National Centre for Social Research appoints Sarah Cheesbrough as Director of its Policy Research Centre

The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), the UK's leading independent centre for social research, announced today the appointment of Sarah Cheesbrough as Director of its Policy Research Centre, joining NatCen in 2025.

Sarah Cheesbrough is Director of the Communities team at IFF Research, a social and market research agency. Sarah joined IFF Research in 2022 and, prior to that, has held leadership roles at Thinks Insight & Strategy and Verian UK, and at NatCen previously, as Director of its Communities, Work and Income team.  

Announcing the appointment, Michael Davis, Chief Executive, says, “We are delighted to welcome Sarah back to the National Centre for Social Research. We have a fantastic team of incredibly talented researchers in the Policy Research Centre. Our Policy Research Centre encompasses several policy-focused areas, delivering a variety of mixed methods research in a fast-paced environment, in order to respond to and help inform policy. We are very excited for Sarah to lead this Centre and deliver on our ambitious plans, empowering policy with quality research evidence.”

NatCen is a registered charity and the largest independent social research organisation in the UK. It partners with governments, NGOs, charities and other organisations to conduct rigorous, high quality social research, generating evidence that uncovers the reality of people’s lives in the UK. From climate change to health, NatCen delivers a variety of projects including complex, multi-year social surveys, addressing some of the biggest issues of our time.

Sarah Cheesbrough says, “I am excited to be returning to NatCen to lead on the strengthening and growth of the Policy Research Centre. I am looking forward to once more being part of a not-for-profit organisation that is committed to producing evidence that positively impacts policy decisions and people’s lives.”