Entries are open for the Australian Data and Insights Association (ADIA) 2026 Research Got Talent competition.
A joint initiative of the ADIA and Esomar, it aims to encourage young professionals to use research and insights to support local charities and NGOs in social issues.
The competition has entered its seventh year in Australia. It asks entrants to deliver innovative and impactful research design projects that assess and solve a specific issue in a range of areas. They include gender inequality, access to justice and education, integration and diversity, environmental issues and climate change.
The Australian winner is automatically entered into Esomar ‘s global competition and receives a complimentary one-day pass to the ADIA Leaders Forum in 2027. They will also recieve a return airfare departing from an Australia to the Esomar Congress 2027, free Congress registration, prize money to the value of $4,000, an Esomar Research World article, and a Young Esomar Society membership.
Hamish Scott-Stevenson and Sam Slamowicz from Social Research Centre won the 2025 competition. Their entry tackled the spread of online misinformation, prepared in partnership with the Museum of Sticks & Stones.
“Research Got Talent has been an incredibly fulfilling experience, personally and professionally. It gave us the opportunity to partner with a local charity and help them tackle a challenge that is urgent in today’s world – the spread of online misinformation and its impact on health and wellbeing, social cohesion, and democracy.
“Working with the Museum of Sticks & Stones, we were able to turn ideas that we’d been discussing for some time into a real, practical research design. The process pushed us to be creative, sharpen our methods, and stay grounded as to what would be most useful and feasible for the Museum of Sticks & Stones going forward. It also helped us as young researchers to develop our research skills and exposed us to new parts of the research cycle.” said Scott-Stevenson and Slamowicz.
ADIA chief executive officer Sarah Campbell said: “Research Got Talent was built on a simple idea: that young researchers, given the right platform, can produce work that genuinely makes a difference for the organisations and communities that need it most. Seven years in, that idea has never felt more relevant.
“On behalf of the ADIA and Esomar, we are looking forward to our members backing this competition and celebrating the talent within their organisations on both the national and global stage.”
Entries for this year’s competition open on Wednesday, June 3 and close on Monday, July 20.
Winners will be announced mid-August.
A Research Got Talent entrant briefing will be held online on Tuesday, June 16 with details on the ADIA website.
