I am very pleased to say that in January 2019 I will be studying for my MRS Advanced Certificate in Market Research and Social Practice (https://www.mrs.org.uk/learningCPD/advan_cert).

For those of you who don't know, this is the Market Research Society's (MRS) degree-level professional qualification in Market Research. Despite being a researcher with some established industry experience, I am keen to get a industry qualification under my belt as I know it will help me think more critically about research. I want to get a solid understanding of how to conduct watertight research, how to problem solve effectively on projects and how to satisfy my clients' needs further.

The syllabus in structured into 3 key sections:

-  The Research Context

-  Developing a Research Project

-  Analysing Data and Using Research Findings

The assessment is in two parts:

-  A piece of coursework whereby candidates prepare a brief and proposal for a research project

-  A written exam at the end lasting 2 hours 30 minutes

I am going to be studying with the Research Academy (https://research-academy.co.uk/), who offer a great standard of teaching with industry professionals, as well as offering online tuition via weekly online tutorials. I am very grateful of this type teaching, which is really helpful in aiding a good work-life balance and fitting everything in around my research work and the madness of family life.

I am really looking forward to this, and I will be posting more updates in the future about how I get on.