Researching how people connect, collaborate, and grow — in organizations, communities, and society.
Founded by Laura Smith, VALIDEI is the research practice behind UPWARD Insights. Through applied research, ecosystem studies, organizational investigations, and human-centered experimentation, VALIDEI helps stakeholders understand what is happening, why it matters, and how things might be improved.
Many research projects stop at identifying problems. VALIDEI focuses on understanding systems, experiences, and outcomes in ways that help people move forward.
The goal is not simply to know more. The goal is to do better.
Responsible research means:
Research should improve realities, not merely describe them.
One of the first qualitative studies exploring diversity, equity, and inclusion within the Nordic venture capital ecosystem.
Research exploring how language choices in recruitment communications influence applicant behavior and representation.
A public social experiment exploring whether intentional, transparent selection processes could help adults form meaningful friendships and stronger social connections.
Exploring how connection, belonging, collaboration, and community formation can be intentionally designed rather than left to chance. Current experiments include:
How adults form meaningful relationships in modern life — friendship formation, belonging, resonance, and community design.
How teams scale without losing trust, clarity, or inclusion — communication systems, onboarding, collaboration norms, sustainable growth.
Inclusion not as intention alone, but as systems, structures, and environments that enable participation and belonging.
How people, organizations, and communities can grow without sacrificing empathy, integrity, or sustainability.
Most onboarding programs help people start a job. Rooted helps them start a life — building real social connections in a new city, team, or community.
We are selecting a small group of pilot partners — employers, relocation programs, and community organizations — to co-design and test Rooted with us in the second half of 2026.
Determine what is ethical, feasible, and insightful to investigate.
Design, localization, interpretation, and inclusive sense-making.
Structured exploration of experiences, perspectives, and stakeholder realities.
Testing communication, onboarding, processes, products, and systems to understand real-world impact.
Research projects exploring organizational, industry, or community-level dynamics.
Have a question worth investigating?
Book a consultation →
Laura Smith is an organizational adviser, researcher, writer, and founder of UPWARD Insights. Her work focuses on understanding how people connect, collaborate, belong, and grow.
Over the past decade, Laura has conducted organizational audits, ecosystem studies, inclusion research, and applied experiments across growth-stage companies, public organizations, startups, and community initiatives.
Today, her work increasingly focuses on Connection by Design — exploring how meaningful human connection can be intentionally supported through better systems, structures, and experiences.
VALIDEI is the research practice behind UPWARD Insights.
Most current writing, advisory work, tools, speaking engagements, and applied projects now live within UPWARD. The newsletter is the regular channel where new findings appear first.
