Legal

Privacy Policy

Last Updated: 3 September 2026

How Inventive Research Group collects, uses, stores, discloses and protects personal information across our website, research recruitment and client relationships.

Overview

Inventive Research Group Ltd (“IRG”, “Inventive Research Group”, “we”, “us” or “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, disclose and protect personal information when you visit our website, communicate with us, participate or apply to participate in a research study, join our professional network, work with us as a client or business contact, or otherwise interact with Inventive Research Group.

Inventive Research Group Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales under company number 14942073, with its registered office at:

4th Floor, Silverstream House45 Fitzroy StreetLondon, EnglandW1T 6EBUnited Kingdom

For privacy-related questions, requests or complaints, you may contact us at:

info@inventiveresearchgroup.com

1. Who We Are

Inventive Research Group is a global market research and professional recruitment company.

We connect businesses, market research agencies, consulting firms and other organisations with professionals who may be suitable for research activities including:

  • in-depth interviews;
  • focus groups;
  • online surveys;
  • telephone surveys;
  • online research communities;
  • bulletin boards;
  • expert consultations;
  • product or concept research; and
  • other legitimate market, opinion and business research activities.

Our participants may include business professionals, executives, healthcare professionals, technical specialists, industry experts, consumers and other individuals whose experience is relevant to a research project.

Depending on the circumstances of a particular project, IRG may act as a data controller, joint controller, or processor/service provider acting on behalf of one of our clients.

Where another organisation is primarily responsible for determining how your information is used, additional project-specific privacy information may be provided to you.

2. Scope of This Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to personal information we process in connection with:

  • our website;
  • research recruitment;
  • research participation;
  • professional and expert sourcing;
  • our participant and professional databases;
  • communications by email, telephone, LinkedIn or other professional platforms;
  • client and prospective-client relationships;
  • payments and participant incentives;
  • project scheduling and administration; and
  • our general business operations.

A particular research project may also have its own consent form, confidentiality agreement, recording notice, client privacy notice or other terms. Where those documents provide additional information regarding a specific project, they should be read together with this Privacy Policy.

3. Information We May Collect

The information we collect depends on how you interact with IRG.

A. Identity and Contact Information

We may collect:

  • full name;
  • business or personal email address;
  • telephone number;
  • country, city or general location;
  • preferred language;
  • professional networking profile;
  • company or organisation details; and
  • other information required to communicate with you.

B. Professional Information

Because much of our work involves B2B and specialist research, we may collect professional information including:

  • employer and previous employers;
  • job title;
  • department or function;
  • seniority;
  • industry;
  • years of professional experience;
  • professional qualifications;
  • educational background;
  • responsibilities and decision-making authority;
  • products, platforms, technologies or services used;
  • industry expertise;
  • purchasing or procurement responsibilities; and
  • other professional information relevant to determining suitability for research.

C. Research Screening Information

When you are considered for a research project, we may ask screening questions to determine whether you meet the research criteria.

These questions may relate to your:

  • professional responsibilities;
  • company characteristics;
  • experience;
  • purchasing authority;
  • product usage;
  • industry knowledge;
  • demographic characteristics;
  • availability; and
  • other project-specific qualification criteria.

Not everyone who completes a screener will qualify or be selected for a research study.

D. Research Participation Information

When you participate in research, we may process:

  • survey responses;
  • interview responses;
  • opinions and comments;
  • research notes;
  • written responses;
  • audio recordings;
  • video recordings;
  • transcripts;
  • screen-sharing content;
  • research platform activity; and
  • other information generated through your participation.

You will normally be informed in advance where a session will be audio or video recorded.

E. Payment and Incentive Information

Where you are entitled to receive a research incentive or other payment, we may collect information necessary to process that payment, including:

  • payment method;
  • payment account information;
  • billing information;
  • payment history;
  • currency;
  • tax-related information where required; and
  • transaction references.

We seek to collect only the payment information reasonably necessary to complete and document the transaction.

F. Client and Business Contact Information

If you represent a client, prospective client, supplier or other business partner, we may process:

  • your name;
  • employer;
  • role;
  • work email;
  • telephone number;
  • correspondence;
  • project requirements;
  • proposals;
  • contracts;
  • invoicing information; and
  • records relating to our commercial relationship.

G. Website and Technical Information

When you visit our website, certain technical information may be collected automatically, such as:

  • IP address;
  • browser type;
  • device type;
  • operating system;
  • approximate geographic location;
  • pages viewed;
  • website interaction data;
  • referral source; and
  • cookie or similar technology identifiers.

Non-essential cookies and similar technologies will be used in accordance with applicable consent requirements.

H. Verification and Compliance Information

To protect our clients, participants and the integrity of research, we may carry out reasonable verification.

This may include validating:

  • employment;
  • professional background;
  • qualifications;
  • business affiliation;
  • professional profiles;
  • previous research participation; and
  • information provided during screening.

We may also maintain records relating to suspected duplicate participation, fraudulent information, research-quality concerns or breaches of project requirements.

4. Where We Obtain Personal Information

We may receive personal information directly from you or from other lawful sources.

Information Provided Directly by You

For example, when you:

  • contact IRG;
  • submit a website form;
  • reply to one of our research invitations;
  • complete a screener;
  • participate in research;
  • provide a professional profile;
  • submit payment information; or
  • communicate with our team.

Publicly Available Professional Sources

Because IRG recruits specialist professional audiences, we may identify potentially relevant professionals using publicly or professionally available information.

Sources may include:

  • professional networking platforms such as LinkedIn;
  • company websites;
  • business directories;
  • professional associations;
  • conference or event information;
  • publicly accessible professional biographies;
  • regulatory or professional registers; and
  • other legitimate publicly available sources.

The fact that professional contact information is publicly available does not remove our responsibility to handle it fairly and lawfully.

Clients, Partners and Other Organisations

Information may also be provided to us by:

  • research clients;
  • recruitment partners;
  • referral partners;
  • professional databases;
  • business information providers;
  • research technology providers; or
  • other organisations involved in carrying out a legitimate research project.

When we obtain your personal information from another source rather than directly from you, we aim to provide appropriate privacy information within the timeframe required by applicable law.

5. Why We Use Your Personal Information

We may use personal information for the following purposes.

Research Recruitment and Matching

We use professional information to identify people whose experience may be relevant to research projects.

For example, a client studying enterprise software purchasing may ask us to identify IT decision-makers at organisations of a particular size.

Contacting You About Research Opportunities

We may contact professionals where we reasonably believe a research opportunity may be relevant to their professional experience.

Research invitations are intended for legitimate research purposes and are not intended to sell you a product or service.

You can ask us at any time not to contact you about future research opportunities.

Determining Eligibility

We use screening information to assess whether participants meet research criteria established by IRG or our client.

Managing Research Projects

We process information to:

  • schedule interviews;
  • send meeting details;
  • communicate project instructions;
  • manage participation;
  • perform quality control;
  • verify attendance;
  • prevent duplicate participation;
  • arrange research incentives; and
  • respond to project-related questions.

Providing Information to Research Clients

We may share relevant professional information with a client where necessary to determine suitability for a research project.

Depending on the project, this may include information such as your:

  • role;
  • industry;
  • professional experience;
  • employer type;
  • relevant responsibilities; and
  • anonymised or identified screening responses.

Where a client will receive information that directly identifies you, or where additional consent is legally or ethically required, we will provide appropriate notice and obtain consent where necessary.

Conducting Research

Information collected during interviews, surveys, focus groups and other research activities may be analysed, aggregated, summarised or reported to our clients.

Where appropriate, results are provided in anonymised, pseudonymised or aggregated form.

Where identifiable responses, recordings or quotations will be provided to a client, this will normally be disclosed as part of the relevant research process.

Participant Payments

We process payment information to administer research incentives and maintain appropriate financial and accounting records.

Research Quality, Fraud Prevention and Compliance

We may process information to:

  • verify participant identity or professional background;
  • prevent fraudulent participation;
  • identify duplicate participation;
  • investigate suspicious activity;
  • protect confidential client information;
  • enforce participation requirements; and
  • maintain the integrity of our research.

Client Services and Business Administration

For clients and business partners, we use information to:

  • respond to enquiries;
  • prepare proposals;
  • assess project feasibility;
  • perform contracted services;
  • administer projects;
  • invoice clients;
  • maintain business relationships; and
  • comply with contractual and legal obligations.

Improving Our Services

We may use appropriately protected information to improve our recruitment processes, research operations, technology, service quality and participant experience.

6. Our Lawful Bases for Processing

Where the UK GDPR, EU GDPR or equivalent legislation applies, we process personal information only where we have an appropriate lawful basis.

Depending on the circumstances, this may include:

Legitimate Interests

We may rely on legitimate interests where processing is reasonably necessary for our business or research operations and those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms.

Examples include:

  • identifying professionals for legitimate B2B research;
  • contacting potentially relevant professionals about genuine research opportunities;
  • maintaining professional research databases;
  • matching participants to research;
  • managing client relationships;
  • protecting research quality;
  • preventing fraud;
  • maintaining security; and
  • defending legal claims.

When we rely on legitimate interests, we consider whether the processing is necessary, proportionate and reasonably expected.

Consent

We may rely on your consent where required, particularly for certain:

  • recordings;
  • sensitive information;
  • optional communications;
  • identifiable disclosures;
  • cookies or tracking technologies; and
  • project-specific activities.

Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing that occurred before consent was withdrawn.

Contract or Steps Before Entering a Contract

We may process information where necessary to administer a research engagement, payment arrangement, client contract or other agreement with you.

Legal Obligations

We may process information where necessary to comply with tax, accounting, regulatory, law-enforcement or other legal obligations.

7. Sensitive and Special Category Information

Most IRG projects focus on professional and business information.

However, certain research studies may require information that is considered sensitive or “special category” information under applicable data protection legislation.

This could include information concerning:

  • health;
  • racial or ethnic origin;
  • political opinions;
  • religious or philosophical beliefs;
  • trade union membership;
  • biometric information;
  • sex life or sexual orientation; or
  • other legally protected categories.

We will only process such information where relevant to a legitimate research purpose and where an appropriate legal condition applies.

Where explicit consent is required, it will be requested separately.

Participants should never disclose identifiable patient information, confidential medical records, trade secrets, material non-public information or information they are not legally permitted to disclose.

8. Research Participation and Confidentiality

Participation in IRG research is voluntary.

You may decline a research invitation or stop participating, subject to any consequences explained in the particular project terms.

Where a project involves confidential information, participants may be required to agree to project-specific confidentiality requirements.

Research participants must not provide information that:

  • breaches a confidentiality obligation;
  • violates an employment agreement;
  • contains trade secrets;
  • constitutes material non-public information;
  • identifies individual patients without lawful authority;
  • violates professional duties; or
  • otherwise cannot legally be disclosed.

9. Audio and Video Recording

Some interviews, focus groups and research sessions may be recorded or transcribed.

Where recording occurs, participants will normally be informed before the recording begins.

Recordings may be used for:

  • research analysis;
  • transcription;
  • quality assurance;
  • client review; and
  • preparation of research findings.

Where applicable, we will obtain any consent required by law or the applicable research standards.

Participants should review the specific project information provided before participating in a recorded session.

10. Who We May Share Personal Information With

We do not sell participant personal information to third-party marketers.

We may share information with organisations involved in providing or supporting our legitimate research and business services, including:

Research Clients

Relevant participant information may be provided to the organisation commissioning a research study.

The amount of information disclosed depends on the project and may range from anonymised profile information to identifiable participant details where appropriate notice or permission has been provided.

Research and Technology Providers

We may use service providers for:

  • survey hosting;
  • video conferencing;
  • scheduling;
  • transcription;
  • research platforms;
  • cloud storage;
  • email;
  • CRM systems;
  • data security;
  • participant verification; and
  • research administration.

Payment Providers

Payment information may be provided to banks, payment processors or other payment services required to deliver research incentives.

Professional Advisers

We may disclose information where reasonably necessary to accountants, lawyers, auditors, insurers or professional advisers.

Regulatory and Public Authorities

We may disclose information if required by law, court order, regulatory requirement or lawful government request, or where necessary to prevent fraud, crime or serious harm.

Business Transfers

If IRG undergoes a merger, acquisition, restructuring or sale of all or part of its business, personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction subject to appropriate safeguards.

11. International Transfers

Inventive Research Group operates internationally and may recruit participants, work with clients or use service providers located in different countries.

Your information may therefore be processed outside the country in which you live.

Where personal information protected by UK or European data protection law is transferred internationally, we use appropriate legal safeguards where required.

Depending on the circumstances, these may include:

  • recognised adequacy arrangements;
  • contractual data protection safeguards;
  • the UK International Data Transfer Agreement;
  • the UK Addendum to approved contractual clauses;
  • European Commission Standard Contractual Clauses; or
  • other legally recognised transfer mechanisms.

We also assess appropriate technical and organisational safeguards where required.

12. How Long We Keep Information

We do not intend to retain personal information indefinitely.

Retention depends on the type of information, why it was collected, contractual requirements and applicable laws.

As a general framework:

  • Professional profiles and research recruitment information may be retained while we reasonably believe you may be relevant for future legitimate research opportunities. We periodically review such information and may remove or update inactive records.
  • Project screening and participation records are generally retained only for the period reasonably required for project delivery, quality assurance, client requirements, dispute handling and compliance.
  • Recordings and transcripts are retained according to the requirements of the particular research project and may be deleted, anonymised or returned to the client following project completion.
  • Payment, invoicing and accounting records may be retained for up to six years or for another period required under applicable tax, accounting or legal requirements.
  • Opt-out and suppression information may be retained for longer where necessary to ensure that we continue to respect your request not to be contacted.

Where information is no longer required, we will take reasonable steps to delete, anonymise or securely dispose of it.

13. Your Data Protection Rights

Depending on where you live and the laws that apply, you may have rights including the right to:

  • request access to personal information we hold about you;
  • request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information;
  • request deletion of your information;
  • request restriction of processing;
  • object to certain processing based on legitimate interests;
  • withdraw consent where processing is based on consent;
  • request data portability where applicable;
  • object to direct marketing;
  • ask us not to contact you about future research opportunities; and
  • make a complaint about our handling of your personal information.

These rights are not absolute and may be subject to legal exceptions.

To exercise your rights, contact:

info@inventiveresearchgroup.com

We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling certain requests.

14. Opting Out of Research Invitations

You are always free to decline a research invitation.

If you no longer wish to receive research invitations from IRG, you may:

Where appropriate, we may retain limited information on a suppression list so that we can continue to respect your opt-out request.

15. Data Protection Complaints

If you believe we have handled your personal information incorrectly, please contact us first at:

info@inventiveresearchgroup.com

We maintain a process for reviewing data protection concerns and complaints and will acknowledge and respond to complaints in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Individuals in the United Kingdom also have the right to raise a concern with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Individuals located elsewhere may have the right to complain to their local data protection or privacy regulator.

16. Security

We use reasonable technical, organisational and administrative safeguards designed to protect personal information against:

  • unauthorised access;
  • accidental loss;
  • misuse;
  • alteration;
  • unauthorised disclosure; and
  • destruction.

Our security measures may include access controls, authentication procedures, restricted internal permissions, secure communications, contractual safeguards and staff confidentiality obligations.

No internet-based system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, but we continually seek to maintain protections appropriate to the nature and sensitivity of the information we process.

17. Cookies and Similar Technologies

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies necessary for website operation, security, preferences, performance and analytics.

Strictly necessary technologies may operate without optional consent where permitted by law.

Where applicable law requires consent for analytics, advertising or other non-essential cookies, those technologies should only be activated after the appropriate consent has been obtained.

Users can also control certain cookie settings through their browser.

18. Children

IRG primarily conducts professional and adult market research.

Our website and professional research network are not intended for children.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children for professional B2B research unless a specific research study lawfully involves younger participants and appropriate additional protections, notices and parental or guardian permissions have been implemented.

19. Third-Party Websites and Platforms

Our website or research communications may contain links to third-party websites or services such as scheduling, video-conferencing, survey or payment platforms.

Those organisations may process personal information under their own privacy policies.

IRG is not responsible for the privacy practices of independent third parties, although we seek to use reputable service providers and appropriate contractual safeguards where required.

20. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes to:

  • our services;
  • research practices;
  • technology;
  • legal requirements; or
  • regulatory guidance.

The current version will be published on our website with the date of the latest update.

Where a change materially affects how we use existing personal information, we will provide additional notice where required by law.

21. Contact Us

Questions, privacy requests, opt-out requests and data protection complaints can be sent to:

Inventive Research Group Ltd4th Floor, Silverstream House45 Fitzroy StreetLondon, EnglandW1T 6EBUnited Kingdom

Company Number: 14942073

Email: info@inventiveresearchgroup.com

A Consultation Call

Tell us about your objectives and we’ll recommend the right approach, timeline, and expert mix: no obligation.

Book a Consultation