Amanda Roberts, qualitative researcher, consumer strategy, Sky
I think (and hope) human-led research will be seen as a mark of authenticity – especially within moderation and analysis/reporting, which could lead to research buyers asking for proof of human involvement at key stages.

Essentially, I think our sector will reposition human insight as a differentiator and AI as a support tool.

Hasdeep Sethi, group AI lead and data science director, Strat7
Authenticity is becoming a major theme. As AI becomes ever more ubiquitous, it is getting harder for consumers to tell what’s AI generated and what isn’t. Clients still want the consumer voice, so AI should help us get to insights faster, not replace real people.

There is also a risk that, if insight teams are all using the same tools, they’ll end up producing the same outputs, making it harder to generate genuinely new insights. We can even expect a shift back towards more immersive, face-to-face work supported by AI. The challenge is using AI carefully without losing differentiation.

Christopher Barnes, president, Escalent
The wealthy consumer has kept developed economies afloat from a GDP perspective. The question for 2026: Will the job market hold enough to allow the average consumer to recover and keep the overall economy moving, or will AI and other job losses finally cause these consumers to succumb to the pressure?

Daniel Singham, commercial director, Yonder Data Solutions
Across the UK and many other countries, the political landscape is shifting significantly. In 2024, a huge number of elections saw most incumbent parties lose ground, with over 80% experiencing a decline in voter support compared with previous elections.

As politics divides people and voter loyalties change, the research industry’s influence on consumer and voter opinions will be more important than ever in the year ahead and beyond. Ensuring reliable and high-quality data will be essential for our industry, as accuracy, representation in research and robustness are essential to effective research and informed decision making.

Matilda Andersson, managing director, Truth Consulting
Ongoing change and uncertainty, and the unintended consequences that come with them – political polarisation, pressure on public spending and brands becoming more cautious about investing in the future. Making sense of that without oversimplifying it will be the challenge.

Christina Tarbotton, research director, Boxclever
Consumer trust – it’s become an ongoing challenge for brands in an era of paid sponsorships, influencers and now AI, which makes fabricated content easier than ever to produce. I’m really interested in what genuinely drives trust today and how those drivers have changed over time; I know I’m personally far more sceptical of recommendations I see in the media than I used to be.

Suzy Hassan, managing director and co-founder, Potentia
The challenging economic climate driving reduced consumer spending is likely to have the biggest impact on the research sector, in my opinion. The cost-of-living crisis has a ripple effect, driving down business confidence and subsequently placing a tighter squeeze on marketing and insight budgets across the board. The sector will need to remain relevant and innovative to capture how financial pressure reshapes consumer behaviour with tighter timelines and budgets at play.

Alexandra Kuzmina, innovation director, MMR Research
Engaging younger audiences will remain a major challenge for research. We’re moving toward a world where keyboards are old school, everything happens through conversation, gesture, and video. That shift won’t fully land in 2026, but it’s already reshaping expectations.

If people prefer to talk, tap and record instead of type, insight teams must redesign tasks, rethink incentives and turn messy multimodal input into decision-ready stories. Perhaps the real disruption will come when participation is delegated to personal AI agents, sharing personal insights automatically and directly with brands and storing incentives in a digital wallet.

Nick White, head of strategic research, Attest
The continued expansion of AI is the defining macro trend and the industry’s challenge is to clarify its position within that landscape: will researchers be the human layer that adds value, or the facilitators ensuring AI is used well?

With that expansion comes an unmet need: trust. The rise of intelligent bots that can produce full, fluent answers threatens data integrity. More bot responses mean less trust, and the risk is clear: fewer organisations may commission primary research at all, or they may use AI to carry out “research” themselves. Either path would accelerate the decline of service-led research unless we double down on quality, transparency and human judgement.

Ray Poynter, managing director, The Future Place and co-founder, ResearchWiseAI
The main worries for market research are the economy, geopolitics and climate – all outside our control.

James Endersby, chief executive, Opinium
In my honest opinion, 2026 will be shaped by three forces. Economic resilience will dominate as consumers demand value, transparent pricing and sourcing, and ethical behaviour. Call me a dreamer, but I feel that climate urgency will (finally) turn sustainability from aspiration into expectation, with proof of impact becoming essential (greenwashing is now career ending).

Finally, trust in technology will be critical as AI and synthetic data go mainstream, and clear ethics, transparency and human oversight will separate leaders from laggards. In a world where trust is the ultimate currency, brands that listen deeply and act authentically will win.

Marie Ridgley, chief executive, UK insights division, Kantar
It’s an age-old question for market researchers but one that’s getting tougher and tougher to answer: how do we get people to pay attention? Public engagement is a long running challenge – and it’s getting harder in today’s noisy world. People are generally happy to opt into passive tracking, but that only gets you so far.

We must keep improving the survey experience and respondent engagement to maintain our ability to explore complex issues and understand what truly makes people tick.

Frédéric-Charles Petit, chief executive, Toluna
AI adoption will significantly widen the gap between insight providers. Those who embrace it – even if the transition is painful – will flourish. Those who resist, relying primarily on legacy methods, will decline.

Jane Frost, chief executive, MRS
It’s clear that the uncertain economic outlook is set to continue into next year. With budgets remaining tight, research and data will be important in giving businesses confidence in the decisions they’re making.  Our sector should therefore be confident and forthright in making the case for insights as an indispensable tool in navigating uncertainty, and ensuring that the most impact is being delivered with the money available.

Kelly Beaver, chief executive officer UK and Ireland, Ipsos
The defining challenge for 2026 lies in how ongoing macro instability will continue to reshape people’s identities – and, in turn, their consumer and political behaviour. We’re now squarely in the middle of the “Restless Decade”, and after years of volatility, consumers are redefining what matters to them and creating their own forms of stability in a world that feels anything but stable.

Our industry is pivotal at this time in helping organisations and government understand the turbulence, the forces that drive it and find ways to navigate through it to drive positive outcomes for business and society.