DEMOS

Since the foundation of the Future Foundation, as well as growing the business and supporting the launch of nVision - our successful on-line consumer insight service - Melanie has pursued a wide range of research interests including:
• Understanding the impact of changing gender roles on society and business with Tomorrow's Women and Talking Equality;

• Exploring the nature of communications in the network society with 24 Hour Society and an assessment of how technology affects the quality of life for BT;

• Promoting the concept of corporate social responsibility with The Responsible Organisation and research into ethical consumers for the Co-op Bank.

Melanie has worked with a very wide range of clients, recently these have included building 50 year Rural Futures scenarios and creating a model to forecast household waste over the next 25 years for Defra; analysing the reality of the Relationship Economy for First Direct and exploring the social and psychological benefits of cinema going for the Film Industry.

Since the sale of the Future Foundation to Experian Business Strategies in May 2005, Melanie continues to sit on the Board of the Future Foundation and play an active role in all aspects of the business.  She has recently been appointed as a Visiting Professor at Henley Management College in the School of Reputation and Relationships, is a longstanding associate of Demos and also sits on the Information Tribunal for the Lord Chancellor's Department. Melanie advises the Sustainable Development Commission’s round table on consumption and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Marketing and Sustainability Steering Group. 

One of Melanie’s current areas of interest is helping organisations to develop strategic innovation programmes with the future consumer at the centre.  To that end Melanie is a Visiting Business Fellow at the Innovation RCA at the Royal College of Art and is supervising an innovation associate in a year-long project to develop more effective means of communicating complex ideas about the future and social trends.

Melanie is a frequent platform speaker and provider of media comment. She has published widely in the context of the Future Foundation’s work.