Get in touch
t: 01434 613273
f: 01434 611161
e: nicola@publicknowledge.eu
Who we are
Dr Nicky Turnill - Head of Public Knowledge
- Nicky joined the company in 2007, originally working between parent brand Dipsticks Research and Public Knowledge
- She was prompted to division Head in 2010 and has since played a key part in the brand’s success and growth despite the public sector spending cuts
- Nicky has considerable experience running both large and small quantitative and qualitative research projects for a wide-ranging client base. This encompasses public sector organisations and projects in health, central and local government, education, housing, third sector and the arts and leisure
- Her day to day responsibilities include the management of e-tendering systems, PQQ’s and ITT’s, proposal writing, project design and costing, project and client management and report writing and analysis
- Nicky can also regularly be seen at networking events across the North East and attends regular meetings with our clients both locally and nationally
- Prior to working at Public Knowledge, Nicky gained a First Class Honours degree in Psychology from Swansea University in 2002 and then completed a PhD assessing the effects of minor stressors and mood on eating behaviour at Newcastle University
- She also worked as a Project Analyst for a large international IT company before joining Public Knowledge
- Originally a Southerner, Nicky now loves living the North East. She is a bookworm and loves to travel.
Dr Judith Welford - Senior Research Executive
- Judith joined Public Knowledge in June 2010 and as a result of her excellent work and relationships with clients she was promoted to Senior Research Executive in April 2012
- She is involved in all aspects of the research process, for both quantitative and qualitative projects, large and small
- Judith has worked with a wide range of clients and is particularly interested in the third sector and health
- Prior to joining Public Knowledge, Judith completed a Masters in Research Methods and PhD in History at Durham University. During her time at Durham she focused on researching and teaching economic history to undergraduate students
- In her spare time Judith is a keen cyclist and is involved in all types of mountain biking and downhill cycling in Northumberland and County Durham
Ivor Knox - Managing Director
- Ivor has worked in research since 1992, with five years in operations and thirteen years as a client-facing researcher
- He led the Scottish client services team for mruk in Glasgow from 2006-2010, managing a portfolio of qualitative and quantitative research programmes primarily in the public sector, including customer satisfaction work for the Scottish Police Services Authority
- Previously, he’d spent eight years managing major international projects at GfK NOP, primarily a 50-country continuous financial services study
- Ivor started his career with five years in a CATI centre, learning all of the processes involved in the production of high quality survey data
- He’s fully versed in CATI, Field and Online survey management
- His interests include history, politics and current affairs, and collecting far more DVDs than he ever has time to watch, as well as a wall full of books that will take a couple of centuries to get through
- Ivor is married, with a riotous one year old daughter, two guinea pigs and a rabbit
Fiona Raglan - Director & Co-Founder
- Fiona has 25 years of research experience and a background in media, publishing and advertising
- She has wide experience of conducting and directing qualitative and quantitative research in both the public and private sector, for clients including the BBC, British Red Cross, Learning and Skills Council, Northumbria Police and One NorthEast
- Fiona’s background is largely as a qualitative researcher and she has 15 years of experience of moderating focus groups and conducting in-depth interviews
- Fiona retains a hands on approach in the day-to-day running of the business which is crucial to our success
- As a successful rural SME entrepreneur, Fiona won The Best Rural Woman Entrepreneur Award and The National Business Awards Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2003
- Fiona has a holiday cottage on the Northumberland coast where she spends many weekends, going for long walks on the beach to help totally unwind!
John Raglan - Chairman & Co-Founder
- John was previously a director of Metro Radio Group which owned and operated 7 radio stations in the North East and Yorkshire. His main sphere of operation was in sales and marketing in the London marketplace where he made his mark as part of a team that formed the hugely successful Radio Advertising Bureau, which subsequently grew radio's share of advertising revenue from 2% to 9%
- In 1993, John left Metro shortly after its sale to Emap for £100 million
- After a 3 year period of consulting radio groups and other media owners on marketing and revenue development, John co-founded Dipsticks Research Ltd
- Despite the current global recession the group is enjoying its best trading period in its 16 year history because it finds creative solutions to research problems
- John lives in rural Northumberland and he is a keen cricketer
Andrew Richardson - Data Manager
- Andrew joined Public Knowledge in January 2010 as Manager of the in-house Data Management team comprising 5 other full-time staff
- Andrew is responsible for ensuring that all projects are supported by data that are delivered to the high standards to which the company is committed. Andrew is supported by a dedicated and experienced team of data processors who have a superb track record of delivering complex analysis on time, and to the client’s exact specifications
- Prior to joining Public Knowledge Andrew was a senior business analyst for a major computer consultancy, engaged on a multi-million pound government project. His previous experience also includes extensive work in the fields of document management and records management and a technical background in both front-line support and software development
- Outside of work Andrew is keen motorcyclist, a passion that he has passed on to his daughter (much to the consternation of his wife) and he cannot believe that more people don’t find Excel macros fun
Alison Pringle - Operations Manager
- Alison joined Public Knowledge in October 2002 as a Project Co-ordinator but today she heads up our Operations team of 3 full time staff members
- Alison and her team are paramount in the management of street, telephone, postal and qualitative research projects
- Alison was instrumental in setting up our in-house computer assisted telephone interview (CATI) unit which currently consists of 20 seats and a pool of 50 telephone interviewers
- In addition, Alison manages our network of direct street interviewers across the UK
- Alison and her team ensure all telephone and street interviewers undergo rigorous training with a programme of continual development. They are also responsible for many of our stringent quality checking procedures
- Alison has recently gained the ILM Certificate in Management, she lives in Northumberland and enjoys long walks in the country with her dogs
Angus Webb - Technical Director
- Angus is a highly motivated Information Technology professional. Having studied Information and Communication Management at Northumbria University, he subsequently completed Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) and Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) accreditation
- Angus has worked for the company since 2002 and has been a member of the Board since 2004
- He has hands-on involvement with many projects' technical requirements and heading our IT team of 4 other full-time employees
- Angus has a passion for improving respondent engagement and survey design. He is instrumental in evaluating new technologies and developing the range of research tools that are deployed across a growing range of clients' research requirements
- He also leads our in-house research panel, panelbase.com, which has grown rapidly over the last 2 years. The site has held the top position in the www.surveypolice.com global leader board since January 2009. As a member of Esomar he’s also responsible for ensuring the company’s ongoing adherence to quality standards