Vanessa is a user researcher who specializes in human-centered innovation processes.
In her research work, she draws upon both qualitative methods (ethnography, interviews, usability testing, diary studies) and quantitative (data analytics, A/B testing, statistics, survey science). Her work is driven by her fascination for what people say, and more importantly, what they do and feel - she takes a human-centred approach to help organizations get to actionable innovation.
Past Talks
10 October 2022
How do you successfully grow a UX Research or Data Science team in a large organisation that is new to UX or product discovery? While we know that continuous discovery and insights are key to successful product development, providing the right conditions for insights teams to succeed is a key foundation to getting actionable insights.
This talk will share concrete advice on how to grow and scale insights teams, and will guide the audience through the following steps:
- How to set a vision
- Creating the right strategy
- Fine tuning your hiring process to attract the right talent from the start

8 October 2021
There are many techniques and methodologies used by UX designers as they create great experiences for users. From UX Value Proposition, Stakeholder Interviews, Cultural Probes all come to mind. But how do you know what will work best for you, your team and even your user? How do you know when it's time to ditch the methodology and move forward?
Moderated by Justyna Belkevic, this panel discusses all that and more for what promises to be a captivating debate!





7 October 2021
Transforming your product organization from output-focused and top-down project-based teams to innovative and high-functioning product teams is challenging. In this case study, Vanessa will share Takeaway.com's journey on how user research served as the foundation to enable continuous discovery and evidence-based decision-making for her product team. She will touch on:
- How do you create a culture of continuous improvement and solving user & business problems?
- What principles and foundations do you need in place to enable real discovery?
- What are the common challenges and pitfalls, and how do you overcome them?
- Any future improvements she can envisage for her team.
