Kate Towsey
Author of Research That Scales
Kate Towsey is an independent strategist, coach, and advisor. For more than a decade, she has been at the forefront of ResearchOps. The inventor of the widely used acronym PWDR (pau·duh) for “people who do research,” Kate also wrote some of the earliest blog posts about setting up research operations, founded the ResearchOps Community, and launched the #WhatisResearchOps movement, putting ResearchOps on the map.
In 2019, she stepped back from the ResearchOps Community and started the Cha Cha Club, a members’ club for full-time ResearchOps professionals, which she runs to this day. Over twenty years, Kate has delivered operations in ecommerce, education, government, retail, and tech. She built and managed the Atlassian ResearchOps team, widely recognized as the benchmark for scaling research services and systems to hundreds of people. Learn more at katetowsey.com, or find her on LinkedIn, Medium, or Substack
Rosenverse talks by Kate:
" Synthetic users might be okay for finding average behaviors, but they won’t replace unique insights from real users. "
Participant Recruitment and Management Tools
March 12, 2026
" Researchers are shy about sharing work because they worry about being judged — peer and management support help. "
ResearchOps AMA with Kate Towsey & Jake Burghardt
October 16, 2025
" Be a magnet for skills around you; build partnerships with legal, procurement, HR to share the load. "
Ask Me Anything (AMA) with Kate Towsey
April 2, 2025
" Embracing the beginner’s mind means everything is up for play and creativity, leading to more fun and innovation. "
Theme Panel
March 11, 2025
" Research ops is heavily reliant on clear and consistent research leadership to define strategy and priorities. "
The State of ResearchOps: More Than Just Theory
June 20, 2019
