Advancing Research 2024

About #AR2024

Are you frustrated with the state of UX research? Does it feel like things have stagnated? We have good news and bad news — and they’re the same news: you’re not alone. Many of the research leaders and senior practitioners we speak with are feeling the same way.

Advancing Research is dedicated to how we can collaboratively re-assess the state of the practice, consider the increasingly complex demands being placed upon research teams and leaders, and work together to define clear roles, set goals, and establish scalable solutions for achieving them.

Program Themes

Theme 1: Excellence in Strategic Influence

The layoffs that have disproportionately affected research and insights teams have only exacerbated an existential crisis that was brewing long before recent events. For years we’ve been asking how we can have more strategic influence because we fundamentally believe that evidence-based decision making and businesses that prioritizes humans are the best ways out of the extractive and unsustainable systems we’ve inherited and advanced. The talks on day one approach this challenge from a plurality of perspectives. Whether you wield positional authority or lead through influence, these talks recommend tactics that are appropriate for all of us to consider, advocate for, and apply. If you’re eager for Research/Insight teams to yield more strategic influence in your organization, today’s talks are for you. Curated by Chris Geison.

Theme 2: Excellence in Our Craft

User research as a discipline is still in its infancy, with much to learn—from adjacent fields, our roots in the social sciences and HCI, and those emerging voices advocating for new practices. To defend against the swingeing contractions like those which have plagued our field in recent years, we need to ensure that the human insight we craft is undeniable in rigor and richness, and indispensable in how it tells this story. The talks on day two will challenge us to advance the methods we use and the way we communicate insights, based on non-extractive and transformative approaches. Our speakers will push you to reconsider the core foundations of our craft in order to achieve excellence in our day-to-day work, advance the ways in which we do research, and prepare ourselves for a future where, now more than ever, we must mature. Curated by Jemma Ahmed.

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