TORONTO, Aug 20, 2025 – The Canadian Research Insights Council (CRIC), in partnership with ESOMAR and Certified Analytics and Insights Professionals of Canada (CAIP Canada), is bringing the Research Got Talent (RGT) competition back to Canada for 2025/26. The event highlights innovative research by young professionals supporting charities.
CRIC member companies and CAIPs engaged in supporting a robust research insights sector participate in RGT to foster the development of emerging careers within the industry.
RGT Winners Receive Local and Global Recognition
The competition offers young researchers an opportunity to showcase their work on both the local and global stages while making a meaningful difference to their chosen charity or NGO. Previous year’s Canadian winners have been featured in local media outlets such as on CBC and Global News, internationally on Research World, as well as appearing for other associations, such as QRCA.
The Canadian winner (or winning team of 2) will receive complimentary access to CRIC Conference 2026 to take place on June 16-17 in Toronto. In addition, the Canadian Winner will be invited to ESOMAR Congress 2026, receive an ESOMAR YES Membership and feature in ESOMAR communications. They will also represent Canada in the global competition as well as invited on stage at the CRIC Awards Gala on June 16, 2026. The Global winner of the 2025/2026 RGT competition will receive free entry to the 2026 ESOMAR Global Congress and will gain exposure to leading global brands and organizations.
What is Research Got Talent (RGT)?
Research Got Talent (RGT) is an international competition organised by ESOMAR that provides emerging researchers a platform to showcase how research can benefit charities or NGOs. Launched in 2019, RGT has consistently highlighted the positive contributions of the insights sector, delivering valuable research support to charitable organisations worldwide. In Canada, the RGT competition is coordinated by CRIC to identify the national winner. Each participating country submits its top entrant to the global competition. Canada has actively taken part in RGT since 2021.
Who can Participate?
This award competition, led by CRIC, CAIP Canada, and ESOMAR, encourages young researchers (aged 18-35 years) to support charities / non-profit organizations by solving critical social issues with innovative research. Young researchers can participate individually or in a team of two.
How to Participate?
To participate, researchers must first select a Canadian charity or NGO and then design a research proposal that will help make a difference to that charity or NGO. The researcher volunteers their services for the competition and there is no fee for either the researcher or the charity to participate. Social issues to be addressed by the research done by contest participants needs to fall into one or more of the following categories:
– Gender equality
– Access to justice
– Access to education
– Improving the lives of persons with disabilities
– Improving the lives of children
– Environmental & Climate change
– Sustainability
– Integration and diversity
To enter your research proposal submission, please complete the Research Got Talent 2025 – Entry Form and submit to [email protected] by end of day on September 30th, 2025.
Key Deadlines
Research proposals are due by September 30, 2025 and the winner will be announced on October 13, 2025. The research will be conducted by the winner from October 13, 2025 and completed before January 19, 2026, at which time it must be submitted to CRIC with a 10 minute video, a 1 minute video and an update to their original submission form.
Fieldwork Sponsors
Canada’s winning entry will once again be supported by The Logit Group and Unlock Surveys who will be generously donating their support to the winning team who will then be judged at the global level.
Get Inspired by Past Winners
Watch this ESOMAR Nominations event video to get inspired and make your submission. The video includes 2021’s Canada winners Vinca Merriman, currently a program evaluation and performance measurement specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development, and Swati Garg, a Senior UX Researcher at Scotiabank Digital. Canada’s winning team conducted research on behalf of The Citizens’ Foundation Canada (TCF Canada), a Canadian charity that provides educational opportunities for underprivileged children in Pakistan. The winners for previous years RGT are Stella Igweamaka,CAIP and Nana Appah, who completed “The Adultification of Black Girls and its implications for a Multicultural Community” in partnership with the Edmonton-based Black Canadian Women in Action (BCWA), who are the young researchers referenced earlier featured on CBC, Global News and other media outlets.
Watch more presentation and video entries of winners from past years: https://esomar.org/initiatives/research-got-talent.
Have Questions? We’ll be hosting an Information Session. Register for our live webinar on Monday, August 25th, at 12 pm ET, to learn more about participating in RGT. Meet the winner from the 2024 Canadian competition Liam Thexton. If you can’t attend this information session, a playback recording will be made available to all webinar registrants.
If you can’t attend this information session, a playback recording will be made available to all the webinar registrants. You can also send questions at anytime to [email protected].
About CRIC
The Canadian Research Insights Council (CRIC) is Canada’s voice of the research, analytics, and insights profession both domestically and globally. CRIC represents the highest standards, ethics and best practices; provides effective promotion and advocacy of the industry; serves as a source of information and thought leadership; and is a forum for collective industry action. For more information, visit www.canadianresearchinsightscouncil.ca or contact John Tabone at [email protected].
About CAIP Canada
The Certified Analytics and Insights Professionals of Canada is the professional body for Canada’s Certified Analytics and Insights Professionals (CAIPs). Its mission is to power the success of businesses and organizations by ensuring that CAIPs have the competencies needed to unlock the power of data while maintaining the highest ethical standards that protect the public trust. CAIP Canada is supported and endorsed by the Canadian Research Insights Council and the CAIP is globally endorsed by ESOMAR. For more information, visit www.caip-paim.ca or contact Grace Woo at [email protected] .
About ESOMAR
ESOMAR is the global voice of the data analytics, research and insights community, speaking on behalf of over 12000 individual professionals and more than 650 companies who provide or commission data analytics and research in more than 135 countries, all of whom agree to uphold the ICC/ESOMAR International Code. The ICC/ESOMAR Code and all ESOMAR guidelines are available on www.esomar.org.
