Human Insights Conference 2024: An Insightful and Inspiring Future

The Research Society’s 2024 Human Insights Conference, held in Sydney, brought together the industry for two days of insight sharing and future gazing on the rapidly evolving market research industry. Members of the Fifth Quadrant team had the opportunity to attend a range of keynotes, breakout sessions and panels, as well as network with our industry peers. Throughout the conference, we were exposed to new ideas, approaches, and platforms, which was an insightful and inspiring experience, with several notable themes and best practices emerging as shaping the future of research.  

Unsurprisingly, AI was a key theme, and a keynote titled “Enabling Tomorrow’s Researcher with AI” kicked off the conference. Delivered by Barry Jennings, Director, Commercial Cloud and Business Planning Research from Microsoft Research + Insights Group, he explored applications of how AI could be used to enhance research, from streamlining tasks, summarising data so researchers can focus on generating insights, to creating synthetic audiences – which are still in their test and learn phase where their potential and limitations are still being understood. 

Australian Futurist Steve Sammartino’s keynote spoke to a range of AI tools, discussing advanced AI agents such as AgentGPT, which allows for personalised AI, and Hey Gen, a tool for designing realistic-looking videos using AI. Synthetic data, which is artificially generated data, was presented as a utility for training AI models and conducting research. However, it was noted by Sammartino that while valuable in the short term, synthetic data’s quality may degrade over time, leading to diminishing returns and necessitating careful management of its use. 

Moving away from technology and focusing on supporting people in the industry, a panel sought to answer the question “How can we support Young Researchers today to be our industry’s leaders tomorrow?”. Fifth Quadrant’s own Account Director, Amelia McVeigh, offered her advice to young researchers, along with other leaders, speaking to the importance of key skills like managing up, attention to detail and taking ownership of one’s development. The necessity of support networks was highlighted for providing mentorship and opportunities to share ideas, as well as not underestimating industry perception. You can read more of McVeigh’s advice to young researchers and her reflections on the panel here.  

The breakout sessions showcased a masterclass in best practice and demonstrated the enduring human element to research. In the “Unlocking Difficult Discussions” session, a case study on creating safe spaces which ensure the physical, cultural, and psychological safety of researchers and victim-survivors when conducting interviews about domestic and family violence was presented. While “Encouraging Conversations” saw researchers present how they explored what it means to be a young Australian man. Taking on a mixed methodology approach to create “The Man Box”, which is a set of beliefs within society that place pressure on men, the study revealed that 4 in 10 young Australian men felt pressure to conform to these rules. 

Overall, the conference was a well-rounded and insightful look at what and who is shaping the future of our industry. From looking at how new AI tools could assist researchers and enhance research, to discussing how to encourage the next generation of researchers, to the importance of the human element of research; the Fifth Quadrant team emerged inspired and excited to apply our learnings to assist our clients to discover tomorrow today.  

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