John Utting

Managing Director Australia

John has been in the research business for more than 20 years, having served as a pollster to two Australia Prime Ministers, three New Zealand Prime Ministers and numerous Australian State Premiers.

John has also worked extensively in the United States and Japan. As a well-recognized adviser to political and corporate chiefs on both sides of the Tasman, John's experience in measuring the community's heartbeat places him in the top echelon of market researchers in this part of the world.

Bruce Dier

General Manager Australia

UMR's Australian General Manager, Bruce joined UMR in 1996, bringing a background in social, communications and industry-related research. At UMR, he conducts both qualitative and quantitative research, and has taken primary responsibility for an extensive range of environtmental projects spanning infrastruture, utilities and government clients.

Bruce heads UMR's qualitative research team and moderates several focus groups or depth interviews nearly every week.  He is one of Australia's most experienced local government researchers, having worked on several programs directly for local government as well as for other clients with LGA stakeholders.  These have commonly required accurate, rapidly obtained reads are essential to determining the campaign and business strategies’ initial viability and continued success.

Bruce holds an MBA and degrees in law and commerce. He has also completed university courses in psychology and statistics.

Felolina Tumataiki

Research Director

Felolina has worked for over ten years in the market research industry and has extensive experience in both quantitative and qualitative research. She is conversant with the full spectrum of qualitative techniques.

Felolina also has considerable experience in financial sector research, including market segmentation, advertising development, new product testing and several studies relating to credit card usage and acceptance.

Recent work has included stakeholder perceptions of commercial operations in the Northern Territory, community attitudes towards local government services and major infrastructure developments, aged-care facilities and customer satisfaction campaigns.

Also, work has included research studies with Indigenous Australians in terms of their attitudes and behaviour towards the integration of a major urban development plan within a highly concentrated Indigenous area.

Research also included opinion of Maori and Pacific Island Peoples towards climate change, community attitudes to local government services and major infrastructure developments, aged-care facilities and customer satisfaction campaigns.

Felolina has a Bachelor of Arts degree, with a major in Anthropology and a minor in Sociology, from Macquarie University in NSW.

Liz Kirby

National Quantitative Director

Liz joined UMR in April 2006, bringing a background of over twenty years in social and political research. At UMR she conducts quantitative research across a wide range of sectors, including government, politics, resources and education as well as social research.

Prior to joining UMR, she headed up an in-house survey research unit for the New South Wales Branch of the Australian Labor Party and has worked on local, state and federal election campaigns since 1988.

For several years she was co-owner of a specialist or "boutique" market research agency whose clients included political candidates, community groups and media outlets.

Her interest in social and political research comes from her years spent in academic research at the University of Sydney.

Dr Campbell White

Project Director

Campbell White is a senior market researcher with more than a decade’s experience in the industry. With a PhD in Social and Media Psychology from the University of Queensland, he specialises in issues based research concerned with community perceptions of corporations and high-profile individuals.

Campbell has designed and directed both quantitative and qualitative research projects for financial institutions throughout Australasia, including tracking corporate image, and the impact of sponsorships and community initiatives. He is recognised by the Market and Social Research Society of Australia as a Qualified Practitioner of Market Research (QPMR).

Marlen Madiger

Research Manager

Marlen joined UMR in January 2008 after finishing her Master’s degree with distinction in Management and Marketing at University of Wollongong.

As she has been intensely interested in market research since she first read about it in high school, she focussed her studies on this discipline in Germany at Friedrich-Alexander University, Nuremberg and in Australia at UoW.

At UMR, Marlen is responsible for the quantitative side of the business. Besides conducting a range of projects relating to commercial, political and social topics, she is coordinating UMR’s nationwide online omnibus survey as well as managing the workflow in the quantitative team.

John Eldridge

Research Analyst & IT Manager

John started his fifteen years in market research after completing a BA with honours in psychology.

He has broad research experience, has worked with a diverse client base, and enjoys a reputation for providing his research colleagues with accurate, meaningful data.

Prior to joining UMR he spent three years programming and managing online studies for a mainly FMCG client base.  He is bringing this online experience back to his preferred arena of political and issues research.

Stathi Karavias

Research Assistant

Having completed a Bachelor of Psychology, Stathi has developed a strong interest in understanding people’s behaviours, thoughts and underlying motivations. His degree exposed him to a vast amount of survey research methodology, both quantitative and qualitative, combining his interest in social psychology with a strong research platform, and reinforcing his desire to work as a social researcher.

Stathi has had many appointments as an academic research assistant and, in an endevour to extend his social research knowledge, is completing a Master of Policy and Applied Social Research from Macquarie University.

Darcy Werner

National Fieldwork Manager 

Darcy has the rare combination of extensive hands-on field experience underpinned by a solid academic background in psychology and education.

Her background includes six years with Insight Research Australia, initially as Senior Field Manager, and in the last two years, Research Manager.  In this role she is responsible for the operational management of UMR’s field office of over 100 staff.   This involves managing staff recruitment, project management (covering project inception through to reporting), CATI programming, quality assurance control and professional development and training.

Prior to this she was employed by the Western Australian Education Department involved in designing and implementing behavioural, educational and social programs for autistic children.  A critical part of this was coordinating policies and requirements of multiple stakeholder groups to achieve important individual and organisational goals.

Darcy holds a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology major) (Murdoch University, WA)

Michelle Chou

Project Manager

Michelle completed a Master's degree in Strategic Public Relations at the University of Sydney and has worked in project management, corporate affairs and stakeholders relations in Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

Before joining UMR, Michelle has managed various marketing and lobbying activities at Asia's principle lobbying organisation representing business interests of multinational European companies. She currently supports both qualitative and quantitative research, bringing in her international perspective to broaden the research dynamics. With her proficiency in Chinese language, strong business acumen and extensive networks in Asia, she is also able to assist clients with business interests and operations in China.