Expert Process

Most expert networks answer a brief by querying a database assembled for earlier engagements. That approach favours availability over relevance: the expert who appears first is the expert who registered first, not the expert closest to the question.

Our research team treats each brief as a sourcing exercise. We map the roles, institutions and markets that would plausibly hold the knowledge required, then approach individuals in those positions directly. Where an existing network member fits, we use them; where nobody fits, we recruit.

The practical consequence is currency. An expert recruited for a specific question is far more likely to have held the relevant role recently, and to be able to speak to the market as it operates now rather than as it operated when they registered.

Every candidate completes verification before their profile reaches a client. We confirm identity, check the claimed credentials and qualifications, and corroborate the employment history that supports their expertise.

Candidates are screened against sanctions and restricted lists, and against any client-specific restrictions supplied with the brief. A candidate who cannot be verified does not proceed, regardless of how well they match the question.

Verification establishes that an expert is who they say they are. It does not establish that they can answer the question. A research associate speaks to each candidate to test the specificity of their knowledge: what they did, in which market, over which period, and how close they were to the decisions the client is asking about.

Candidates who are adjacent rather than central to the question are declined at this stage with an explanation, or held for a brief where they are the right fit. Only candidates who pass this assessment are written up with a relevance note and put forward.

Ahead of the consultation we brief the expert on the scope of the discussion, the areas the client wants to cover, and the boundaries that apply — the topics they must decline and the information they must not disclose.

Compliance documentation is completed at this stage rather than after the fact. The expert understands the recording arrangement, the consent position and the moderation approach before the call is confirmed.

Clients rate each consultation on relevance and quality, and research associates record their own assessment. Those records inform whether an expert is put forward again, and for which kinds of brief.

Experts are removed from the network where a compliance undertaking is breached, where verification can no longer be maintained, or where repeated consultations do not meet the standard the network exists to guarantee.