The strongest indicator of the maturity of a UX Research team is its fear, or lack thereof, of democratization. When research lacks a clear, established role and value within an organization, the fear of democratization is high: junior researchers worry about their jobs, while senior researchers struggle to differentiate themselves from democratized work and sustain impact. In this talk, we’ll focus on the requirements to successfully democratize research, while increasing the value and status of the UX Researcher. No, not everyone can be a researcher, but with the right guardrails, everyone can do research, and it can be to UXRs advantage.