What's your strategy for staying current with research trends?

In my experience, I've come to understand the utmost importance of staying current with research trends. To provide the best insights to our clients, I've developed a strategy that combines various approaches, and here's how it goes: First and foremost, continuous learning has been the backbone of my approach. Attending webinars, workshops, and industry conferences has allowed me to connect with other professionals in the field. It's a fantastic way to expand my horizons and stay updated with the latest happenings. I've also found immense value in reading industry publications, research papers, and journals regularly. By doing so, I can keep myself well-informed about the most recent developments and emerging trends in market research.

I've found the easiest way to stay up-to-date on new articles on subjects of interest to me, is via something as simple as the Google Chrome app home page! The "Discover" articles are suggested based preferences/interests, you can indicate if you aren't interested in certain topics, and the more you interact with the suggestions, the better they become over time - plus it doesn't add more email notifications to the ever-growing pile.

In my experience following the key journals is at the center when talking about the current research. But with so much information being published each day it is hard to go through all that. Tracking the key announcements from the regulatory agencies is another way to keep track of current research. Also, being part of society of your interest will bring closer to the latest research and news.

I am interested in working in the field of agriculture and health. My research deals with the biological pest control and epidemiology of infectious diseases focusing on children up to age 15. Both research areas are key for the development of any country.

For me, staying up to date on recent industry trends requires a variety of sources. These can be publications such as the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, or websites such as TechCrunch and 'The Information', or even podcasts like the WSJ Daily Briefing also provide helpful insights into market trends. Paid subscriptions to Gartner, Forrester and IBISWorld are well worth it for the vast amount of holistic data they provide (i.e., Gartner's annual Magic Quadrants and Vendor Ratings, which provide thorough and up-to-date competitive analysis of tech companies / product suites).

You should also consider joining professional societies/organizations within your discipline, as many professional organizations host networking events throughout the year, send out regular updates on current happenings within the field, and offer continued education opportunities, such as webinars or online short courses.

Online communities such as LinkedIn, ResearchGate, and Facebook provide better interpersonal research communication and update.

Attending conference and workshop provide an excellent opportunity to update researchers and improve their knowledge and skills

The process is fairly manual, but I find it well worth it to explore websites of companies I'm interested in learning more about (especially if they're growing companies in the industry I'm involved with / interested in learning more about). Many have public event information posted on their websites, and often allow anyone to register for free to view company-hosted events and keynote speeches online. The past month for example I was able to virtually attend the annual Celonis World Tour and Figma's Config 2023 event to learn more about updates in the world of data mining and product design, respectively.

Touch with the industry and policy development helps researchers guide their research for more relevancy and novelty in the research created and increase the scope of your research

It is incredibly important to seek out and consider research studies that counter one's own views. By considering such studies, it is possible to strengthen one's own stance by improving one's arguments. One also creates an open-minded stance, where one's own ideas may evolve and be bettered.