Vela will offer training courses delivered remotely, with a focus on collective working, team management and maintaining a clear narrative.

Jefferies (pictured) will also coach individuals to establish better tools and ways of working remotely, and plans to offer one-off masterclasses and webinars in future.

She will continue working with Watermelon on a part-time consultancy basis.

Jefferies said: “Through my conversations with others working in research agencies and in client teams, I was increasingly seeing a need for support, particularly in helping teams figure out how best to work together.

“Having worked remotely myself for the last five and a half years, I decided to draw on that experience to fill a gap and provide a way for individuals, teams and managers to develop skills and expertise to be able to thrive – regardless of whether none, some or all of the team are seeing each other regularly.”