Our team

Our close knit team is made up of senior specialists from a range of disciplines across psychology, market research, the social sector and commercial sector backgrounds.
We’re proud of our team, and between us we have made some fantastic achievements which we have highlighted below but if you wish to know more then please just click onto any of the names to view their Linkedin profile.

We don’t have any current vacancies but are always interested in hearing from potential new team members.  Please email your C.V. if you would like to be considered for future roles.

Jo Cliff, Managing Director

Jo Cliff
Managing Director

"Hi, my         
name's Jo"

Jo set up Platypus Research in 2005 after seeing there was a gap for a forward thinking, unbiased child, youth and family focussed agency that could offer both qualitative and quantitative research skills.

Six years on Jo is proud to lead a team of highly experienced and devoted researchers and is thrilled with Platypus’ growing and impressive client list.

Jo continually strives to ensure Platypus evolves to keep up with new technologies and our changing society.

 

Experience

13 years in the market research industry, Jo is a full member of the Market Research Society. Jo speaks regularly at conferences and is a true expert in the child, youth and family market having worked on literally hundreds of projects involving this audience.

Achievements

Jo has worked on some very high profile research projects in both private and public sector with clients such as NHS, BBC, Disney and Channel 4. Key achievements include;

  • Conducting a staged programme of research and consultancy for a new brand and product. The research was fundamental in helping the client to secure a manufacturing partnership as well as getting the product into major retailers like Morrison’s and Sainsbury’s and internationally.
  • An early adopter of online groups for teenagers, Jo conducted a full segmentation of the youth market. She identified the key tribes and the attitudinal factors which drive ‘tribe’ membership. This segmentation is used by the marketing agency client to help organisations connect and communicate with the youth market.
 

Rob Smart
Director

"Hi, my            
name's Rob"

Rob Smart – Director

Rob joined Platypus in 2007. With a background in product management and marketing Rob focuses on results providing guidance on how the research can be used to make positive changes within clients ‘businesses and organisations.

 

Experience

As well as providing strategic direction to our projects Rob also gets involved in conducting both qualitative and quantitative research covering in particular school days and teacher interviews, groups with mums and dads & hard to reach groups. He is a highly experienced marketer and researcher with extensive commercial acumen.

Achievements

In addition to rapidly expanding Platypus’ client base, Rob has been involved in a wide variety of projects;

  • Working with the NHS identifying key causes of school accidents and putting forward strategic recommendations for reducing the number of accidents in schools.
  • Working with and developing partnerships with several marketing agencies to recommend appropriate research routes for various clients and delivering projects and clear outcomes to direct their marketing strategies.
 

Kate Siddall
Qualitative Associate Director

"Hi, my           
name's Kate"

Kate Siddall - Qualitative Associate Director

Kate is our qualitative expert. She is a very thorough and reliable researcher and with strong moderating skills and a track record for providing clear and concise recommendations. She has developed long lasting client relationships with many large private and public sector clients.

 

Experience

Kate has been a qualitative researcher for 10 years and has a background in education and communications research with children, youth and families and also with professionals such as Health Care Professionals and teachers.

Achievements

Kate works with large organisations in both the public and private sector including ; Sheffield Hallam University, College of Law, Barnsley & Knowesley PCT, ASDA, Medical Protection Society and Northern Foods. Key project achievements include;

  • Usage and attitude study for NHS looking into children’s diets and the key challenges faced by parents.
  • Maintaining an on-going relationship with a University managing many projects over several years from prospectus design to over viewing student and parent’s attitudes to feed into their wider strategy.
 

Jo Chenall
Quantitative Associate Director

"Hi, my        
name's Jo"

Jo Chenall –Quantitative Associate Director

Jo is a quantitative researcher with 17 years’ experience of agency side research conducting strategic projects for large Blue Chip organisations. Jo has been with Platypus for 4 years and works with clients to provide robust solutions to their research needs as well as finding ways of generating quantitative information from a wide range of audiences.

 

Experience

Jo has particular expertise in working with FMCG and retail brands focussing on parents and children. She conducts both International and UK research, and in particular product and service testing which means she has strong experience in trade off and pricing analysis.

Achievements

Jo has worked with a wide range of clients including Danone, Masterfoods, Numico, Kraft and Kodak. Key project examples include;

  • Large (quant) U & A research project among 1500 mothers. Completion of diary by mothers every time child fed to establish feeding behaviour.

Online project with teachers and students tracking over time the impact of changing tuition fees on University decision making. This incorporated trade off analysis to determine key influencing factors.

 

Phil Cliff
Qualitative Researcher

"Hi, my            
name's Phil"

Phil Cliff - Qualitative Researcher

Phil is highly experienced and knowledgeable in the area of children and families. He joined Platypus having been in the Child Protection Unit in the Police where he was trained to interview and has masses of experience speaking with many different types of audiences including children with special needs and hard to reach groups.

 

Specialisms

Phil’s particular specialism is qualitative research within the Child, Youth and Family field. He has conducted projects with all age groups from toddlers through to teenagers on a wide variety of subjects from school shoes to bank accounts and support services for children with mental health problems. Phil also specialises in online message boards and online focus groups and has a passion for bringing findings to life through high quality video and audio footage.

Key Achievements

Having worked with high profile clients such as NHS, BSkyB, Expert Patient Programme and Northern Foods Phil’s proudest moments of have involved;

Providing research which proved the impact of a school initiative on school performance and children’s self-esteem which resulted in wider expansion of the initiative.

  • Research to launch a brand new product for a well-known healthcare brand which is set to be the market leader and is the launch of an exciting new technology within this market.
 

Laila Charlesworth
Office Manager

"Hi, my            
name's Laila"

Laila Charlesworth – Office Manager & PA to the team

Amongst her many roles Laila looks after the team and our clients ensuring any queries are resolved quickly and where help is needed the relevant person is sourced. She also transforms our presentations into reports and charts that are professional and nice to look at.

Expert Panel Advisors

"Hi, we're the
expert panel
of advisors"

Platypus regularly consults with our panel of experts which come from a wide range of disciplines to gain shared learning’s which are used to continually improve our interview content and techniques and to keep abreast with developments within the child, youth and family market.

Vicky Burrows – Clinical Psychologist in child and adolescent mental health

Liz Hamilton – Consultant Speech Therapist

Vickie Smart – Primary School Teacher

Alex Burnham – Secondary School Assistant Head Teacher

Carolynne Mason – Academic researcher working with young people particularly those living in areas of socio-economic disadvantage.