MEDIA RELEASE

 RESEARCH GOT TALENT AWARD 2021 – WINNER ANNOUNCED

The Australian Data and Insights Association (ADIA, formerly AMSRO) and the global ESOMAR Foundation today announced the Australian winner for the Research Got Talent Award 2021 competition.

The Research Got Talent (RGT) competition, run in conjunction with the International Market Research Day (#IMRD), encourages young professionals to use market research and insights to support local charities and NGOs to overcome pressing social issues.

The RGT winners for 2021 are Samantha Liew and May Chantra from Lewers Research for their entry - Courage to Care - Upstander Program Scoping in association with Courage to Care Victoria (C2C) - a project that aims to equip C2C with insights it needs to help expand its Upstander Programs which address racism, bullying and prejudice - in the schoolyard, workplace and community.  

The research projects in the RGT competition aim to assist change in various areas, including gender inequality, access to justice and education, integration and diversity, environmental issues, and climate change. The young researchers were required to submit a project proposal about the problem facing the charity/ NGO and how they would conduct research to assist it in overcoming this issue. Entries were required to reflect a relevant, innovative, and impactful research design project that assesses the organisation's specific issue.

Liew and Chantra will now complete the project with Courage To Care Victoria and enter their final report as Australia's entry into ESOMAR's global competition. Winners from each region (participating in the worldwide competition) will present their work to an international audience at ESOMAR Congress in September.

The other finalists for 2021 were:

• Sandra Kowalski from Bastion Insights for the entry Because No One Tells You in association with the Centre of Perinatal Excellence (COPE)  
• Samuel Carrick and Alice Harris from FiftyFive5 for their entry Project Panda in association with WWF Australia.

ESOMAR representative and RGT judge, Sally Joubert, said: "While the Australian competition is only in its second year, the range of issues covered, and calibre of entries continues to exceed expectations. We found it incredibly difficult to select a winner; however, Samantha and May's project ticked all the boxes. It was professionally presented, involved innovative techniques, and can be applied across other NGO sectors both here and internationally. We look forward to seeing the results of the Upstander Program Scoping study as Samantha and May execute the research in association with Courage to Care Victoria.”

ADIA CEO, Sarah Campbell, said: "The RGT competition is gaining great favour within the industry, celebrating our young talent, recognising the value of evidence-based research across social policy issues and supporting NGOs and charities in dealing with important projects. Samantha and May delivered a clever, powerful and timely submission to address several issues focusing on culture with a view to social change, particularly pertinent in Australia right now. The Research Got Talent Award competition is an excellent avenue for young researchers and resource for NGOs and charities who want to make a difference and I would like to congratulate and thank all of our entrants for their excellent submissions.” 

The judges for Australia's Research Got Talent Award competition included: Katie Ferro, CEO, Stable Research; Dianne Gardiner, CEO, Bastion Insights; John Givens, Rotary Australia; Stacie Haber, Australian Red Cross; Nora Hungershoefer, Associate Director APAC, Luc.id; Sally Joubert, CEO, Luma Research; Lisa Lewers, CEO, Lewers; Rob McLachlan, former Chairman, Kantar Australia; Caroline Tomiczek, Director, Urbis and Lucas Wan, Sales Director, Giftpay. 

ADIA and ESOMAR would like to acknowledge and thank all RGT entrants for their outstanding submissions and their respective member organisations who support the Research Got Talent initiative.

ADIA and ESOMAR would also like to acknowledge and thank our generous sponsors for helping make this exciting initiative possible - Lewers, Luma Research, LUCID, Stable Research and GiftPay.  

About the Australian Data and Insights Association (ADIA)

The Australian Data and Insights Association (ADIA) is the peak industry body for data, insights and research organisations in Australia. ADIA (formerly AMSRO) represents close to 100 of Australia’s leading data, insights and research companies, with members employing over 5,000 people in an industry generating over $1 billion of economic activity annually.

ADIA members conduct research with Australians for most of the ASX top 200 companies and the majority of State and Federal Government departments. ADIA works in partnership with its company members, plus privacy authorities, business, government and the community to protect and promote the industry and uphold the highest ethical and privacy standards working under the first and only (non-mandatory) registered Industry APP Privacy Code since 2003.  ADIA - the home of leading data, insights and research companies. www.dataandinsights.com.au