With over 15 years immersed in UX research and business strategy, Nicole Bacchus excels at harnessing the collective brainpower of a team to uncover profound user insights, shaping user experience, product strategy, and innovation. A Kellogg MBA graduate, she has refined her distinctive approach through roles at American Express, Mars Chocolate, and Meta, complemented by invaluable experiences at design innovation consultancies such as Smart Design. Residing in Brooklyn, New York, Nicole specializes in seamlessly integrating insights and strategy to propel consumer-led product innovation. Her noteworthy achievements include leading research teams in supporting the impactful launches of Instagram Reels, Facebook Shops and Ray-Ban Meta Smartglasses, and crafting an award-winning customer transformation strategy for Amplifon, a leading hearing-aid retailer. As the current Head of Research at Thumbtack, Nicole leads a formidable team of UX Researchers, Market Researchers, and Research Operations, steering impactful projects at the intersection of strategy and user experience.
With 8+ years of experience in user research and customer insights within the sexual wellness industry, Elisabeth specialises in qualitative research on pleasure, relationships and intimacy. Her work focuses on uncovering needs and experiences that are often difficult to articulate, and on navigating the sensitivities and complexities of researching deeply personal topics.
Amy Wolsey is a Design Research Manager at the BBC, where she leads work to strengthen research practice and embed continuous discovery across product teams. She focuses on helping researchers, designers, product managers and engineers build closer relationships with users, develop stronger learning habits and make better decisions with evidence. Amy is particularly interested in research enablement, coaching and the practical trade-offs required to make research useful in fast-moving organisations.
Jess Wareing is a Senior User Researcher at the BBC, where she leads research focused on children, teenagers and emerging audiences. She works with teams across BBC products to turn research insights into meaningful experiences. Jess is particularly interested in what the next generation can teach us about the future of digital, and how organisations can stay ahead of it by paying attention to younger people’s evolving needs and behaviours.
Nihan Sahan Eren is the Global Consumer & Market Insights (CMI) Director for Unilever Food Solutions, based in the Netherlands. With more than two decades of experience in consumer and market research, she began her career on the agency side in 2003 before joining Unilever in 2010. Throughout her career, she has led insight transformation and innovation across Ice Cream, Foods, Refreshment, Home Care, Beauty & Personal Care and Media & Shopper Insights.
An internationally recognized thought leader and frequent keynote speaker, Nihan has presented at major industry events including ESOMAR, IIEX, Insight Lighthouse, and the Neuromarketing World Forum. She is the recipient of the ESOMAR Best Paper Award (2025) for “Unstereotype with Neuroscience for Lasting Social Change”, an ESOMAR Insight250 Winner (2024), and a member of the ESOMAR Congress 2026 Committee.
Nihan holds an Honours degree in Business Administration from Galatasaray University and has completed executive AI programs at Oxford’s Saïd Business School and Erasmus University’s Rotterdam School of Management.
Helen is a user focused research expert who’s equally at home planning high level strategy and sitting down with real people talking about what matters to them. Her career spans Insight, Design and User Research across the commercial, government and non-profit sectors. She has set up UX research functions from scratch, led voice of the customer programs and defined priorities for award winning user journeys. Following Design and UX Research positions at Lloyds Banking Group, The Guardian and The Economist, Helen now leads Strategic User Research for GOV.UK. In her role, she pushes for action for the users who need it most through innovative research and analysis approaches, narrative driven, super engaging insight outputs and building great relationships with colleagues at all levels.
At Novo Nordisk, Mariana Helguera Martinez helps shape user-centred innovation as Lead Design & UX Strategist in the User Insights team, part of Drug Delivery Innovation. She works at the intersection of research, design and innovation strategy, identifying unmet needs and translating them into actionable insights and opportunities to inform innovation decisions. She leads and advises on mixed-methods research, ensuring findings are meaningful to users, strategically relevant to the business and actionable for cross-functional teams. Mariana brings 15+ years of international and cross-functional experience in user research, design and innovation strategy, gained through in-house and consulting roles in Mexico, Germany and Denmark. She also contributes to advancing research and innovation practices and mentoring colleagues.
Christiane Quaas, Ph.D., is a Consumer Insights leader with more than 20 years of experience turning deep consumer understanding into business action. Currently at eBay, she works at the intersection of consumer insight, brand strategy and creative effectiveness. Her career spans global roles across industries, combining research expertise with strategic thinking, behavioral science, design thinking, and AI. Christiane is particularly passionate about moving insights beyond reporting to shape decisions, strengthen brands and drive growth. Known for her curiosity and willingness to challenge established approaches, she explores how emerging technologies can enhance human insight and make research more predictive, agile, and impactful.
Phil Pegram leads insights, analytics and market research at TalkTalk. His work connects customer understanding, data, AI and organisational decision-making to improve products, services and commercial outcomes. He is also a doctoral researcher with a strong interest in making evidence useful in the real world.
Emelie Bruneau is Head of Insights for Europe & Asia at Onduline Group. With over 15 years of experience in consumer and market insights, including several years at L’Oréal, she works with marketing, sales and business teams to put consumer understanding at the heart of business decisions. Her current focus is on bringing business teams closer to consumers and turning insights into concrete actions across markets.
Dr. Maryam Ramezani-Bartsch is a visionary leader passionate about data, people, and technology. With leadership experience at adidas, Sky, GroupM, SAP, and Delivery Hero she excels at building and scaling high-performing teams and delivering data-driven solutions in marketing ROI, LTV, personalization, and analytics. Her global experience across three continents shapes her agile, empathetic leadership style. An award-winning academic, author of scientific papers and patents, and a creative problem solver, Maryam is also a sports enthusiast and proud mother of two. She is currently focused on bridging customer insights and analytics, using AI to connect deep attitudinal personas with behavioral and transactional data to drive more human-centered marketing and personalization.
