Top UX research conferences to attend in 2020
Global conferences dedicated to the practice of UX research.
Due to COVID-19, many conferences have gone virtual or rescheduled their dates. See below for details.
As the UX research industry grows year after year, new conferences are being developed to cater to this expanding community of professionals. This list concentrates exclusively on conferences for UX researchers, by UX researchers.
Which will you attend? Below, you’ll find a list is scoped to industry-focused, nonacademic, UX research-dedicated conferences. And then, dear reader, the choice is up to you.
Design Research 2020
March 18–20, 2020
Melbourne, Australia
$700 AUD
This conference gets researchers. As individual contributors who are on the ground, conducting research and delivering results, we face challenges that come with the nature of our work.
Come see keynote speaker Leisa Reichelt, Head of Research and Insights at Atlassian, lead an impressive lineup. Additional presentations include Michelle Pickrell and Ruth Ellison’s talk “How not to let stakeholder bias derail your user research findings” and Remya Ramesh and Benson Low’s talk “Operationalising & Scaling UX Research Practice”.
Advancing Research 2020
March 30–31, 2020
Virtual due to COVID-19 (previously New York, NY)
Virtual access $995 (previously $1,695, $1,395 early bird price through January 10)
The first hosted by Rosenfeld Media, this conference has the simple tagline “A new conference for people who do research”. Their lineup has a wealth of experience, including founders, VPs, directors, principals and academic faculty. Keynote speaker Priya Parker — founder of Thrive Labs, author and TED alum — will kick off this event. Come if you’re ready to test out a brand new conference in the field!
#gamesUR Summit
Postponed until next year due to COVID-19 (previously May 14, 2020)
Montreal, Canada
Price not originally listed.
For the first time, #gamesUR is leaving its home base San Francisco and going French Canadian in Montreal. If games research is more up your alley, make sure to put this at the top of your list.
What can you look forward to this year? Conference organizers say “the #gamesUR Summit at the Palais des Congrès will feature a keynote, traditional presentations and panels at all experience levels in games user research and user experience, and opportunities to socialize with members of the community in downtown Montreal.”
UXRConf
June 25–26 due to COVID-19 (previously June 3–5, 2020)
Remote due to COVID-19 (previously Toronto, Canada)
$635–$806
$99 tickets available for those who have no professional development budget
UXRConf is a shining star among research conferences. Entering its third year, they have already made waves for high-caliber content, transparency, and communication strategy.
Come here for dedicated tracks (including Leadership in Research and the Science behind UXR), workshops and a set of phenomenal main-stage speakers.
User Research London
Postponed until next year due to COVID-19 (previously June 25–26, 2020)
London, UK
£200–£500
Message from the conference organizers:
“Owing to the current COVID-19 situation we’ve made the decision to postpone our 2020 event. After investigating alternative ways to deliver the conference we have decided that the best option is to postpone until next year.
I’m disappointed that we can’t be together for the conference this year but this is the right decision.
In 2021 we will hold a double event, joining our 2020 programme to our plans for 2021. The speakers and workshoppers for 2021 have agreed to join us again next year and we’re all looking to seeing you then.”
Next year’s program will include: Gregg Bernstein, Sr Director of Vox Media, who will be speaking about opportunistic research. Attend other days for workshops on ResearchOps101 with Kate Towsey, and Research Systems with Tomer Sharon.
UX Research & Insights Summit
July 21–23, 2020
Boston, MA
$1,995 ($1,695 early bird price through April 26)
This conference is aimed more at leaders within the industry who are adopting user experience research into their company’s practice, and less at individual contributors within thriving UX orgs.
You can look forward to talks such as “Brand strategy with UX in mind”, “Overcoming change resistance with your organization and your users” and “Bringing Design Thinking to Omni-Channel Retail”. Come if you are a leader in the midst of integrating UX practices at your company.
User Research Atlanta
Aug/Sep 2020 (dates TBA)
Atlanta, Georgia
Price TBA; 2019 price $175
The second year of User Research Atlanta promises to be great. Born of a Meetup group, this conference tackles “a spectrum of topics” from UX research experimentation to ethnography. Last year included topics on research for service design, experimentation, opportunistic research and more.
Full details will be updated when they become available.
UXinsight 2020
September 14–16 due to COVID-19 (previously April 6–8, 2020)
Breda, Netherlands
€335–€885
UXinsight a founding research conference based in Europe entering its fourth year. This year’s theme Creativity in UX research is sure to pique the interest of many. Come see Amy Thibodeau (Director of UX, Shopify) talk about process and ambiguity alongside other veterans in the industry.
Radical Research Summit
September 2020 (dates TBA)
Vancouver, Canada
Price TBA
Started in 2016, Radical Research is entering its fourth year as a conference. Radical Research is not afraid to get its hands dirty; last year’s event promised to “inspire your team with new ideas while gaining practical and actionable insights to be more effective influencers and deliver research that has impact.”
Full details will be updated when they become available.
The Human Insight Summit (THiS)
October 12–14, 2020
New Orleans, Louisiana
Price TBD; 2019 $349 (early bird $199)
UserTesting.com entered the conference fray. Organizers promise that “attendees [can] come to the summit to be inspired to find new ways to use customer empathy in the decision-making process”.
Full details will be updated when they become available.
EPIC
October 22–25, 2020
Melbourne, Australia
$650 -$800; student $400
EPIC dedicates itself to integrating ethnography in business practice. Instead of a theme for 2020, EPIC fittingly has a research question: “How do we critically engage, work across, and reframe SCALE in a world where bigger, faster, easier, and broader are the expected goals?”
Full details will be updated when they become available.
More conferences
Beyond this list of UX research-specific conferences, there are many general UX conferences around the world that include research speakers, topics and workshops.
Honorable mentions 👏 go to:
- interaction20, February 2–7, Milan IT; $1,500
- ConveyUX, March 3–5, Seattle WA; $1,495
- CHI, April 25–30, Honolulu HI; $1200
- DesignOps Global Conference, May 28–30, Manchester UK; £800; great for Research Ops
- UXPA 2020, June 23–25, Baltimore MD; price TBA
- UX STRAT, June 29 — July 1, Amsterdam NL; €1,560
Is there a UX research-focused conference in 2020 that I missed? Please leave a note in the comment section below.
