S4-E1: From Anthropology to UX Research. A Conversation with Mujtaba Hameed

Send us a text🎙️ Podcast Guest: Mujtaba HameedIn Today's episode, I am delighted to have a conversation with Mujtaba, an anthropologist and innovation consultant with over 10 years of experience working across culture, technology, and strategy. He is a Project Director at Stripe Partners, where he has led strategic research for companies including Apple, Meta, Google, and Spotify.A strong advocate for ethnography, Mujtaba has conducted in-person fieldwork worldwide, from Tokyo to Los Angeles. He is particularly interested in using AI to deepen human insight, rather than simply speeding up research.🧠 Topics discussedThe value of in-person research and field work Using AI in research without the hypeThe changing culture of tech and its impact on UX researchersThe future of research in an AI era 🔗 LinksMujtaba’s newsletterFrames — Stripe Partners’ newsletterAdvancing Research conferenceEPIC — the global ethnography community👉 Register here: UX360 Virtual 4th-5th February 2026 15% discount code: UXRC15📖 The UX Research Powerhouse, Vol. 1 — The Foundation of UX Research Strategic Leadership Launching in November 2025, A playbook and manifesto for research leaders, with a 365-day leadership roadmap, tools to measure impact, and a bonus chapter on AI. 📘 Get the book on Amazon: here Emmanuelle's LinkedIn If you want to support the UX Research club, you can write a review, share it with your network, give some stars or buy me a coffee Thank you for listening and supporting the UX Research Club

Send us a textIn this episode of the UX Research Club, Dr Emmanuelle Savarit introduces her new book, The UX Research Powerhouse: The Foundation of Strategic Leadership. She shares why she wrote this book, who it is designed to support, and how years of experience, patterns, and leadership lessons shaped the tools and frameworks inside it.Emmanuelle reads a selected excerpt from the author's notes, offering listeners a first look into the themes of strategic influence, business alignment, and the evolution of UX Research beyond usability testing. She also reflects on the shift from practitioner to leader and on how researchers can strengthen their impact across organisations as they navigate digital and AI transformation.If you’re a researcher, manager, or product leader seeking to elevate the role of UX Research in your organisation, this episode is a perfect starting point.👉 Register here: UX360 Virtual 4th-5th February 2026 15% discount code: UXRC15📖 The UX Research Powerhouse, Vol. 1 — The Foundation of UX Research Strategic Leadership Launching in November 2025, A playbook and manifesto for research leaders, with a 365-day leadership roadmap, tools to measure impact, and a bonus chapter on AI. 📘 Get the book on Amazon: here Emmanuelle's LinkedIn If you want to support the UX Research club, you can write a review, share it with your network, give some stars or buy me a coffee Thank you for listening and supporting the UX Research Club

Send us a textIn Today's episode, I am delighted to have a conversation with Linh Nguyen Slater.Linh is a seasoned research leader with over 15 years of experience designing and testing cutting-edge products across industries, including financial services, healthcare, automotive, and consumer technology.She’s passionate about leveraging customer insights to create meaningful, human-centred innovations and helping organisations design products that truly resonate with people.Currently, Linh is the Head of Research at NatWest, where she leads the research division to enhance the digital experiences of Retail Banking customers.Before that, she established the AI Research division at Jaguar Land Rover and led the Consumer Science team within Dyson’s Health and Beauty Innovation Labs.Linh is widely recognised as a thought leader in human-centred design, and today she’s here to share insights from her journey as a UXR leader.Linh LinkedIn 👉 Register here: UX360 Virtual 4th-5th February 2026 15% discount code: UXRC15📖 The UX Research Powerhouse, Vol. 1 — The Foundation of UX Research Strategic Leadership Launching in November 2025, A playbook and manifesto for research leaders, with a 365-day leadership roadmap, tools to measure impact, and a bonus chapter on AI. 📘 Get the book on Amazon: here Emmanuelle's LinkedIn If you want to support the UX Research club, you can write a review, share it with your network, give some stars or buy me a coffee Thank you for listening and supporting the UX Research Club

Send us a textIn this episode, Emmanuelle explores the shift from doing research to leading it,  what leadership in UXR really means (influence, vision, impact), how to move from reactive delivery to shaping strategy, and reflection questions to grow your influence.👉 Register here: UX360 Virtual 4th-5th February 2026 15% discount code: UXRC15📖 The UX Research Powerhouse, Vol. 1 — The Foundation of UX Research Strategic Leadership Launching in November 2025, A playbook and manifesto for research leaders, with a 365-day leadership roadmap, tools to measure impact, and a bonus chapter on AI. 📘 Get the book on Amazon: here Emmanuelle's LinkedIn If you want to support the UX Research club, you can write a review, share it with your network, give some stars or buy me a coffee Thank you for listening and supporting the UX Research Club

Send us a textIn Today's episode, I am delighted to have a conversation with Natasha den Dekker. Natasha is a Lead User Researcher working in the financial services industry, and today, we will be discussing data protection in user research. With extensive experience spanning the legal, healthcare, and public sectors, Natasha brings a rigorous and methodical approach to safeguarding customer data while driving meaningful insights. She also supports research democratization efforts, helping teams scale research responsibly and effectively.This is a conversation with someone who truly knows how to embed data protection into research at scale. Natasha LinkedIn👉 Register here: UX360 Virtual 4th-5th February 2026 15% discount code: UXRC15📖 The UX Research Powerhouse, Vol. 1 — The Foundation of UX Research Strategic Leadership Launching in November 2025, A playbook and manifesto for research leaders, with a 365-day leadership roadmap, tools to measure impact, and a bonus chapter on AI. 📘 Get the book on Amazon: here Emmanuelle's LinkedIn If you want to support the UX Research club, you can write a review, share it with your network, give some stars or buy me a coffee Thank you for listening and supporting the UX Research Club

Send us a textIn today's episode, I am delighted to have a conversation with Dr Javier Bargas-Avila.Dr. Javier Bargas-Avila is a UX Research Director with 20+ years of experience, passionate about building exceptional products and high-performing teams. He spent 14 years at Google leading UX research across Cloud, Ads, YouTube, and Play, after founding the HCI lab at the University of Basel.In 2025, he co-founded Astrolabium with Nina Weber, also a former Googler, focusing on coaching and mentoring for UX professionals. They support clients through career transitions, leadership growth, and job search coaching, working with individuals from junior to VP level.Javier is a very active member of the UX community, sharing valuable insights and his experience.Javier is a dedicated mentor, published author (30+ articles), and international speaker (150+ talks). He teaches at the University of Basel and the University of Applied Sciences.Javier's LinkedIn 👉 Register here: UX360 Virtual 4th-5th February 2026 15% discount code: UXRC15📖 The UX Research Powerhouse, Vol. 1 — The Foundation of UX Research Strategic Leadership Launching in November 2025, A playbook and manifesto for research leaders, with a 365-day leadership roadmap, tools to measure impact, and a bonus chapter on AI. 📘 Get the book on Amazon: here Emmanuelle's LinkedIn If you want to support the UX Research club, you can write a review, share it with your network, give some stars or buy me a coffee Thank you for listening and supporting the UX Research Club

Send us a textIn today's episode, I am delighted to have a conversation with TowseyKate Towsey is an independent strategic advisor, ResearchOps guru, and founder of the Cha Cha Club  a members' club for ResearchOps professionals. Kate has been at the forefront of ResearchOps for over a decade. 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.Kate has delivered e-commerce, education, government, retail, and tech operations. She built and managed the Atlassian ResearchOps team, which is widely recognised as the benchmark for scaling research services and systems to hundreds of people and is the exemplar in the industry. She recently released her first book, Research That Scales: The Research Operations Handbook.Kate's website Kate's LinkedIn Substack 👉 Register here: UX360 Virtual 4th-5th February 2026 15% discount code: UXRC15📖 The UX Research Powerhouse, Vol. 1 — The Foundation of UX Research Strategic Leadership Launching in November 2025, A playbook and manifesto for research leaders, with a 365-day leadership roadmap, tools to measure impact, and a bonus chapter on AI. 📘 Get the book on Amazon: here Emmanuelle's LinkedIn If you want to support the UX Research club, you can write a review, share it with your network, give some stars or buy me a coffee Thank you for listening and supporting the UX Research Club

Send us a textIn this episode of The UX Research Club, I’m joined by Julia Gurney, Senior UX Researcher and Accessibility Lead at Eye Square in Berlin. We discuss why accessibility must be embedded into UX research from the start — not treated as a final step. Julia shares her journey, practical tips for inclusive research, and why accessible design benefits all users, not just those with disabilities.Please find the references mentioned during the episode:Persona Spectrum: This is a more design-focused resource, but it includes Microsoft’s persona spectrum we talked about: Podcasts: A few accessibility podcasts (one I mentioned, other I didn’t, but it has some great content)Beyond Barriers podcast— Hector Minto, Microsoft accessibility specialistThe Digital Accessibility Podcast— not mentioned, but a good resourceDeque Systems: a digital accessibility testing tool.This can be a significant first step in the two-step methodology approach.They also have some information on how to get started with the EAA; you can sign up for the guide here:https://www.deque.com/european-accessibility-act-eaa-compliance/AI webinar: AI and Accessibility The Good, the Bad and the Solutions YouTube channel.GOV.UK Accessibility and assisted digitalGAAD: Global Accessibility Awareness Day WCAG: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 👉 Register here: UX360 Virtual 4th-5th February 2026 15% discount code: UXRC15📖 The UX Research Powerhouse, Vol. 1 — The Foundation of UX Research Strategic Leadership Launching in November 2025, A playbook and manifesto for research leaders, with a 365-day leadership roadmap, tools to measure impact, and a bonus chapter on AI. 📘 Get the book on Amazon: here Emmanuelle's LinkedIn If you want to support the UX Research club, you can write a review, share it with your network, give some stars or buy me a coffee Thank you for listening and supporting the UX Research Club

Send us a textThis Episode is about the role of the UX Research Manager it will cover the following topics: Why Do We Need UX Research Managers?Some Historical Evolution of UX Research in Organisation Who has managed researchers over the years? The need for UX research managers The Key Difference: IC Researcher vs. UX Research ManagerWhat Does a UX Research Manager Actually Do?How to Transition from UX Researcher to ManagerUXThank you for listening  🙏UX360 Research Summit is happening again in person this 14-15 May 2025 in BerlinAs a listener of the UX Research Club, you get an exclusive 10% discount on your registration! Simply use the code UXRC10eu.ux360summit.com👉 Register here: UX360 Virtual 4th-5th February 2026 15% discount code: UXRC15📖 The UX Research Powerhouse, Vol. 1 — The Foundation of UX Research Strategic Leadership Launching in November 2025, A playbook and manifesto for research leaders, with a 365-day leadership roadmap, tools to measure impact, and a bonus chapter on AI. 📘 Get the book on Amazon: here Emmanuelle's LinkedIn If you want to support the UX Research club, you can write a review, share it with your network, give some stars or buy me a coffee Thank you for listening and supporting the UX Research Club

Send us a textThis Episode is about applying for a UXR role and it will cover the following topics: The importance of understanding the reason why you are applying for a new roleWhat is the current market situationDisappointment is also part of the processThe importance of asking yourself the right questionsWhere are you in your career,Having a plan is essentialThe general process of applying for a UXR role, as well as sharing some advice from my journey along the wayThank you for listening  🙏👉 Register here: UX360 Virtual 4th-5th February 2026 15% discount code: UXRC15📖 The UX Research Powerhouse, Vol. 1 — The Foundation of UX Research Strategic Leadership Launching in November 2025, A playbook and manifesto for research leaders, with a 365-day leadership roadmap, tools to measure impact, and a bonus chapter on AI. 📘 Get the book on Amazon: here Emmanuelle's LinkedIn If you want to support the UX Research club, you can write a review, share it with your network, give some stars or buy me a coffee Thank you for listening and supporting the UX Research Club