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Wednesday June 4, 9am – 4pm PT

Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture, San Francisco

With Title Sponsor

With Title Sponsor

userinterviews title sponsor

About
The Event

Back for it’s second year, this one-of-a-kind event hosted exclusively for the benefit of research directors and executives, is a space for conversation and connection that can’t happen anywhere else.

Whenever our team talks to people leading research functions, we hear the same thing: there are so many ups and downs of leading research, that there’s a deep need to connect with other folks going through those same experiences.
 
And that’s exactly what the Research Leadership Summit (RLS) is. A time for research leaders to connect on the real issues of their role, in a safe, off-the-record way.
 
All talks, panels and group discussions will be led by RLS attendees themselves. And like the rest of our Research Week events, tickets for RLS are free, but require application.
 
Sarah Sled Director of UX, Search, Trust and Generative AI at Google

Sarah Sled is a Director of UX for Search at Google, where her teams focus on key issues like search platforms, trust and generative AI. Prior to this role, Sarah was a Director of UXR at Amazon and Meta.

 

As one of the early research leaders in the field, Sarah deeply understands the difficulties that come with research leadership, and is a great fit to facilitate the conversations and connections you want to have at the Research Leadership Summit.

Curated and Hosted by Sarah Sled
Director of UX, Search at Google

All scheduled times are in PT

9:45am – 10:25am

Talks: Impact in UXR

with Judd Antin, Tejinder Judge, Emily Hittner, Prakriti Parijat
Judd Antin Independent Research Leader
google logo
Tejinder Judge Principal User Researcher at Slack
Emily Hittner, PhD VP of Research at Hinge
Prakriti Parijat Head of Research at Instacart

8:30am – 8:45am

Coffee, Snacks and Registration

8:45am – 9:00am

Welcome

9:00am – 9:40am

Around the Room Introductions

Brad Orego Head of Research

With Judd Antin, Tejinder Judge, Emily Hittner and Prakriti Parijat.

with Judd Antin, Tejinder Judge, Emily Hittner, Prakriti Parijat

9:40am – 10:25am

Talks: Research Impact

Brad Orego Head of Research

With Emily Hittner, Tejinder Judge, Prakriti Parijat and Judd Antin.

with Judd Antin, Tejinder Judge, Emily Hittner, Prakriti Parijat
10:25am – 10:40am

Coffee Break and Networking

10:40am – 11:00am

Lightning Round! Uplifting Team Activities

Abby Hoy Baylen Director, User Research

With Etienne Fang, Eileen Thornton, Crystal Morey, Reggie Murphy, Ashlee Edwards, Kat Murray, Emily Hittner and Heather Harrison.

with Crystal Morey, Eileen Thornton, Reggie Murphy, Heather Harrison, Kat Murray, Emily Hittner, Ashlee Edwards, Etienne Fang

11:00am – 12:00pm

Talks: Uses of AI in UXR

Vicky Zeamer Lead Strategic Researcher

With Zach Schendel, Apurva Luty, Jing Jing Tan and Jane Liebrock.

with Zach Schendel, Jing Jing Tan, Apurva Luty, Jane Liebrock, Jenny Oja Mailhot
12:00pm – 1:00pm

Lunch

1:00pm – 1:15pm

Lightning Round! Creative Research Deliverables

Molly Needelman Staff UX Researcher

With Bretton Fosbrook, Deinika Kilgour, Melissa Sanchez, Zach Schendel and Katja Spreckelmeyer.

with Melissa Sanchez, Zach Schendel, Bretton Fosbrook, Katja Spreckelmeyer, Deinika Kilgour
1:15pm – 2:00pm

Talks: Advocating for Research

With Jen Plebani and Celeste Riddlen.

Jen Plebani
Director, Product Research at BILL

Nicole Bacchus
Senior Director, Head of Research at Thumbtack

Celeste Ridlen Head of Research at Robinhood

2:00pm – 2:30pm

Talks: Unique Research Methods

With Brad Orego, Mani Pande and Jenny Oja Mailhot.

Mani Pande
Director, Head of Research at Cisco Meraki

2:30pm – 2:50pm

Afternoon Break and Networking

2:50pm – 3:05pm

Lightning Round! Winning Over Execs

Jennifer Maples Staff Experience Researcher

With Apurva Luty, Ashlee Edwards, Lindsey Wallace, Lucas Puente, Abby Hoy Baylen, Seran Chen and Megan Scheminsk.

with Lindsey Wallace, Lucas Puente, Megan Scheminske, Abby Hoy Baylen, Seran Chen, Apurva Luty, Ashlee Edwards
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3:05pm – 3:50pm

Talks: Leading Through Change

With Heather Breslow, Diego Castaneda and Sharon Bautista.

Heather Breslow Senior Director/Head of Research at Grammarly

Sharon Bautista
Director of Qualitative Research Code for America

Diego Castaneda
UX Research Manager at Fitbit

3:50pm – 4:00pm

Closing Thoughts

4:00pm – 7:00pm

Happy Hour

Tickets

Free
In-Person

Apply for a free in-person ticket and join us at the Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture in San Francisco.

This Event Is
Brought To You By

Title Sponsor

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Research Week Sponsors

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Qualitative research conducted and analyzed by AI

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A comprehensive technology solution for experience measurement, data analytics, and insights. Purpose built for market research teams, Research HX streamlines workflows with best in class data collection tools, sample management, advanced analytics and AI-driven insights.

Single Event Sponsors

BuildUX - Change Your UX Game Forever

A modern UX suite that turns insights into action, and keeps them accountable. Create live, collaborative Journey Maps, Personas, UI Reviews, DILO, Red Routes, and more. No more research lost in PDFs, trace every decision back to real user understanding.

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