Theme 1: Researchers Thriving In The Organization

Research is at a crossroads; our customers are becoming more sophisticated and demanding, while at the same time, the quality of our work may be dragged downward by an influx of inexperienced people who do research. We struggle with systemic inequality baked into who does research and with whom—while a handful of Big Tech employers dominate hiring, and have an outsized impact on our society. And we’re still navigating how to be better at partnering with other research-connected functions. What is research in 2020, and how do we advance it in the face of these challenges?