
Aiden Hirshfield (he/they)
Aiden is a research leader and digital strategy consultant across industries, focused on helping people foster more thoughtful and critical relationships with the media and technology they use in business and in life. His work is rooted in empathy building and uses mixed-method research to elevate the stories of people with lived experiences. Aiden believes that research is a group effort, so he is passionate about enabling teams with the right tools, methods, and expertise needed to conduct continuous and fruitful research at any maturity level.
Aiden holds a Ph.D. in Media Psychology, where his research examines the impact of representation on marginalized identities, primarily the LGBTQ+ community. He also started a new podcast, Media Psyched, where he talks about our complex relationships with media and technology. Aiden loves to give back to the UXR community as a mentor, speaker, and author.
Surviving Research Island with The UXR Hierarchy of Needs on Tuesday 16th
Akinyi Odera (she)
Akinyi believes that to make a difference in the community, we cannot prescribe solutions. Instead, we must design solutions that will address the intrinsic decision-making drivers. As a leader in the Design-thinking and Behavior-change practice, Akinyi aspires to spark interest and build expertise to develop responsive and innovative solutions to local challenges.
Adapting Digital Solutions to Optimise Use in Low-resource Settings on Wednesday 17th
Ana Radonjic (she/her)
Ana caught the science bug while studying psychology at the University of Belgrade, went on to get a PhD in vision science, and worked for nearly a decade as a research scientist using experimental methods to understand how the brain interprets colour in real-world scenes.
She has subsequently brought that same passion for experimentation and research methods into the industry: She is currently a data scientist at Vanguard Group — teaching, preaching, and leading the use of the scientific method to understand problems ranging from client experience to employee satisfaction.
Research <3 Data: Building Stronger Alliances with Data Analytics on Wednesday 17th
Andrea Debije-Meessen
Andrea is a Design Researcher at the Design department of Canon Production Printing. The Design department is part of the Research & Development part of CPP. Educated at the Design Academy, she started as a Visual Designer and worked in this role within Océ and Canon. Four years ago, she made the switch to Design Research. In this role, she is responsible for gaining valuable market, customer, and user knowledge in the company to support product development. She loves to be the connection between the ‘real world’ and the creation of new, innovative products.
Prego! A Board Game for Early Product Concept Validation on Wednesday 17th
Andrej Balaz
Andrej Balaz is working as a Staff Researcher in Growth at Miro. With a multi-faceted background in service design, UX, and strategy, he helps teams at Miro to explore and test new ways of attracting customers to engage and retain them. Andrej has also consulted with various teams worldwide to help them reveal new growth opportunities. When talking to Andrej, you will hear him talk about “selling before building it”, leveraging design to “take curiosity on a walk with a clear goal, but no obvious path”, and more.
If We Build It, Will They Come? Help Teams Predict Demand for Future Product Ideas on Monday 15th
Anna Efimenko
Anna is a Principal UX researcher and UXR lead at Trainline (contractor). With a decade of experience and social science background, her goal is to help mature human-centered culture in organizations. Having worked across different environments (startups & corporate, b2c & b2b, agile), she has an extensive track record of using qualitative & quantitative data to inform strategy, design, KPIs and more.
Her focus is to elevate the research maturity with strategy, coaching, knowledge sharing and improvements to operations. Anna is excited about collaborations with other insights disciplines (e.g., data science). She loves to learn and to contribute to the research community, and is a big fan of UXinsight <3
Let’s connect!
Closing ‘Stay Curious, Be Bold’ on Wednesday 17th, Closing ‘Stay Curious, Be Bold’ on Tuesday 16th, Opening day 2 – ‘Stay Curious and Be Bold’ on Tuesday 16th
Anna Messini (she/her)
Anna is a multidisciplinary Designer focusing on Service Design. Coming from a scientific background, she followed her true calling and gained a BA (Hons) in Design. Her journey has taken her through diverse roles, spanning creative agencies and freelancing, and she has contributed her skills to prominent organisations such as TomTom and Randstad.
She combines her research skills and analytical thinking with creativity to achieve user-centric experiences. She thrives on tackling projects with potential societal impact, embracing the challenges that demand innovation and experimentation. She firmly believes in leveraging design as a powerful tool for problem-solving. She is her best self when guiding teams of experts towards fresh solutions and unexplored paths.
Using Research Skills to Take the Lead and Pitch to the CEO on Wednesday 17th
Annegret Bönemann
Annegret has a decade of design and research experience across different industries. She has supported cultural, B2C, and B2B organisations in optimising their products and services to meet customer needs better. As a Service Designer and Consultant at foryouandyourcustomers, Annegret works with organisations of varying sizes to uplevel their design and research practice.
Balancing Progress and Responsibility: AI in UX Research on Wednesday 17th
Chui Chui Tan (she/her/hers)
Chui Chui Tan is a distinguished figure in global business strategy, specialising in navigating cultural complexities for businesses seeking international growth. With a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction, Chui Chui takes a holistic approach to understanding customers/users with different cultural backgrounds, helping businesses refine their strategies across (products, marketing, design, business, new market launch) and expanding their international reach.
In her advisory role, Chui Chui collaborates with businesses, C-level executives and senior management to identify global growth opportunities through a strategic culturalisation lens – deep diving into local contexts and understanding audience dynamics to shape effective and culturally resonant strategies.
Her clients include Spotify, Netflix, Asana, Fiverr, Bumble, Babylon Health, Marriott, SEEK and startups, where she provides guidance on global strategy across more than 50 countries. Chui Chui is an accomplished author of ‘International User Research’ and is set to release a forthcoming book on ‘International Research for Global Growth’. She’s a frequent speaker on the global stage, running online/offline workshops on Culturalisation, International UX and International Market Launch and Growth Strategy.
Understanding Your International Audience for Global Growth on Tuesday 16th
Corinne Schillizzi
With a background in Psychology and Information Technology, Corinne is the Author of the Human-Machine Learning book.
She has always been drawn to the intersection between design and machine learning, collecting expertise for 7 years.
She is currently driving UX Research and Design at Amazon Web Services.
Her past experience ranges from working as a UX & Service Designer at NTTDATA to being a web designer for small agencies.
Her true love in each position has been listening to customers and diving into their needs to inform product vision, strategy, ideation and interaction iteration.
Breaking Bias in Machine Learning through UX Research on Tuesday 16th
Daniela Moya (she/her)
Daniela is currently the User Research Lead of a small team of talented researchers who, just like her, are Latin Americans living in Barcelona.
With an academic background in Communications, as well as Management of Organizations from the Cultural and Creative Industries, Daniela has taken on roles as Innovation Consultant, Brand Strategist, Social Innovation Lead and User Researcher in consultancies, ad agencies, tech companies and corporations, helping them understand the people they seek to impact with their products, services and initiatives.
Born and raised in Caracas, she spent enough time in Buenos Aires to think about medialunas regularly.
Can Researchers Have a Personal Style? on Wednesday 17th
Diana Prokusheva (she/her/hers)
Diana works as a Product Research Team Lead in Prague. She manages a distributed research team at Semrush, a global SaaS company that helps improve online visibility and discover marketing insights.
Diana is an experienced product researcher with over 8 years of experience in user experience. She was the driving force behind creating the UX research team in her company 5 years ago and continues to lead the team. With her expertise in user experience design, research, SEO, and marketing, she helps mentees from different companies to solve complex problems with innovative solutions.
The Power of Music in UX Research on Tuesday 16th
Emma Craig (she/her)
Emma leads a talented and diverse team of UX Researchers at Miro who explore the messy, beautiful world of collaboration, creativity, and cutting-edge technology. She has over a decade of experience in research, 9 years of which were spent building Shopify from a checkout that sought to democratize entrepreneurship to an e-commerce platform that has revolutionized online retail. Over the course of her career, she has let high-impact problem spaces lead her, moving across the management of researchers, designers, and content strategists, to individual contributions, to leading strategic foresight tiger teams, and around and around again.
Her research expertise has spanned platforms, marketplaces, enterprise, and B2C, but underscoring it all has been a passion for shaping organisational behaviour towards a culture of learning. She is adamant about intentionally connecting information, creating shared understanding, and fostering innovation by explicating the implicit knowledge of an organisation’s workforce. She’s passionate about developing an understanding of human behaviour within a company (as much as the behaviour of its users) in order to build knowledge-creation organisations that innovate for generations.
From Information to Innovation: How Researchers Help Build Iconic Companies on Wednesday 17th
Francisco (Paco) Giurfa (he/him)
Paco leads a Design OPaco leads a Design Operations team of experts in Interaction Design, Research, Design Thinking, and Design Systems at American Airlines. With a background in Systems Engineering, and 10+ years in the digital space, his eyes are set on one goal: placing Design at the forefront of Product delivery.
Measuring UX – How to Enhance UX Maturity and Secure its Rightful Place in the Spotlight on Monday 15th
Glenn Stevens
Glenn, a research strategist based in Belgium, helps organisations advance their research practice and de-risk their decisions through evidence-based user needs. He mixes qualitative and quantitative methods to observe what people are doing, ask them about it or measure it. Driven to enhance the effectiveness and validity of insights, he’s passionate about optimising research design and finetuning questions and tasks.
Over nearly a decade as a UX consultant, he’s partnered with clients like Ahold Delhaize, Novartis, Accountable, Belfius, Auth0 and Red Cross. Currently, he helps ING expand their research methodologies, influence and reach.
Tell Me Why? – What the Backstreet Boys Got Wrong about User Research on Tuesday 16th
Hannah Mitchell
Hannah has a real passion for numbers and has often felt comfortable when challenged with analysing large data sets. Over time, her career has evolved and naturally expanded into the UX field, working across different sectors, including retail, healthcare and now the charity sector. She enjoys the creativity of UX, bringing her learnings and research to life for the audience.
This year has been pivotal for Hannah as her career shifts into mentoring others in the UX field. She shares her knowledge over time, helping people find new ways to develop their own UX research and encouraging them to step out of their comfort zone.
The Power of Storyboarding – How to Present Research Findings and Inspire Action on Monday 15th
Jes Koepfler (she/her)
Jes Koepfler has nearly 20 years of experience conducting and directing UX Research and holds a PhD in information science. She’s passionate about human-centred design, whether for the digital experience, the service model, or the product. She is an advocate for integrating insights across learning disciplines and is always looking for ways to bring research, data & analytics, behavioural science, marketing research, and other learning disciplines closer together.
Today, she leads a team of 50 researchers and operations specialists across Vanguard’s Personal Investor division. Vanguard is a mission-driven, investor-owned asset management firm based out of Malvern, PA, USA, conducting business globally.
Research <3 Data: Building Stronger Alliances with Data Analytics on Wednesday 17th
Julie Nelson (she/her)
Julie is an accomplished UX Researcher with over 13 years of experience researching and creating digital applications for public and private organizations, including businesses in broadcasting, marketing, commerce, and government.
Transitioning from a front and back-end development background, Julie conducts both qualitative and quantitative user research studies to ensure the applications she works on are not only user-friendly but accessible and equitable for everyone who uses them.
With a passion for knowledge and adventure, Julie hopes to help others learn more about the importance of user feedback and how to reach and connect with underserved communities.
UX Research in High-Stakes Environments: Lessons from a Paramilitary Organisation on Tuesday 16th
Krutika Subramanian (she/her)
Krutika is the UX Research Lead at Uber Carshare, Australia. She previously worked as a researcher in the field of mental health, starting with researching why the General practitioners in Sweden are burnt out. Later, she led the design research at Neurotech Labs – a startup that builds smart brainwave mapping earphones.
Outside of work, Krutika loves to garden, read, play with her bunny and work with polymer clay.
Applying UX Research Principles to Enhance Confidence for Personal Growth on Wednesday 17th
Laura Pledger (she/her)
Laura currently leads complex research and designing new systems to support the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s (RNLI) extraordinary staff and volunteers.
With a fine art and marketing background, Laura has always been interested in visual storytelling. Before moving into UX, Laura worked as a Project Manager. As a result, she is passionate about exploring new ways to amplify the voices of often underrepresented users in projects, ensuring their experiences help shape organisational priorities and decisions.
Laura has presented at several conferences and has found enjoyment in sharing her knowledge and coaching others. She is also enthusiastic about mentoring those just starting out in their careers, giving them the confidence to try new things without the fear of failure.
The Power of Storyboarding – How to Present Research Findings and Inspire Action on Monday 15th
Luca Gaverina (he/him)
After graduating from Politecnico di Milano in Product Service System Design, Luca has followed a non-linear career path, but one that has given him a wealth of experience that has shaped the person he is today.
Starting with a design thinking project at Barilla that led him to 3D print pasta between Parma (Italy) and New York, he joined ActionAid Italia, an international NGO working to secure human rights worldwide.
He moved into design consultancy in Milan, first at the Swiss studio Sketchin, then at Maize, where he currently works.
As Senior Service Designer, he is responsible for the strategic project approach and the practical delivery of the various phases associated with the discipline, from research, facilitation and insight extraction to idea definition and prototyping. During his 10-year career, he worked on projects in a wide range of industries, from energy/utilities to insurance, finance, charity, pharmaceuticals, fashion and technology.
Exploring AI’s Role in Qualitative Research Processes on Tuesday 16th
Lucas Lemasters (he/him)
With 10+ years in the industry, Lucas specializes in constructing robust UX infrastructure and fostering organizational growth to empower product and development teams. His career started with a degree in Psychology, which served as a stepping stone toward earning a Master’s in Human Factors and Industrial-Organizational Psychology. This fusion of psychological expertise, organizational insight, and technology became the driving force behind his passion for crafting exceptional UX solutions.
Lucas started his career in the aviation industry with the US Air Force, designing UAV interfaces, and later extended to the commercial airline sector, where he contributes to revenue generation by enhancing customer experiences. He currently works as the UX Research Principal at American Airlines where he inspires teams to conduct high-fidelity qualitative and quantitative research and collaborates with business and development to design travel experiences that customers find empowering, delightful, and accessible.
LinkedIn | Instagram | Website
Measuring UX – How to Enhance UX Maturity and Secure its Rightful Place in the Spotlight on Monday 15th
Maaike Mintjes
Maaike is a Design Researcher and Facilitator, hosting the UXinsight Festival for the second time. As an independent consultant she helps teams tackle complex challenges through research and co-creation. She also provides training and coaching in UX research, Design Thinking and Facilitation.
Maaike started in UX in 2007 and has worked in the field of human-centred design ever since, both in Australia and The Netherlands. She loves building bridges between research insights and design outcomes.
Closing ‘Stay Curious, Be Bold’ on Wednesday 17th, Opening day 3 – ‘Stay Curious, Be Bold’ on Wednesday 17th, Closing ‘Stay Curious, Be Bold’ on Tuesday 16th, Opening day 2 – ‘Stay Curious and Be Bold’ on Tuesday 16th
Marie de Vos (she/her)
Marie is a UX Research Lead in IKEA’s global digital team.
She’s been in the field of design and UX research for the past 13 years, starting on the agency side and later leading in-house research teams (first at TomTom and since 2022 at IKEA).
At IKEA, her focus lies in growing and maturing the field of design research in a way that fits and maximises the impact on the organisation. Simultaneously, she also tries to keep a foot in actual research work as she very much enjoys learning from diverse people and contributes to IKEA’s vision to ‘create a better everyday life for the many people’.
Outside of work, Marie enjoys DIY projects, doing home renovations and cooking, especially baking bread. However, don’t ever ask her to bake a good Focaccia, as that is the thing that, despite many attempts, keeps failing.
Navigating the Horizon: IKEA’s Research Blueprint on Wednesday 17th
Maureen Ariza Paredes
Maureen is the Director of Experience Research at Xello, an ed-tech company dedicated to helping kids build their successful future. Leading a small but mighty team of distributed researchers, Maureen brings a wealth of research experience spanning the ed-tech, automotive, and service design sectors. While strong research foundations are essential to a UX researcher’s toolkit, Maureen believes relationship-building and storytelling are fundamental drivers of research impact and value.
Her current interests lie in exploring new ways of working and engaging distributed research teams for business impact. When not immersed in research, you’ll find Maureen exploring new foods and drinks through travel!
Dispersed, not Disjointed: Sparking and Guiding the Growth of a Remote UX Research Team on Tuesday 16th
Natalja Laurey
Natalja Laurey is Research Lead Platforms at Adyen. She is passionate about doing strategic research from an anthropological perspective and translating insights into actionable outcomes for business.
She has a strong academic background, and before her shift into FinTech, she worked as an Assistant Professor at the TU Delft School of Industrial Design Engineering. She won various awards and published work on the strategic value of design in business. Her past experience in leading research spans from the creative industry, financial services, and health to other industries.
Natalja sees herself as a creative broker. She enjoys building bridges between academia and practice, creativity and business, research and impact. Also, she has a passion for understanding and connecting people. She reflects on this and a variety of topics in her blog and creative outlet Anthropologue.
Parallel Paths: UX Research and Strategic Design in Emerging Professional Fields on Tuesday 16th
Nidhi Jalwal (she/her)
Nidhi is a Senior UX Researcher with 8+ years of diverse research and strategy experience in different industries such as healthcare, e-commerce, logistics, financial services, etc. She has studied and worked in different countries and loves learning about different cultures through her work.
In her current role as a Senior UX Researcher at IKEA, she is helping create a better financial every day for the modern lives of many people. Outside of her everyday work, she helps build the research practice at IKEA and creates ways to make research more inclusive.
Nidhi values diversity, authenticity, and kindness. When she is not working, she can be found planning elaborate hiking trips or preparing for them.
Closing ‘Stay Curious, Be Bold’ on Wednesday 17th, Navigating the Horizon: IKEA’s Research Blueprint on Wednesday 17th, Opening day 3 – ‘Stay Curious, Be Bold’ on Wednesday 17th, Closing ‘Stay Curious, Be Bold’ on Tuesday 16th, Opening day 2 – ‘Stay Curious and Be Bold’ on Tuesday 16th
René Bastijans
As a growth-focused Researcher, Rene’s expertise lies in helping businesses, regardless of size, excel in building, marketing, and selling products that generate value and excitement for customers while driving business growth. He specializes in leveraging Jobs to be Done theory, conducting buyer’s journey analysis, and performing comprehensive market research. By understanding customer needs and preferences, he assists companies in creating compelling offerings that deliver exceptional customer experiences and drive sustainable growth.
If We Build It, Will They Come? Help Teams Predict Demand for Future Product Ideas on Monday 15th
Soma Ray
After over a decade of experiencing life in UX and product for organisations like Nvidia, IBM, and Booking, Soma established Manthan UX – an independent UX consultation and coaching practice. She wants to use her skills and experience to professionalise UX research practices at scale in organisations and coach and guide women of colour and diverse cultures in tech and UX.
Her unique sauce is the cross-cultural immersions she’s been lucky to have experienced. Growing up in the immense diversity that is India, and then having lived in the US and now in the Netherlands, she took a lot of those life lessons to ‘make technology accessible for all’ through a human-centred design lens. Her superpower is to ‘Read the entire room and then read further between the lines’- the ability to make sense of the subtle nuances and insights that go beyond the surface.
She wants to use her expertise in a manner that isn’t confined to a single product, team, or company. Instead, working with a diverse range of people through training, coaching, and leading user research endeavours for social impact projects will enable Soma to make meaningful contributions at scale.
Decoding your Organizational Culture to Help your Research Strategy Succeed on Monday 15th
Youp van Veen
Youp is driven by his view that the bar always can – and needs to – be raised. He keeps his eyes focused on the outcome and mixes research and design with other disciplines to get there. Most recently, he added business design to this mix. Other mixes he likes are spicy margaritas, mezcal palomas, and skinos sours.
Currently, he works at the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Services (IND), and he has experience in HR/recruitment and education.
Using Research Skills to Take the Lead and Pitch to the CEO on Wednesday 17th

Aiden Hirshfield (he/they)
Lead UX Researcher at Sorenson Communications
Akinyi Odera (she)
Project Director, Data Use Partnership For Ethiopia - ThinkPlace
Ana Radonjic (she/her)
Data Scientist at Vanguard
Andrea Debije-Meessen
Design Researcher at Canon Production Printing
Andrej Balaz
Staff UX Researcher at Miro
Anna Efimenko
Principal UX researcher & UXR lead
Anna Messini (she/her)
Senior Service Designer at Randstad
Annegret Bönemann
Service Design Lead at foryouandyourcustomers
Chui Chui Tan (she/her/hers)
Global Customer Experience and Growth Strategist
Corinne Schillizzi
Driving UX Research & Design at Amazon AWS
Daniela Moya (she/her)
User Research Lead at Nacar Studio
Diana Prokusheva (she/her/hers)
Product Research Team Lead at Semrush
Emma Craig (she/her)
Head of UX Research at Miro
Francisco (Paco) Giurfa (he/him)
DesignOps Manager at American Airlines
Glenn Stevens
Research Strategist
Hannah Mitchell
UX Research Specialist at the Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Jes Koepfler (she/her)
Head of Client Experience & Digital Research, Personal Investor, Vanguard
Julie Nelson (she/her)
UX Researcher and Designer at the Toronto Police Service
Krutika Subramanian (she/her)
UX Research Lead at Uber Carshare
Laura Pledger (she/her)
UX Specialist at the Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Luca Gaverina (he/him)
Senior Service Designer at Maize
Lucas Lemasters (he/him)
UX Research Principal at American Airlines
Maaike Mintjes
Design Researcher and Facilitator
Marie de Vos (she/her)
UX Research Lead at IKEA
Maureen Ariza Paredes
Director of Experience Research at Xello
Natalja Laurey
Research Lead Platforms at Adyen
Nidhi Jalwal (she/her)
Senior UX Researcher at IKEA
René Bastijans
Senior Growth Researcher at Candis
Soma Ray
UX leader and Coach
Youp van Veen
Strategic Designer at the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation ServicesTickets
Tickets are no longer available for Festival 2024.