a number of research projects on health intervention models, attitudes and behaviour towards recycling and evaluation of government health policies.

Katie Amesbury - Researcher

BSc Business Economics

Katie joined ORS in April 2010 and has since been involved in supporting various sub-regional Strategic Housing Market Assessments for a range of local authorities across England and Wales. Katie’s role currently involves collating and analysing secondary data from a wide range of sources, writing reports and quality control.