Generation1.ca in Action at AAPOR’s Annual Conference 2025, from Stage to Strategy
By Arundati Dandapani May 2025
May 2025 was a milestone month—one that took me and Generation1.ca across three major national and international conferences, each deeply interconnected by a common thread: data literacy, ethics, and the power of insights to drive social change. While this reflection centers on AAPOR’s historic 80th Annual Conference, and there will be posts for the other two separately, the conversations across all three events and our participation in them wove together a larger story.
It began in Washington, DC—a grey old city filled with memories of early career ambitions and breakthroughs and where I had my earliest encounter with heads of states and government. At Greenbook’s IIeX, I presented Immigrants, AI, and the Future of Socio-Technical Systems, advocating for more human-centric research design in an era where speed, scale, and monetization dominate the AI agenda. AI in insights isn’t new—but the current rush to mainstream adoption has sparked a reckoning: Are we designing systems that truly serve all communities?
Mid-May brought me to IAPP’s Canada Privacy Symposium 2025, where I spoke to a powerhouse audience of global regulators and privacy leaders about immigrant inclusion in AI-powered systems governance, and how synthetic data can be a meaningful disruption. From mental health bots and translation tools to automated job screening, we explored how immigrants—as talent, citizens, and consumers—are equally shaping and being shaped by AI. Employers increasingly cite AI fluency as a top skill, yet equitable access to upskilling, employment, and protections for immigrants still lags.
The month ended in St. Louis, Missouri—a brand-new city for me, and a fitting setting for fresh ideas across largely public sector research. At AAPOR80, I moderated two dynamic presentation panels on the evolving role of quantitative and qualitative methods in survey research and then on AI-enabled insights across the research process. The conference spotlighted three major themes: AI, elections, and student and career development. I found myself immersed in the AI and Elections tracks—where much of my work naturally intersects with future-thinking. But by way of a networking with the youth dinner caught up with students from Havard, Duke, Tufts and Georgetown Universities and heard about their motivations and aspirations across public opinion research including their professors, capstone projects, internships, job search and other significant journeys along with Casey Tesfay and our group.
While each of these three conferences brought unique perspectives, they converged powerfully around my mission with and beyond Generation1.ca, especially close on the heels of our annual Global Industry Skills Study 2025 wave of immigrant jobseekers and employers: building inclusive, trustworthy AI and data eco-systems that reflect diverse voices—especially in our case, immigrant first-movers and arrivers. This month’s journey was thus a triad of insight, challenge, and affirmation—a true hat-trick of epiphany.
Big Ideas. Simple Flourishes
| The big ideas matter |
| Among the highest points of my trip was also visiting the United States’ tallest monument at 630 feet which I travelled up in a tram along with esteemed AAPOR colleague and friend Dakisha Locklear. Love of the outdoors and beautiful nature-scapes fuel our hunger and curiosity of the world as data leaders. Locals will have mixed expressions of this city from “rich in culture” to warning you to not walk out alone at nights because of gang wars and other urban problems, but residents are fans of the affordability and quick commutes across a “3 mile by 3 mile” town. |
| Icons start simple |
| Every monumental structure begins with a simple idea. The iconic Gateway Arch is no exception—its elegance belies the breathtaking complexity beneath. Completed in 1965 without a single reported fatality (if this is really true, it stands as a testament to visionary design and fearless execution). St. Louis, with often overlooked multicultural history, was a fitting host, and discovering that the legendary Harry Belafonte called this city home was a powerful reminder that greatness often rises quietly, rooted in depth, diversity, and bold simplicity. |
“Ambition might be an Arch.
But Life is a Cycle.”
— Arundati Dandapani, Founder and CEO, Generation1.ca
Public opinion research has evolved dramatically since its formal beginnings in the 1930s. At AAPOR’s 80th Annual Conference (#AAPOR80), we witnessed a powerful convergence of timeless and timely themes — from election integrity and artificial intelligence to student engagement and career development. The program blended tradition with innovation: classic panels, IDEA forums, and dynamic meet-ups all showcased how certain themes endure as cornerstones of human insight, civic progress, and scholarly impact. We traced the broad POR themes of:
Non-Probability vs. Probability Sampling: Smart research demands methodological transparency. Each approach offers unique strengths—and both have use cases for balanced, credible insights.
AI and Synthetic Data as a tale of Promise and Precaution: From Generative AI to Synthetic Data and Digital Twins, AI was everywhere presented across the research pipeline—from design and collection to interpretation. While AI excels in data prep and cleaning, its use in replicating human reasoning or voice remains nascent and fraught. Machine error isn’t the same as human error—it’s faster, scalable, and potentially more dangerous. Superhuman doesn’t mean err… trustworthy.
Mode Matters—Context is Key: Augmented modes have been reshaping research delivery election after election and in other polls. But without cultural and contextual grounding in citizen science, tech-enhanced methods fall flat.
Big Qual is Getting Bigger: AI-powered qualitative research is booming from the growing need to augment more whys with hows than ever before. Researchers are now navigating vast, diverse datasets with tech that enhances—not replaces—human interpretation across the insights cycle.
Culture is the Lens: At the crossroads of sociology, geopolitics, and public opinion, culture is not a backdrop—it’s the driver of meaning. Ignore it, and we risk misreading the world, losing the human—and humane—threads that bind insight to impact. That’s why Generation1.ca stands as a bold, unwavering force, championing a pluralistic future and reshaping the trends, techniques, and technologies that define our collective trajectory.
Moderating Two Exciting Panels
At AAPOR80, I moderated two dynamic panels on the future of survey research—where evolving quant-qual methods and AI-enabled insights sparked deeper reflection on the unprecedented tools now at researchers’ fingertips. Yet amid this meteoric rise in human capability, today’s researchers face weightier questions: from the impact of cannabis on impaired driving to the ethics of deploying AI moderators. We are no longer just collecting data—we’re designing the cultural and strategic foundations of research itself in a way like we’ve never been able to do so before.
What a lovely acknowledgement at the AAPOR Awards Banquet!
Having been propelled into AAPOR’s membership and industry association leadership through the support and camaraderie of incredible colleagues like the foremost Randa Bell, Mandy Sha, Jennifer Agiesta, Tristanne Staudt, Aleia Clark Fobia, Melissa Cidade, Jackie Weissman, Bob Torango, Michaela Mora, Margaret Roller, Paul J Lavakras, Christopher Adams and many others along the way, I’m reminded of the power of community, social change and shared purpose in shaping the future of strategic leadership in public opinion research. At this juncture I will have to also insert the photo from my participation in AAPOR25’s new strategic leadership mission and vision post the pandemic to future-proof our association and industry community.
Community That Moves With You
Thank you AAPOR for the excellent forum and re-convergence of leadership. Thank you to PA-NJ-AAPOR for the raffle prize winner declaration, which was a fun surprise from Ashley Koning and Matt Graham at the conference’s conclusion.
At Generation1.ca, we’ve always been shaping the future of top global talent that power enriched and educated societies. And we want you to be part of it.
Through classes, programs, and skills development workshops and our Future Ready Innovators credentials, we’re not just improving belonging—we’re powering entire societies through the fusion of data, AI, and human innovation and creating change.
Follow and join our growing community of passionate advocates, activists and fans of future ready innovators around the world, if you’re interested in shaping the future of immigration, multiculturalism, AI and augmented futures together. Reach me at Arundati@generation1.ca.
Arundati Dandapani, MLitt, CAIP, CIPP/C, CIPM, is the Founder and CEO of Generation1.ca, a social enterprise and professional community association advancing immigrant inclusion through research innovation, career fairs, and cross-sector partnerships. She teaches data, insights, and business at Humber Polytechnic and serves on IAPP’s Certification Advisory Board, where she helped launch the world’s first AI Governance Certification and was also among the first of Humber Polytechnic’s AI Institute credential earners as faculty successfully leading learning strategies with AI in line with universal design for learning principles. Named one of ESOMAR’s Insight250 top 75 global data and insights legends in 2023, Arundati influences across data literacy, ethics, and inclusive innovation. A multi-award-winning researcher and author including more recently of What is the Point of Canada?, from which, her acclaimed paper Voicing the New Global Immigrant Realities redefined how underserved markets like immigrants are understood for a wider commercial and public sector research audience. She shapes people-centered data ecosystems and drives strategic transformation across classrooms, boardrooms, corporations, and industry associations.
Share and Follow!
For inquiries about collaboration, please contact:
Arundati Dandapani, Founder and CEO, Generation1.ca via e-mail or LinkedIn.
