The world of UX research is evolving fast. With AI-powered tools, remote research, and moderated and unmoderated methods coming together in one place, teams can move faster than ever to understand user behavior and turn insights into action.
But building a research platform is a completely different story.

In this session, Taylor Klassman reflects on how her team is building research tools shaped by the real needs of researchers and designers today, and how they’re thinking ahead to support what research will need next.

• Hear how Dscout evolved from a diary study tool into a robust UX research platform.
• How Taylor’s team turns feedback & research insights into features & product innovations
• Get a forward-looking perspective on how research tools need to evolve to support what’s next.

As UX roles evolve amid AI tooling, democratized practices, and shifting org structures, many experienced researchers are spending less time conducting studies—and more time enabling others to do it well. In complex environments like healthcare, the question is no longer whether research should happen continuously, but who does it, when it happens, and how “good” it needs to be to move the work forward.

In this lightning talk, James Wieselman Schulman shares how he’s helped build a culture where research isn’t reserved for specialists, but embedded throughout design and delivery. Drawing from service and healthcare design, he explores how cross-functional teams can engage in research responsibly—without lowering standards or losing sight of ethics, rigor, and trust.

You’ll hear practical examples of how to:

• Use research continuously—not just at the start—to shape workshops, prototypes, MVPs, and business decisions
• Create clear guardrails so non-researchers can conduct meaningful (even if imperfect) research and learn through doing
• Redefine research ROI around impact, learning velocity, and organizational confidence, not methodological perfection

The opportunity isn’t to replace expertise, but to extend it. When expert researchers shift from gatekeepers to coaches, they raise the floor for everyone, protect what makes research human, and ensure empathy remains at the center of the work.

This session is for researchers, designers, and leaders navigating the shift from research doer to research enabler. It offers a pragmatic, human-centered view of research—one where five good conversations can be better than none, learning happens through action, and advancing the work matters more than protecting the role.