Partnership Deal for US, UK, and Aus MR Associations

Professional bodies for the US, UK and Australia - the Insights Association, MRS and The Research Society - have agreed to collaborate more closely in a number of areas.

Back in May, the three organisations teamed up to launch a global mental wellbeing study, to assess the impact of the pandemic and inform support for the research sector. Through the now formalised partnership agreement, IA, MRS and The Research Society aim to benefit from each other's products and services; share expertise, resources and product and service development costs; discuss new initiatives and identify new avenues for cooperation.

Collaboration activities will include annual research projects, sharing of legal knowledge and compliance guidance, and offers of reciprocal discounted member rates for products and services. Other potential areas for cooperation include events and use/adoption of MRS's Inclusion Programme, which sets out corporate inclusion and diversity targets; an annual Inclusion survey, and a LGBTQ+ network, which hosts several events each year. The associations will also seek to develop a Specification Protocol for organisations certifying to the ISO 20252:2019 standard.

Elissa Molloy, CEO of The Research Society, comments: 'As the insights and research industry pivots to deal with the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, global collaboration is more important than ever; it is the right time to be taking this next step to consolidate our relationship. We are looking forward to rolling out the new initiatives for our members and partners'.

Web sites: www.insightsassociation.org www.mrs.org.uk and www.researchsociety.com.au .