Conference Agenda

• Expanding UX research frontiers beyond screen-based interfaces to measure spatial computing, ambient intelligence, and physical-digital hybrid experiences
• Understanding UX's critical responsibility in shaping ethical and meaningful human-machine relationships in the physical space
• Reimagining UX research methodologies—new approaches, tools, and frameworks needed to understand and validate invisible interactions

• Risk in Design: Using UX research as an early risk radar. Articulating target design objectives, differentiating risk types, and informing UX and non-UX actions across iterative validation
• Strategic Influence: Elevating qualitative insight into decision-grade evidence. Using standardised methods, cumulative studies, and benchmarking to guide leadership thought processes
• The Will To Change: Build confidence through clarity and candour. Translating insights simply, reinforcing them consistently, and influencing change through evidence, empathy, and long-term trust

• Positioning agents as operational partners that help teams find, reuse, and apply research insights faster
• Deploying a “librarian” agent (Khloe) to surface prior studies, evidence, and decisions, reducing duplicate work
• Using a question-reframing agent (Janneth) to translate ambiguous stakeholder requests into clear, researchable questions during intake, enabling citizen researchers to conduct high-quality research
• Tracking impact through operational outcomes, including shorter cycle times, stronger decision quality, and improved cross-functional alignment

• Evolving UXR from designing screens to designing systems of intent, evidence, and accountability
• Identifying the new UXR questions all researchers should be asking
• Building the skills and qualities UXRers need to succeed

• Defining qualitative research’s evolving strategic mandate as a company intelligence think tank in turbulent conditions
• Engaging stakeholders and connecting functions through a cross-functional insight supply chain
• Turning weak signals into timely strategic bets and making insights auditable, traceable, and board-ready

• What proper use looks like, ensuring that synthetic tools enhance—rather than undermine—the trustworthiness of qualitative insights
• Identifying high-value applications for synthetic users while establishing firm boundaries against their use for high-stakes decisions
• Validating synthetic outputs to ensure the final results meet a good standard of quality and accountability

• Moving beyond profit and efficiency, a closer look into the rise of inclusive design research in Asia
• Broadening the value lens of qualitative research to include "planet" and "prosperity" considerations
• Addressing the lack of regional representation in global data models and how to find more relevant insights for the Asia region

• Detecting weak signals through qual sensing for continuous discovery, and rapid ethnographic observation to surface unmet needs early
• Synthesizing patterns into insights through affinity mapping and thematic analysis, separating noise from signal, and defining the shift
• Translating evidence into action to make CX bets defensible

• Aligning stakeholders on decision questions, roles, and handoffs across functions
• Standardizing qual workflows from intake to action and defining service levels
• Embedding research into CI/OE routines to run a closed loop from fixing, preventing to training

• Resetting the research portfolio as priorities and budgets shift: what to pause, what to protect, what to accelerate
• Redesigning the qual process for speed and rigor: lighter-weight stages, decision-ready deliverables, and clear quality bars
• Proving and protecting impact under constraints: outcome metrics, decision traceability, and where to automate vs. stay human
• Practical playbook share-out: organizational models, role changes, and change-management lessons

Go in-depth with your peers in our open roundtable sessions. Pick one of the below topics to openly discuss the topic of your choice in small, intimate groups.

Go in-depth with your peers in our open roundtable sessions. Pick one of the below topics to openly discuss the topic of your choice in small, intimate groups.

Go in-depth with your peers in our open roundtable sessions. Pick one of the below topics to openly discuss the topic of your choice in small, intimate groups.

Go in-depth with your peers in our open roundtable sessions. Pick one of the below topics to openly discuss the topic of your choice in small, intimate groups.

• Understanding how AI is reshaping qualitative research workflows, expectations, and standards of craft
• Applying a decision-led approach to framing better research questions, selecting methods, and prioritizing what matter.
• Using practical guardrails to move faster without compromising rigor, ethics, or stakeholder relevance
• Adopting repeatable habits, prompts, and team routines that shift time from coordination to synthesis and judgment

• Designing the intelligence framework like defining decision moments, priority questions, and an insight taxonomy that stays stable as markets shift
• Clarifying where agents help (signal detection, clustering, draft synthesis, retrieval of prior evidence) and where humans must lead (interpretation, cultural nuance, risk calls)
• Adoption and governance to effectively land insights in planning, pricing, and product roadmaps

• Contextualizing research methodologies to authentically capture lived experiences of low-income communities in their natural environments
• Unlocking transformative potential through digital financial inclusion strategies tailored for underserved populations
• Building indigenous digital narratives that reflect billion-user realities rather than imposing external frameworks on Global South communities

• Translate executive ambiguity into decision questions, evidence standards, and a rapid qual plan.
• Reducing bureaucracy and removing organizational barriers to accelerate innovation without sacrificing research rigor
• Fostering the behavior and mindset shifts needed to sustain progress and mature leadership skills at all levels of the research organisation

THE RESEARCH HOT SEAT: ASK ME ANYTHING

Industry leaders sit at themed tables where attendees can ask them the questions they're actually thinking within the theme —unfiltered, unscripted, and zero marketing fluff.

THE RESEARCH HOT SEAT: ASK ME ANYTHING

Industry leaders sit at themed tables where attendees can ask them the questions they're actually thinking within the theme —unfiltered, unscripted, and zero marketing fluff.

THE RESEARCH HOT SEAT: ASK ME ANYTHING

Industry leaders sit at themed tables where attendees can ask them the questions they're actually thinking within the theme —unfiltered, unscripted, and zero marketing fluff.

THE RESEARCH HOT SEAT: ASK ME ANYTHING

Industry leaders sit at themed tables where attendees can ask them the questions they're actually thinking within the theme —unfiltered, unscripted, and zero marketing fluff.

• Optimize research costs by using machine learning to analyze neurosensory data, connecting reception patterns with consumer reactions
• Enhance sampling efficiency by mapping neurological responses before conducting traditional research, making the process more conclusive and targeted
• Reduce research expenditure by tailoring variables and narrowing sample sizes while maintaining research validity

• Interpreting beyond self-report by triangulating what people say with what they do and feel
• Combining neurosensory signals with qualitative context to uncover unmet needs and sharper opportunity areas
• Translating implicit experience patterns into clear discovery process, experiments, and product decisions

• Building empathy as a system and creating repeatable practices that protect human nuance while teams move fast
• Adding guardrails for speed so agility does not dilute depth or rigor
• Making insights travel to equip cross-functional partners to apply qualitative learning, not just read it
• Evolving the researcher skill set for AI-enabled work, including sensemaking, decision facilitation, and model oversight.