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Tiny team, moonshot impact: Democratizing research across continents
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Tuesday, March 10, 2026 • Advancing Research 2026
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Tiny team, moonshot impact: Democratizing research across continents
Speakers: Dagmara Kukawka
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Summary

How does a team of 2.5 researchers support an organisation of 500-1,000 people? And what happens if we give away the last bits of power we have by exposing our craft? Welcome to ResearchOps 2.0. We’ve stopped debating democratisation (that’s so 2022) and started enabling it: tooling, coaching, and confidence at scale. We moved democratisation from theory to practice and extended our reach. Continuous enablement for teams close to us, plus Innovation Hubs twice-a-year events where teams from across disciplines and continents run their first real studies. These hubs connect us with people we’d never normally meet and unlock research at a scale that once felt impossible. With support from our Digital Experience team and VP, we equipped colleagues from ~10 diverse teams to do research—ethically and effectively. The outcome? In one quarter: - 500 interviews - 250 unmoderated tests - 1,700 survey responses Many led by first-time moderators from product, design, and business. This isn’t about replacing researchers. It’s about building a research culture so strong that everyone wants in and says, “Research is cool.”

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