Research in the AI Era: Experiments, Lessons & What’s Next
AI is changing how we conduct research, what we research, and the role researchers play in shaping products and experiences.
But beyond the hype, what’s actually happening in practice?
Join The Research Thing for an evening of honest stories, practical experiments and lessons from researchers navigating AI in their work.
Expect three talks, fresh perspectives and plenty of opportunities to connect with fellow researchers.
Whether you’re experimenting with AI yourself, questioning its impact on our craft, or figuring out where to start, come along and join the conversation!
Speakers and talks
Maerii Yung-Challis - Staff UXR Lead, Google Health
I Let an AI Interview My Users: Wins, Pitfalls, and Reality Checks
What actually happens when you let an AI interview your users? Cutting through the hype, this talk shares the real-world wins, awkward pitfalls, and hard-won lessons of using AI moderators. You’ll learn exactly when to deploy AI, when to skip it, and how to intentionally design your studies—because even automated research requires a heavy human hand to guide it.
Maerii has over 20 years of experience solving ambiguous problems at scale. She currently guides research for growth, monetisation and mental well-being experiences, focusing on building empowering GenAI health products. Maerii is also passionate about evolving the UXR discipline, successfully experimenting with AI to drive faster, deeper, and safer human insights.
Sophie Aldebert - UX Researcher, Citi
What if We’re Looking for the Wrong Thing: Rethinking UX Research in the Age of AI
When scientists search for life beyond Earth, they look for what they already know. But what if life exists in a form they can’t yet recognise? As AI reshapes the products we design, UX Researchers face a similar challenge: our established methods and frameworks may no longer be enough. This talk explores how AI challenges our assumptions about users, where our methods fall short, and how we can learn to recognise the unexpected.
Sophie is a UX Researcher at Citi with a background in Chemical Engineering. She has built and scaled research practices across start-ups and global organisations, spanning energy, insurance and financial services. A regular speaker and mentor, she champions inclusive innovation and supports the next generation of talent in tech.
Tanya Adlam - Director of UX Research, monday.com
Scaling AI in Research Without Losing the Craft
AI creates a false sense that research can simply be automated. This talk shares how monday.com’s UX Research team worked with specialists in each domain to build a democratized, AI-supported research process across multiple systems. Attendees will learn how we connected tools through MCPs, embedded guardrails, flagging mechanisms, and safety metrics, and introduced deliberate friction to prevent research craft and judgment from being compromised as more people gained the tools to run research at scale.
Tanya is Director of UX Research at monday.com, where she leads the global research function for a fast-moving AI product. She has built a team that works where rigorous research craft meets emerging AI tooling, with a focus on putting research directly into the hands of product teams.
Before monday.com, Tanya was Snr UXR Manager for Reality Labs at Meta and for Global Originations at HSBC. Before that she was VP of Research, Insights and Innovation for CEEMEA at Discovery Communications, where she led research across 112 countries and sat on the regional senior management team. Her career has taught her to ask better questions, and AI is now changing who gets to ask them.
Event details
Schedule
18:30 — Doors open, arrivals and refreshments
19:00 — Talks begin
20:30 — Networking
21:00 — Event closes
Tickets: Free, with limited capacity. Registration required.
With thanks to our supporters
A huge thank you to Google for hosting us and providing the space, and Zebra People for generously sponsoring the nibbles and refreshments that help bring our research community together.
About The Research Thing
The Research Thing is a community for researchers and research-curious people to connect, share experiences and learn from one another. Our events bring together honest stories, fresh perspectives and practical conversations about the craft of research.
We look forward to seeing you at the event!