An Insight into UX Scotland 2026
Last month, the 2026 UX Scotland event was held in Edinburgh, Scotland, for people working in UX, UCD, HCD, Service Design and other digital specialisms.
At TDS, we are dedicated to offering networking opportunities to our team, with their progression within the technology industry extremely important to us. From supporting our employees in attending these events to gaining experience from other industry professionals in their specialist area, empowering our team is our key priority.
User Experience Consultant at TDS, Jamie Bullock, attended the two-day event in Edinburgh. He shares his experience from the event, highlighting what he learnt and took away from his time at UX Scotland.
What is UX Scotland?
UX Scotland 2026 was the 11th edition of the event, held at the John McIntyre Conference Centre in Edinburgh, on Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th June 2026.
The event brings together talented individuals working in user experience, user-centred design, human-centred design, service design and other related digital disciplines. Across two days of hands-on learning, inspiration and community, the conference brings together designers, researchers and other user-centred professionals to learn, share experiences and connect with peers.
With a carefully curated programme of keynotes, talks and workshops, UX Scotland is the perfect setting to meet fellow practitioners and learn from other leading experts in the industry. Across the two days, Jamie attended the following sessions:
- Keynote talks – You don’t need more grit: breaking the burnout by Sara Wachter-Boettcher, CEO at Active Voice and A firmament inside by Michael Kibedi from First and Fifteenth
- Workshops – Constraint-as-catalyst: the creative researcher’s SCAMPER guide to method adaptation by Rachel Abbott at Hippo and Navigating digital sustainability with design principles by Joanna Masraff and Sathpal Singh from Green PO
- Talks – The ROI of saying no: strategic prioritisation for design leaders by Venessa Bennett of Dye & Durham, Being a human-centred design leader in the age of AI by Jessica Cameron from Lloyds Banking Group and Reflection to action – your way forward by Laura Dalrymple from Tangity/NTT Data
- Case study – Designing in legacy software: the triumphs and the trap by Samantha Heighes
- Discussion – Let’s debate: can AI actually solve our design problems? delivered by Suhail Hussain and Tom Burrows from the Government Digital Service
- Endnote – What if… you did it anyway? by Creative Strategist Jeroen van Geel
These talks were delivered to encourage participants like Jamie to leave with new ideas and concepts that can be implemented straight away.
Attending UX Scotland 2026: Jamie’s experience
Across the event’s two days, Jamie attended numerous talks, workshops and discussion sessions.
“All the talks and workshops I attended were fantastic and I took something from every single one,” he says. “But if I had to choose a favourite, it would have the be the endnote What if… you did it anyway? by Jeroen van Geel.”
Jamie highlights how Jeroen’s talk was personal, professional and genuinely eye-opening for him.
“It came from the angle of embracing your childhood wonder and doing the thing you want to do,” he continues. “Actually making it happen, rather than holding back.”
He also took the time to chat with several of the other speakers after their dedicated talks. They all generously shared their insights from their own experiences and areas of expertise in user design.
Jamie noted that there were many pieces of information he will take away from the event to use in his work and his processes going forward. These include:
- “Passion doesn’t equal power” – a timely reminder that enthusiasm alone isn’t enough.
- The SCAMPER framework is a tool to use for overcoming blockers and taking the road less travelled.
- “Every yes is a no to something else” – this is something that hit close to home for Jamie as someone who is often a people pleaser.
- Sometimes it only takes one person to show others how to navigate digital sustainability.
“What struck me most about UX Scotland was the sense of community,” Jamie says. “This was an event run by people who truly care about their craft. about each other, and about creating better experiences for real people.
“The energy was infectious and the insights I took away will stay with me for a long time.”
Attending events like UX Scotland helps Jamie and other designers or individuals working in the technology industry to develop their craft even further. This often comes from the collaboration between other industry professionals and sharing experiences along the way.
“A lot of designers and researchers joked that UX Scotland is like a therapy session,” Jamie says. “The more we listened and spoke with one another, the more we found common ground in workplace scenarios and situations we’d all experienced, whether it was something to learn from or simply a reminder that it’s the nature of the industry, that shared understanding was really valuable.
“Networking with peers and potential mentors is always worth its weight in gold. It also gave me a chance to reflect on what I’m doing well, and equally, what I could potentially be doing better.”
Empowering our team at TDS
Encouraging our team to attend industry-relevant events, like the recent 2026 Poland Frontend Meetup, either as a speaker or a guest, is critical to their development. At TDS, we are dedicated to empowering all our employees, no matter their speciality.
“I’d like to thank TDS for sending me to the event,” Jamie concludes. “They are genuinely invested in their employees’ development, and that means a lot.”
Find out more about the careers opportunities we currently have at TDS to grow your career or contact us to see how our team of designers, engineers and delivery experts can support your next project.