I was wondering how your experience working in research at MARS petcare differs from working in academic research?

A large difference is that the research carried out has the potential to impact pets around the world via products and services, so our work has strong real-world value with a business focus. We also consider intellectual property and making business claims but remain open with our findings and frequently publish our research for others to benefit from. Another difference is that we are self-funded from within the MARS business so starting a study can be accomplished in a matter of weeks, unlike academia with writing grant proposals and waiting to hear back from external funders. The fundamentals of research are very similar, however. We still design and power studies, collect and analyse data, and report findings using practices that are shared with academia, though we are able to collaborate with experts in different fields within the business and with external academic experts to set the standards of our research very high. If you want to find out more, our head of research, Darren Logan, has contributed to a podcast on this topic which you can find here: https://your-digital-mentor.simplecast.com/episodes/academia-vs-industry