A BARROW market research company is gearing up for a busy summer after securing contracts for major events.

Research Team EU is set to provide the "leg work" at occasions as diverse as The Lakesman Triathlon in Cockermouth, international cricket at Chester Le Street, and a music festival organised by MTV in Newcastle.

The contracts involve planning, data collection, processing and reporting for the organisers of these events.

The company, which is based in Carlisle Street, has been on the go since 2013 and rose from the ashes of another business run by Rob Dunphy, who gives himself the title "team boss".

It is currently recruiting staff in the North East and the Midlands.

Mr Dunphy said: "We have set things up in a Formula One team format in that I am the boss of a team of research engineers."

This unique approach to how the company operates, he argues, has helped it become successful.

A large amount of its work is events evaluation surveys, where staff speak to people who have attended a particular event to find out their views on how it went.

The firm has several regular clients including Cumbria Tourism,  The Morecambe Bay Partnership and the Furness Economic Development Forum. It also works with CN Group, parent company of the Evening Mail.

"We are at the coalface of the research industry," he said.

"These events have been going on for years but we have not been the people they have been coming to.

"This year is the best that we have had. It is a fantastic research team that we have."

Mr Dunphy says that many of his staff are teachers or lecturers and, because the work is mainly at weekends, it is ideal for them.

At any one time the firm usually has 15 to 20 employees on its books.

"They are people looking for a bit of extra cash for savings or to help them pay for a holiday or to save up for a deposit on a house," he said.