The Community Research Approach

We are a small team of senior research and engagement professionals with bags of experience. As directors in larger research agencies, we found we did less research and more management. Community Research was set up so we could get back to doing what we love: talking to people and working with communities. Unlike some bigger agencies we do not delegate the core work of understanding your communities to junior staff. We don’t have junior staff - we do it all, so you have senior-level involvement in every part of your research project.

Our core team

 

Rebecca Addis

Rebecca joined Community Research in 2009 having previously worked at two research agencies, ORC International and Opinion Leader Research. She has extensive experience of qualitative and deliberative methodologies, with particular expertise in healthcare regulation, the water industry and consumer protection.

Rebecca is an affiliate member of the Market Research Society and an approved associate of The Consultation Institute (TCI), whose certificate in professional development she holds. She holds an honours degree in History and Politics from the London School of Economics.

Kate Waller

Kate has over twenty years of market and social research experience, working for a leading management consultancy as well as more traditional research agencies and a charity. She is well versed in qualitative and quantitative methodologies and has run projects for private, public and third sector clients. Recent work includes qualitative research to support the sponsorship strategy of Lloyds Bank and a consultation on the drug strategy for a local authority where she was required to access and interview homeless drug users.

Kate holds a joint honours degree in Japanese and Management studies from the University of Leeds. She is member of the Market Research Society and an approved associate of The Consultation Institute (TCI)

Lucy Lea

Lucy is a specialist in qualitative and deliberative research. She has a particular interest in vulnerability and is is passionate about helping decision-makers and front-line staff understand the needs of people in vulnerable circumstances. As well as her experience in the research industry, Lucy had an eight-year career in the NHS, heading up the equality, diversity and human rights programme for the community trust in Gloucestershire. Through this role, Lucy worked with a broad range of communities and helped ensure policies and practices were inclusive.

Lucy has an honours degree in Law from Newcastle University and is a member of the Market Research Society. She is currently training as a counsellor alongside working in research.

 Our associates

We have a network of trusted associates we work with to bring specific expertise and extra capacity to our team. Our business model means we have the flexibility to choose the right people to fit the project, and we regularly bring in experts in specific specialisms (e.g. behavioural science, ethnography), audiences (e.g. minority ethnic communities; lawyers), or techniques (e.g. statistical analysis). Two of our regulars are Rachel and Lucy, both former members of the Community Research team:

 

RACHEL LOPATA

Rachel founded Community Research in 2009 and co-ran the company for 12 years. In 2022, Rachel decided to step back to give more time to her broad interests, and she now works with us an associate. Rachel has over thirty years of varied experience in market and social research. She has considerable quantitative and qualitative research experience, as well as a close working knowledge of deliberative research and engagement techniques.

Lucy Brady

Lucy has twenty years’ experience designing and delivering mixed methods research gained across agency and client-side roles. She has particular expertise in deliberative techniques, campaigns and message development, and stakeholder research. Lucy has worked for a range of private, public and third sector clients including the Food Standards Agency, Thames Water, and Ofcom.