The Australian Data and Insights Association (ADIA) and the global ESOMAR Foundation has announced the Australian winner for the Research Got Talent award. The RGT winners for 2024 are Emma La Grue and Mikela Dixon from The Lab Insight & Strategy for their entry on the vaping epidemic in conjunction with the Alcohol and Drug Foundation (ADF).
Now in its fifth year, the Research Got Talent (RGT) competition encourages young professionals to use market research and insights to support local charities and NGOs to overcome pressing social issues. Entries were required to reflect a relevant, innovative, and impactful research design project that assesses and solves a specific issue.
The pair looked at what forces are driving Gen Zs to vape, with uptake among this group tripling in recent years despite their commitment to health-conscious behaviour. The goal of the research is to look into the complex social and cultural dynamics unique to Gen Z to help ADF develop more meaningful and impactful communications that would authentically connect with this generation and produce effective behaviour change.
De Grue and Dixon will now enter their final report as Australia’s entry into ESOMAR’s global competition, and winners are also invited to next year’s ADIA Leaders Forum conference.
“This is a really important initiative for our industry, and we continue to be impressed by the high standard and breadth of entries. This year was particularly challenging to judge given the record number of entries received and the high level of competition. It was also encouraging to see employers from ADIA and ESOMAR organisations supporting their teams and their charities of choice plus the RGT competition more generally. We are delighted that the initiative continues to grow in both commitment and awareness,” said ADIA member, ESOMAR representative and RGT judge, Sally Joubert.
“We found it incredibly difficult to select a winner; however, Mikela and Emma’s project stood out. It was professionally presented and well designed to help the Alcohol and Drug Foundation tackle the Gen Z vaping epidemic”.
“We are so honoured to have been selected as the winners for Research Got Talent 2024. From the moment Emma and I learned about the competition, we leapt at the chance to be able to choose a topic we were both so interested in: Gen Z vaping,” said Dixon and La Grue.
“Gen Z are so much more health conscious than ever before, and yet vaping is on the rise in this generation. This was a challenge that the Alcohol and Drug Foundation were also facing, and our proposed project was designed to dig deep into the social and cultural drivers of vaping, so we could help the ADF better design campaigns to help reduce harm. It has been such a pleasure to be a part of this process, and we are excited to get the project started!”
“Thank you to ADIA and ESOMAR for the opportunity, and to The Lab Insight and Strategy for their support throughout the process”.
The Australian judges for the Research Got Talent Award Competition 2024 include Sally Joubert (Luma Research/ESOMAR representative), Katie Ferro (Market Metrics Data Collection), Julie Harris (YouGov), Les Winton (Winton Research & Insights), and past winners, Steph Perry (winner 2020, TMR QLD) and May Chantra (winner 2021, Aesop). ADIA and ESOMAR thank the judges for their expertise and time.
ADIA also thanks its generous sponsors – Crnrstone, Luma Research, Winton Research and Insights, and QOR for helping make this exciting initiative possible. ADIA also pays tribute to all entrants for their outstanding submissions and their respective member organisations for their support of the Research Got Talent initiative.
