What should UX professionals do when the ground is shifting beneath them?
The economic landscape is shifting rapidly, and UX practitioners are feeling the impact. With AI transforming industries, shrinking budgets, and mounting pressure to prove the value of design, many UXers are grappling with a crisis of purpose. Teams are expected to do more with less, while individuals face burnout and uncertainty about their career trajectories. These challenges have persisted because the broader economic forces driving them are complex and ever-changing, leaving designers without clear strategies to adapt.
At UX Brighton 2025, we bring clarity to the chaos. Join us to learn from some of the world’s top thinkers and doers in UX and beyond. Together, we’ll unpack the big picture, exploring how economic shifts affect your work and what principles you can apply to thrive. Through a series of insightful talks, you’ll gain actionable strategies to boost your efficiency, elevate your career, and expand your skillset to stay competitive. Plus, you’ll connect with like-minded peers, share experiences, and forge new friendships that will support your journey long after the conference ends.
Take charge of your future. Get your ticket today and save with our Early Bird offer. Your next career breakthrough starts here.
Want to speak at UX Brighton? We’d love to hear your ideas – let’s have a quick chat to explore them.
Some of the smartest, most insightful and entertaining people I've met. And that was just the audience. The speakers were great, too.
Mike Kuniavsky, Xerox PARC
Information for Attendees
The conference is being held in the beautiful and historic Brighton Dome Concert Hall: just 10 minutes from Brighton Station, 3 minutes from the Lanes, 5 minutes from the beach and a whole heap of great restaurants and hotels. Registration starts from 9am with the first speaker on at 10am, we’ll email you to let you know when the talk times are finalised.
Before the conference why not join the UX Brighton Slack and get chatting with other UXers. We’ve also got a rather nice #jobs channel.
See our Attendee information guide for everything you need to get the most out of your visit to UX Brighton, including:
- Travel
- Accommodation
- Pre-conference meet-ups
- Accessibility
- Wifi and charging
- Cloakrooms
- Registration
- Refreshments
- After Party
Talk title TBA – Zach Rattner
About Zach
Zach is the CTO & Co-Founder of Yembo, author of Grow Up Fast: Lessons from an AI Startup, and an international keynote speaker.
He’s a software engineer with over 15 years of experience. He has a B.S. in Computer Engineering from Virginia Tech. His company is the leader in AI-powered virtual surveys with over 5 million videos inspected and customers in over 20 countries.
Zach’s previous projects include building a flashcard studying tool that scaled to over a million users and serving as the software lead for Qualcomm’s internal innovation program, Qualcomm ImpaQt.
He’s a Top A.I. contributor on LinkedIn, in the top 2% of contributors on Stack Overflow and has been granted 25 US patents with several more pending.
He has three children and lives in California with his wife Lindsay.
Talk title TBA – Kelly Dern
About Kelly
As a Senior Product Designer at Google, Kelly leads UX for a video AI team, which includes Google Meet, Duo, and Livestreaming for Workspace.
She has worked with Google Nest, start-ups, and Adidas on various product and UX projects, ranging from hardware-software integration to health tech solutions.
Kelly also enjoys learning new skills and sharing her knowledge as a speaker, mentor, and advisor in the design community.
Answers from the Arts and Crafts movement in this AI revolution – Sharon Webster
The industrial revolution didn’t just evolve ways of working, it triggered great social and economic change. In response to this rise of mass-production, many sought human-centred, ethical craftsmanship - leading to the Arts and Crafts movement.
As we enter another technological turning point with the rapid rise of AI, it’s the perfect moment to reflect on what history can teach us. In this talk, Sharon will draw on the parallels between these two revolutions, and asks what answers can we find from the Arts and Crafts movement to help us navigate the creative and ethical challenges of our present?
About Sharon
Sharon’s journey into UX began with a simple favour: taking notes during a usability study. That moment sparked a lasting passion for user research and for making it accessible, inclusive, and ethical.
With experience both agency-side and in-house, Sharon has worked across a wide range of industries. She brings a fresh, strategic perspective to business challenges through user research, and is driven by curiosity, continuous learning, as well as a strong commitment to doing what’s right by users.
As we move deeper into the AI era, Sharon’s mission is to uphold ethical research practices and empower others to do the same. She thrives on mentoring and leadership, helping individuals and teams grow their UX confidence and careers.
Talk title TBA – James Lang
About James
James is a researcher by background, but wears several hats: strategist, product manager, community designer & coach. He was UX Research Director at YouTube/Google, Product Manager at eBay, and Head of Research at cxpartners.
James is founder of Together By Design, a volunteer action research collective with a mission: help people around the world to create & nurture healthy communities, using the tools of experience design. He also consults as a fractional UX Director.
Take a look at the Hopeful Futures for UX Research article for a first glimpse into his talk.
Talk title – TBA – Laura Dalrymple
About Laura
Laura is a Lead User Researcher at NTT Data/Tangity specialising in Government clients. Prior to this she supported large scale transformation projects at the Bank of England as their first permanent senior user researcher; winning a central Banking award in 2025 for the UCD work she and her team carried out . Laura has also worked consultancy side with SPARCK/CGI delivering NHS digital COVID initiatives
Laura has a background in Psychology and Mental Health Nursing. Her experience covers research in variety of areas such as: biotech, psychoeducation (teaching mental health management), pharmaceuticals, complex data sets and financial regulation.
In her diverse 11 year career, Laura has amassed a rich toolbox, combining techniques from user research, psychology, design thinking and clinical research. Her passion is truly getting ‘under the skin’ of peoples experiences to realise real sustainable change. As a continuation of this, she has become an EMCC accredited coach, providing support to those wanting to change careers, go for promotion or reintegrate back into the working environment after time away.
Talk title TBA – Avinash Mair
About Avinash
Avinash is Lead UX Designer at the Natural History Museum. He has an unconventional background, studying Actuarial Science (the economics of risk) at university, first working as a business analyst and in business development. Discovering his love for designing meaningful and well-researched products, he moved internally to build a user research team and consulted for fintechs before taking the UX helm at the Natural History Museum.
Along the way, he’s picked up many lessons at the intersection of UX and business, the blind spots of both and the firm belief that whilst technology and methods will change, UX is still about creatively solving problems by understanding the complete system and finding under-leveraged opportunities to make the world a better place, just like economics.
After Party
Join us for after conference drinks in the Foyer Bar (at the venue) until 8pm. You will receive a drinks voucher at registration. Your voucher is valid for a selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.
Please keep your name badge with you if you want to leave and come back again.
Highlights from previous years
Sponsor UX Brighton
UX Brighton attracts an engaged crowd of designers, decision makers and influencers. If you’re interested in supporting UX Brighton have a look at the sponsorship information page for more details.
Fantastic conference - a fresh mix of new ideas, provocative speakers, and a highly engaged audience. Well worth the trip.
Alex Wright, Director of User Experience at the New York Times
Partners
UX Brighton is proud to be partnering with the following organisations
