Latest news and updates
Lincoln Agritech: Peter Barrowclough steps down after more than 14 years
December 2023: After 14½ years leading Lincoln Agritech, CEO Peter Barrowclough has announced his resignation, saying his time at the research institute has been the most rewarding part of his career.
“I am so proud of what we have achieved together,” says Peter.
“During my time as CEO this company has grown from 35 staff and $5.5m turnover to around 80 staff and $15m turnover today. We have won a significant amount of MBIE funding, undertaken many science and engineering feats, and contributed to the store of knowledge. We have commercialised many technologies, and our science has had great impact.
“Throughout it all we have strived together as a team, and this has made Lincoln Agritech a great place to work.”
Peter’s last day in the role will be Friday 22 December. He is looking forward to starting the last phase of his career, concentrating on governance and consultancy.
The Board will appoint an interim CEO who will start in the New Year, before beginning the search for the next permanent CEO.
Dr Peter Barrowclough. Photo: Lincoln Agritech.
Scarlatti: To incentivise or not? Navigating the incentive dilemma in research
December 2023: Incentives are becoming more common in research – Staff at Scarlatti know, they conduct hundreds of surveys and interviews per year. They also know that people’s time is valuable and that many industries are seeing ‘survey fatigue’.
Scarlatti Research Manager Julie Moularde writes about the problem in this Scarlatti case study. "When finding respondents becomes challenging, one solution is to offer an incentive. This might seem like the perfect golden ticket to fix your response rates, but should you be using them?"
Julie says that while offering an incentive can maximise participation and completion rates there are a number of factors to consider. When deciding whether offering an incentive is right for your research, she suggests asking yourself some key questions. A negative answer to any of them likely means an incentive is not recommended.
Firstly, do you have a sufficient budget for incentives? "Cost varies depending on incentive type, but your budget needs to allow for it. By estimating what you might save on recruitment, you could reallocate some of your budget toward incentives."
Graphic: Scarlatti.