Podcasts about Behavioural Insights Team

Everyone is busy. Whether it's emails, reports, or social media, most people skim rather than read in depth. So how can we write in a way that ensures our message gets through?In this episode, we're joined by Todd Rogers, a Harvard Kennedy School professor, behavioral scientist, and author of Writing for Busy Readers. Todd shares the cognitive science behind effective communication and offers six actionable principles to help nonprofit professionals, educators, and leaders write clearly and concisely.We also explore:✅ The psychology behind why people skim instead of read✅ A simple checklist to make writing more engaging and effective✅ A free AI tool that helps writers refine their messages✅ How nonprofits can apply these strategies without oversimplifying complex ideasIf you've ever struggled with getting your emails read, crafting compelling donor messages, or writing reports that don't get ignored—this episode is for you.About Todd Rogers:Todd Rogers is Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (research homepage). He is a behavioral scientist who studies how to better communicate with families, students, consumers, employees, and voters. Todd has co-founded two social enterprises: the Analyst Institute, which uses behavioral science to improve voter communications, and EveryDay Labs, which helps school districts reduce student absenteeism by communicating more effectively with families. He is also Senior Scientist at ideas42 and Academic Advisor at the Behavioural Insights Team.At Harvard, Todd has won teaching awards every year for the past decade. His course, The Science of Behavior Change, is consistently among the most popular courses at Harvard Kennedy School. He is also the faculty chair of the executive education program Behavioral Insights and Public Policy, and he serves as faculty director of the Harvard Behavioral Insights Group, a network of more than 60 Harvard faculty whose research uses behavioral science for public good.Todd has published in top journals in psychology, economics, political science, education, organizational behavior, management, marketing, public health, and medicine. Todd has been featured in numerous national media outlets, both as an author of opinion articles and in stories highlighting his work and expertise.Resources Mentioned:Todd Rogers' Book: Writing for Busy ReadersFree AI email editing tool: Writing for Busy Readers AITodd Rogers' research homepage: Harvard Kennedy SchoolHit play now, then subscribe to Nonprofit Nation for more expert insights!Take my free masterclass: 3 Must-Have Elements of Social Media Content that Converts

In just 27 minutes, you can learn 7 scientifically backed marketing tactics to apply to your website today.  You'll learn:  How one word increased my email open rate by 6.4%. The tiny reward that helped a cafe generate 1,276 5-star reviews. Why adding steps increased job applicants by 20%. How “you'll lose X” reduced customer cancellations by 90%. The irrelevant reason that boosted conversions by 41%. And the irrational addition that increased conversions by 2x. ---  Sign up for the Bas's community Online Influence: https://shorturl.at/vNYOU My social proof a/b test results: https://ibb.co/mCsdwFVb Kia Ora Cafe surprise reward: https://shorturl.at/YdG4q Bas's book Online Influence: https://www.onlineinfluence.com/book-online-influence/ Subscribe to the (free) Nudge Newsletter: https://nudge.ck.page/profile Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phill-agnew-22213187/ Watch Nudge on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nudgepodcast/ --- Sources:  Berridge KC, Kringelbach ML (2015). Pleasure systems in the brain. Neuron 6;86(3):646-64. Behavioural Insights Team. (2014). EAST: Four simple ways to apply behavioural insights. Behavioural Insights Ltd. Gonzales MH, Aronson E, Costanzo M (1988). Increasing the effectiveness of energy auditors: a field experiment. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 18:1046-66. Langer, E. J., Blank, A., & Chanowitz, B. (1978). The mindlessness of ostensibly thoughtful action: The role of "placebic" information in interpersonal interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36(6), 635–642. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.36.6.635 Grieser S (2014). Is too much choice killing your conversion rates? [Case studies] Unbounce. Via: www.unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/psychology-of-choice-conversion-rates

Hear from two academic policy experts, one in the UK and one in the US, who discuss the most effective ways that researchers can share their expertise with politicians and civil servants. We speak to: Michael Sanders is a professor of public policy at Kings College London and director of the School for Government. In addition to his academic career, he has worked in government as chief scientist on the Behavioural Insights Team and was the founding chief executive of What Works for Children's Social Care. David Garcia is a professor with Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. Prior to joining ASU, he helped found the Arizona Center for Public Policy - ThinkAZ, and he was worked as an associate superintendent and a director of research and policy with Arizona Department of Education. He is also a former legislative staffer with the Arizona State Senate and was the 2018 Democratic candidate for governor of Arizona. For more advice and insight on how best to engage policymakers with your research, take a look at our latest spotlight: An academics' guide to policy impact.

Back in 1923, Claude Hopkins wrote the definitive book on advertising. David Ogilvy said the book “changed his life,” and over eight million copies of the book have been sold. But are the 102-year-old tips still accurate today? In this episode of Nudge, I find out.  You'll learn: Why the phrase “Food Shot Through Guns” helped sell more cereal.  How a sewing machine manufacturer increased his sales 9-fold.  The four predictions Hopkins got wrong.  And evidence-backed studies that reveal what he got right.  ---- Download the Reading List: https://nudge.kit.com/readinglist Sign up to my newsletter: https://www.nudgepodcast.com/mailing-list Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phill-agnew-22213187/ Watch Nudge on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nudgepodcast/  ---- Sources: BBC. (2016). Corsodyl: How an unnerving ad campaign works. BBC News. Behavioural Insights Team. (2013). Applying behavioural insights to charitable giving. Government & Society. Berger, J., Moe, W. W., & Schweidel, D. A. (2023). What holds attention? Linguistic drivers of engagement. Journal of Marketing, 87(5). https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429231152880 Berger, J., Sorensen, A. T., & Rasmussen, S. J. (2010). Positive effects of negative publicity: When negative reviews increase sales. Marketing Science, 29(5). https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.1090.0557 Harris, K. [Kamala Harris]. (2024, March 1). Enemy Within | Harris-Walz 2024 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQnugO8SEx0 Hopkins, C. (1923). Scientific advertising. Printers' Ink Publishing Company. Hüttel, B. A., Schumann, J. H., & Wagner, C. J. (2018). How consumers assess free e-services: The role of benefit-inflation and cost-deflation effects. Journal Name, 21(3). Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Monnier, A., & Thomas, M. (2022). Experiential and analytical price evaluations: How experiential product description affects prices. Journal of Consumer Research, forthcoming. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4046802 Pick, D. F., Sweeney, J., & Clay, J. A. (1991). Creative advertising and the von Restorff effect. Psychological Reports, 69(3, Pt 1), 923–926. https://doi.org/10.2466/PR0.69.7.923-926 Rogers, T., & Lasky-Fink, J. (2023). Writing for busy readers: Communicate more effectively in the real world. Schindler, R. M., & Yalch, R. (2006). It seems factual, but is it? Effects of using sharp versus round numbers in advertising claims. Advances in Consumer Research, 33, 586-590. Association for Consumer Research. Sutherland, S. (1992). Irrationality. Pinter Publishers. Trump, D. J. [Donald J Trump]. (2023, September 12). Wolves [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/pxz9sxUqgsE Weiner, M. (Writer), & Draper, M. (Director). (2008). Mad Men (Season 1, Episode 11) [TV series episode]. In M. Weiner (Producer), Mad Men. Lions Gate Television.

In this episode, Mike and Karen are joined by Rachel Coyle MBE, the Global Managing Director of the Behavioural Insights Team, to discuss the Cape Town drought and the successful "Day Zero" campaign that helped avert the crisis. They delve into how Cape Town faced a severe drought with dangerously low dam levels. In 2018, a team of behavioural scientists launched the "Day Zero" behaviour change campaign, which focused on simple, practical actions like using grey water and providing clear guidance on water-saving measures. This campaign not only successfully averted the crisis but also left a lasting impact on the community. Rachel also shares insights on the enduring effects of the campaign and how its strategies could be applied in other parts of the world.

Join us for an in-depth exploration of Professor Cass Sunstein's latest work, Campus Free Speech (Harvard University Press, September 2024).  Together, we'll examine the book's intriguing take on free speech in academic spaces and the broader implications for constitutional interpretation. Professor Sunstein also delves into the exercise of administrative power, with timely discussions on COVID-era authority and the Supreme Court's decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. Gain unique insights from Sunstein on how the Constitution remains a guiding force for the American public in navigating modern challenges. Cass R. Sunstein is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard. He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. In 2018, he received the Holberg Prize from the government of Norway, sometimes described as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for law and the humanities. In 2020, the World Health Organization appointed him as Chair of its technical advisory group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and after that, he served on the President's Review Board on Intelligence and Communications Technologies and on the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Board. Mr. Sunstein has testified before congressional committees on many subjects, and he has advised officials at the United Nations, the European Commission, the World Bank, and many nations on issues of law and public policy. He serves as an adviser to the Behavioural Insights Team in the United Kingdom. Professor Sunstein is author of hundreds of articles and dozens of books, including Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (with Richard H. Thaler, 2008), Simpler: The Future of Government (2013), The Ethics of Influence (2015), #Republic (2017), Impeachment: A Citizen's Guide (2017), The Cost-Benefit Revolution (2018), On Freedom (2019), Conformity (2019), How Change Happens (2019), and Too Much Information (2020). He is now working on a variety of projects involving the regulatory state, “sludge” (defined to include paperwork and similar burdens), fake news, and freedom of speech. Madison's Notes is the podcast of Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions Contributions to and/or sponsorship of any speaker does not constitute departmental or institutional endorsement of the specific program, speakers or views presented. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Join us for an in-depth exploration of Professor Cass Sunstein's latest work, Campus Free Speech (Harvard University Press, September 2024).  Together, we'll examine the book's intriguing take on free speech in academic spaces and the broader implications for constitutional interpretation. Professor Sunstein also delves into the exercise of administrative power, with timely discussions on COVID-era authority and the Supreme Court's decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. Gain unique insights from Sunstein on how the Constitution remains a guiding force for the American public in navigating modern challenges. Cass R. Sunstein is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard. He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. In 2018, he received the Holberg Prize from the government of Norway, sometimes described as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for law and the humanities. In 2020, the World Health Organization appointed him as Chair of its technical advisory group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and after that, he served on the President's Review Board on Intelligence and Communications Technologies and on the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Board. Mr. Sunstein has testified before congressional committees on many subjects, and he has advised officials at the United Nations, the European Commission, the World Bank, and many nations on issues of law and public policy. He serves as an adviser to the Behavioural Insights Team in the United Kingdom. Professor Sunstein is author of hundreds of articles and dozens of books, including Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (with Richard H. Thaler, 2008), Simpler: The Future of Government (2013), The Ethics of Influence (2015), #Republic (2017), Impeachment: A Citizen's Guide (2017), The Cost-Benefit Revolution (2018), On Freedom (2019), Conformity (2019), How Change Happens (2019), and Too Much Information (2020). He is now working on a variety of projects involving the regulatory state, “sludge” (defined to include paperwork and similar burdens), fake news, and freedom of speech. Madison's Notes is the podcast of Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions Contributions to and/or sponsorship of any speaker does not constitute departmental or institutional endorsement of the specific program, speakers or views presented. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

Join us for an in-depth exploration of Professor Cass Sunstein's latest work, Campus Free Speech (Harvard University Press, September 2024).  Together, we'll examine the book's intriguing take on free speech in academic spaces and the broader implications for constitutional interpretation. Professor Sunstein also delves into the exercise of administrative power, with timely discussions on COVID-era authority and the Supreme Court's decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. Gain unique insights from Sunstein on how the Constitution remains a guiding force for the American public in navigating modern challenges. Cass R. Sunstein is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard. He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. In 2018, he received the Holberg Prize from the government of Norway, sometimes described as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for law and the humanities. In 2020, the World Health Organization appointed him as Chair of its technical advisory group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and after that, he served on the President's Review Board on Intelligence and Communications Technologies and on the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Board. Mr. Sunstein has testified before congressional committees on many subjects, and he has advised officials at the United Nations, the European Commission, the World Bank, and many nations on issues of law and public policy. He serves as an adviser to the Behavioural Insights Team in the United Kingdom. Professor Sunstein is author of hundreds of articles and dozens of books, including Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (with Richard H. Thaler, 2008), Simpler: The Future of Government (2013), The Ethics of Influence (2015), #Republic (2017), Impeachment: A Citizen's Guide (2017), The Cost-Benefit Revolution (2018), On Freedom (2019), Conformity (2019), How Change Happens (2019), and Too Much Information (2020). He is now working on a variety of projects involving the regulatory state, “sludge” (defined to include paperwork and similar burdens), fake news, and freedom of speech. Madison's Notes is the podcast of Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions Contributions to and/or sponsorship of any speaker does not constitute departmental or institutional endorsement of the specific program, speakers or views presented. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

Join us for an in-depth exploration of Professor Cass Sunstein's latest work, Campus Free Speech (Harvard University Press, September 2024).  Together, we'll examine the book's intriguing take on free speech in academic spaces and the broader implications for constitutional interpretation. Professor Sunstein also delves into the exercise of administrative power, with timely discussions on COVID-era authority and the Supreme Court's decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. Gain unique insights from Sunstein on how the Constitution remains a guiding force for the American public in navigating modern challenges. Cass R. Sunstein is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard. He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. In 2018, he received the Holberg Prize from the government of Norway, sometimes described as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for law and the humanities. In 2020, the World Health Organization appointed him as Chair of its technical advisory group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and after that, he served on the President's Review Board on Intelligence and Communications Technologies and on the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Board. Mr. Sunstein has testified before congressional committees on many subjects, and he has advised officials at the United Nations, the European Commission, the World Bank, and many nations on issues of law and public policy. He serves as an adviser to the Behavioural Insights Team in the United Kingdom. Professor Sunstein is author of hundreds of articles and dozens of books, including Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (with Richard H. Thaler, 2008), Simpler: The Future of Government (2013), The Ethics of Influence (2015), #Republic (2017), Impeachment: A Citizen's Guide (2017), The Cost-Benefit Revolution (2018), On Freedom (2019), Conformity (2019), How Change Happens (2019), and Too Much Information (2020). He is now working on a variety of projects involving the regulatory state, “sludge” (defined to include paperwork and similar burdens), fake news, and freedom of speech. Madison's Notes is the podcast of Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions Contributions to and/or sponsorship of any speaker does not constitute departmental or institutional endorsement of the specific program, speakers or views presented. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/education

Join us for an in-depth exploration of Professor Cass Sunstein's latest work, Campus Free Speech (Harvard University Press, September 2024).  Together, we'll examine the book's intriguing take on free speech in academic spaces and the broader implications for constitutional interpretation. Professor Sunstein also delves into the exercise of administrative power, with timely discussions on COVID-era authority and the Supreme Court's decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. Gain unique insights from Sunstein on how the Constitution remains a guiding force for the American public in navigating modern challenges. Cass R. Sunstein is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard. He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. In 2018, he received the Holberg Prize from the government of Norway, sometimes described as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for law and the humanities. In 2020, the World Health Organization appointed him as Chair of its technical advisory group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and after that, he served on the President's Review Board on Intelligence and Communications Technologies and on the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Board. Mr. Sunstein has testified before congressional committees on many subjects, and he has advised officials at the United Nations, the European Commission, the World Bank, and many nations on issues of law and public policy. He serves as an adviser to the Behavioural Insights Team in the United Kingdom. Professor Sunstein is author of hundreds of articles and dozens of books, including Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (with Richard H. Thaler, 2008), Simpler: The Future of Government (2013), The Ethics of Influence (2015), #Republic (2017), Impeachment: A Citizen's Guide (2017), The Cost-Benefit Revolution (2018), On Freedom (2019), Conformity (2019), How Change Happens (2019), and Too Much Information (2020). He is now working on a variety of projects involving the regulatory state, “sludge” (defined to include paperwork and similar burdens), fake news, and freedom of speech. Madison's Notes is the podcast of Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions Contributions to and/or sponsorship of any speaker does not constitute departmental or institutional endorsement of the specific program, speakers or views presented. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/politics-and-polemics

Join us for an in-depth exploration of Professor Cass Sunstein's latest work, Campus Free Speech (Harvard University Press, September 2024).  Together, we'll examine the book's intriguing take on free speech in academic spaces and the broader implications for constitutional interpretation. Professor Sunstein also delves into the exercise of administrative power, with timely discussions on COVID-era authority and the Supreme Court's decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. Gain unique insights from Sunstein on how the Constitution remains a guiding force for the American public in navigating modern challenges. Cass R. Sunstein is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard. He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. In 2018, he received the Holberg Prize from the government of Norway, sometimes described as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for law and the humanities. In 2020, the World Health Organization appointed him as Chair of its technical advisory group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and after that, he served on the President's Review Board on Intelligence and Communications Technologies and on the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Board. Mr. Sunstein has testified before congressional committees on many subjects, and he has advised officials at the United Nations, the European Commission, the World Bank, and many nations on issues of law and public policy. He serves as an adviser to the Behavioural Insights Team in the United Kingdom. Professor Sunstein is author of hundreds of articles and dozens of books, including Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (with Richard H. Thaler, 2008), Simpler: The Future of Government (2013), The Ethics of Influence (2015), #Republic (2017), Impeachment: A Citizen's Guide (2017), The Cost-Benefit Revolution (2018), On Freedom (2019), Conformity (2019), How Change Happens (2019), and Too Much Information (2020). He is now working on a variety of projects involving the regulatory state, “sludge” (defined to include paperwork and similar burdens), fake news, and freedom of speech. Madison's Notes is the podcast of Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions Contributions to and/or sponsorship of any speaker does not constitute departmental or institutional endorsement of the specific program, speakers or views presented. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/law

Join us for an in-depth exploration of Professor Cass Sunstein's latest work, Campus Free Speech (Harvard University Press, September 2024).  Together, we'll examine the book's intriguing take on free speech in academic spaces and the broader implications for constitutional interpretation. Professor Sunstein also delves into the exercise of administrative power, with timely discussions on COVID-era authority and the Supreme Court's decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. Gain unique insights from Sunstein on how the Constitution remains a guiding force for the American public in navigating modern challenges. Cass R. Sunstein is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard. He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. In 2018, he received the Holberg Prize from the government of Norway, sometimes described as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for law and the humanities. In 2020, the World Health Organization appointed him as Chair of its technical advisory group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and after that, he served on the President's Review Board on Intelligence and Communications Technologies and on the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Board. Mr. Sunstein has testified before congressional committees on many subjects, and he has advised officials at the United Nations, the European Commission, the World Bank, and many nations on issues of law and public policy. He serves as an adviser to the Behavioural Insights Team in the United Kingdom. Professor Sunstein is author of hundreds of articles and dozens of books, including Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (with Richard H. Thaler, 2008), Simpler: The Future of Government (2013), The Ethics of Influence (2015), #Republic (2017), Impeachment: A Citizen's Guide (2017), The Cost-Benefit Revolution (2018), On Freedom (2019), Conformity (2019), How Change Happens (2019), and Too Much Information (2020). He is now working on a variety of projects involving the regulatory state, “sludge” (defined to include paperwork and similar burdens), fake news, and freedom of speech. Madison's Notes is the podcast of Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions Contributions to and/or sponsorship of any speaker does not constitute departmental or institutional endorsement of the specific program, speakers or views presented. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for an in-depth exploration of Professor Cass Sunstein's latest work, Campus Free Speech (Harvard University Press, September 2024).  Together, we'll examine the book's intriguing take on free speech in academic spaces and the broader implications for constitutional interpretation. Professor Sunstein also delves into the exercise of administrative power, with timely discussions on COVID-era authority and the Supreme Court's decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. Gain unique insights from Sunstein on how the Constitution remains a guiding force for the American public in navigating modern challenges. Cass R. Sunstein is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard. He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. In 2018, he received the Holberg Prize from the government of Norway, sometimes described as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for law and the humanities. In 2020, the World Health Organization appointed him as Chair of its technical advisory group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and after that, he served on the President's Review Board on Intelligence and Communications Technologies and on the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Board. Mr. Sunstein has testified before congressional committees on many subjects, and he has advised officials at the United Nations, the European Commission, the World Bank, and many nations on issues of law and public policy. He serves as an adviser to the Behavioural Insights Team in the United Kingdom. Professor Sunstein is author of hundreds of articles and dozens of books, including Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (with Richard H. Thaler, 2008), Simpler: The Future of Government (2013), The Ethics of Influence (2015), #Republic (2017), Impeachment: A Citizen's Guide (2017), The Cost-Benefit Revolution (2018), On Freedom (2019), Conformity (2019), How Change Happens (2019), and Too Much Information (2020). He is now working on a variety of projects involving the regulatory state, “sludge” (defined to include paperwork and similar burdens), fake news, and freedom of speech. Madison's Notes is the podcast of Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions Contributions to and/or sponsorship of any speaker does not constitute departmental or institutional endorsement of the specific program, speakers or views presented. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Sludge": How bureaucracies abuse your time, with Cass Sunstein "Sludge" constitutes the obstacles, such as bureaucratic paperwork, that society puts in place to prevent a person from accomplishing something they want to do. Sludge can be good when it ensures that people do not behave recklessly or impulsively. But oftentimes, sludge is nothing more than an obstacle to freedom. Sludge can be found everywhere, from the criminal justice system to acquiring a mortgage. Much of this sludge needs to be eliminated. To learn even more from the world's biggest thinkers, get Big Think+ for your business: https://bigthink.com/plus/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- About Cass Sunstein: Cass R. Sunstein is currently the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard. He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. In 2018, he received the Holberg Prize from the government of Norway, sometimes described as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for law and the humanities. In 2020, the World Health Organization appointed him as Chair of its technical advisory group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and after that, he served on the President's Review Board on Intelligence and Communications Technologies and on the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Board. Mr. Sunstein has testified before congressional committees on many subjects, and he has advised officials at the United Nations, the European Commission, the World Bank, and many nations on issues of law and public policy. He serves as an adviser to the Behavioural Insights Team in the United Kingdom. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Big Think | Smarter Faster™ ► Big Think The leading source of expert-driven, educational content. With thousands of videos, featuring experts ranging from Bill Clinton to Bill Nye, Big Think helps you get smarter, faster by exploring the big ideas and core skills that define knowledge in the 21st century. Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive access to full interviews, early access to new releases, Big Think merch and more ►Get Big Think+ for Business Guide, inspire and accelerate leaders at all levels of your company with the biggest minds in business ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"We are being furtively nudged, on an unprecedented scale, to obey the doctrines of the world's elite."—Dr Gary Sidley We welcome to the programme Dr Gary Sidley—a former NHS Consultant Clinical Psychologist—for an interview on the UK government's morally questionable use of "nudge" techniques during the Covid Event, the extent to which Nudge Theory is being employed more generally by government, and the serious ethical questions entailed. (Dr Sidley is a freelance writer, trainer, and blogger, who in 2013 retired as a Professional Lead/Consultant Clinical Psychologist after 33 continuous years in the NHS working in psychiatric nursing and clinical psychology. In early 2020 he became extremely concerned about the government's response to the ‘coronavirus crisis', and began writing on the subject at his well-known Coronababble blog. Gary is a member of the Health Advisory & Recovery Team (HART) and the Smile Free campaign to lift all mask mandates. He is currently leading on a research project into the UK's deployment of behavioural science strategies during the Covid Event, and the ethical implications of the state using these methods on its own people.) [For show notes please visit https://themindrenewed.com]

Feedback on littering offences has increased, and rat-related problems are on the rise. Coffee shop toilets continue to rate poorly. Will plans to increase surveillance and name and shame litterbugs work? How long can Singapore rely on an army of cleaners? Steven Chia speaks to Andrew Khng, chairman of the Public Hygiene Council, Dr Serene Koh, director of The Behavioural Insights Team; and Rosie Ching, Principal Lecturer of Statistics from the Singapore Management University.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Coming fresh from the Chatham House Energy Transitions Conference, Ruth Townend is joined in the studio by IPCC lead author on demand, Professor Felix Creutzig, Dr Christina Demski, Deputy Director of the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformation, and Toby Park, Principle Advisor and Head of Energy, Environment and Sustainability at the Behavioural Insights Team. Together they discuss why we need to talk about behaviour change, however uncomfortable the conversation, and explore hot topics such as green lash, heat pumps and the future of cities. Presented by Ruth Townend. Sound by Matthew Docherty and Jamie Reed. Sign up to The Climate Briefing wherever you find your podcasts - please listen, review and subscribe

Malaysia spent RM80 billion on subsidies in 2023 which has led to increasing calls for rationalisation as there are unintended economic consequences . We ask Alex Clark, Head of International, APAC at The Behavioural Insights Team and Dr Amjad Rabi, Visiting Expert, Social Wellbeing Research Centre (SWRC), Universiti Malaya the intricacies in the implementation of targeted subsidies, what are the factors at play here and the best method to help those in need.

In this episode, we explore the intricate world of home-country bias in investment decision-making and learn the secret sauce to effective communication and writing. We start by discussing the definition and influence of home-country bias and explore why investors tend to overweight their portfolios with domestic equities despite global opportunities. We dissect the home bias puzzle, the rationality behind bias, and the conditions under which home-country bias makes sense. Then, Mark McGrath joins us to unpack the complexities of segregated funds and why it might not be the investment product you were hoping for. Following that, we sit down with  Todd Rogers, a prominent behavioural scientist and professor, to discover the science behind effective communication. He explains how we adapt to different communication styles and techniques over time, the foundations of effective communication, and much more. Be sure to tune in as we unravel the complexities of investing, navigate the world of behavioural science, and bring you the tools you need for financial success! Key Points From This Episode: (0:00:00) Episode introduction and what listeners can expect. (0:01:30) Definition of home-country bias and its influence on investors. (0:04:25) Unpack the home bias puzzle and Canadian home bias trends. (0:08:27) Discover the conditions when home bias may make sense. (0:13:10) Relative economic standing: an important aspect of home-country bias. (0:15:00) Explore home-country bias through a quantitative lens. (0:20:28) Common concerns of overweighting a small market cap. (0:27:21) Mark to Market: the good, bad, and complicated side of segregated funds. (0:31:24) Dissect the proposed benefits of segregated funds. (0:39:07) Discover the drawbacks and pitfalls of segregated funds. (0:44:05) Alternatives to segregated funds and Mark's main takeaways. (0:46:50) Highlights from our conversation with Professor Vanessa Bohns. (0:49:38) Introducing today'sguest Todd Rogers, behavioural scientist and professor. (0:51:37) Learn about the science behind effective writing and communication. (0:53:48) Thedecision-making process when receiving new information. (0:56:18) Todd shares thesix principles of effective writing. (0:58:28) When to send a message, why less is more, and tips for effectively communicating. (1:06:32) Advice for using emojis and hyperlinks and the impact of bolding and highlighting. (1:12:35) The impact of AI on effective writing and the importance of good writing. (1:19:45) Final takeaways, book recommendations, listener reviews, and more!   Links From Today's Episode: Rational Reminder on iTunes — https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rational-reminder-podcast/id1426530582. Rational Reminder Website — https://rationalreminder.ca/ Rational Reminder on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/rationalreminder/ Rational Reminder on X — https://twitter.com/RationalRemind Rational Reminder on YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/channel/ Rational Reminder Email — info@rationalreminder.ca Benjamin Felix — https://www.pwlcapital.com/author/benjamin-felix/ Benjamin on X — https://twitter.com/benjaminwfelix Benjamin on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminwfelix/ Cameron Passmore — https://www.pwlcapital.com/profile/cameron-passmore/ Cameron on X — https://twitter.com/CameronPassmore Cameron on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/cameronpassmore/ Mark McGrath on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmcgrathcfp/ Mark McGrath on X — https://twitter.com/MarkMcGrathCFP Home-country Bias YouTube Video — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYedjI03Q0g Assuris — https://assuris.ca Canadian Investor Protection Fund — https://www.cipf.ca/ The Money Scope Podcast — https://moneyscope.ca/ Professor Vanessa Bohns — https://www.vanessabohns.com/ Professor Vanessa Bohns on X — https://twitter.com/profbohns Professor Vanessa Bohns on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/profbohns/ Professor Vanessa Bohns on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessa-bohns-33219710/ Professor Vanessa Bohns on Goodreads — https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21035835.Vanessa_Bohns Todd Rogers on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/todd-rogers-6ba447/ Todd Rogers on X — https://twitter.com/Todd_Rogers_ Harvard University — https://www.harvard.edu/ Analyst Institute — https://analystinstitute.org/ EveryDay Labs — https://www.everydaylabs.com/ The Behavioural Insights Team — https://www.bi.team/ Behavioral Science & Policy Association (BSPA) — https://behavioralpolicy.org/ Six Principles Checklist — GPT-4 — https://openai.com/research/gpt-4 Women's Wealth: Investing Basics for Women Webinar —   Books From Today's Episode: You Have More Influence Than You Think — https://www.amazon.com/dp/1324005718/ Writing for Busy Readers — https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Busy-Readers-Communicate-Effectively/dp/0593187482 Index Funds: The 12-Step Recovery Program for Active Investors — https://www.amazon.com/Index-Funds-12-Step-Recovery-Investors-ebook/dp/B0CL2Z23CT/ The Elements of Style — https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Style-Fourth-William-Strunk/dp/020530902X The Psychology of Money — https://www.amazon.com/Psychology-Money-Timeless-lessons-happiness/dp/0857197681 The Fund — https://www.amazon.com/Fund-Bridgewater-Associates-Unraveling-Street/dp/1250276934 Anatomy of a Breakthrough — https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Breakthrough-Unstuck-When-Matters/dp/1982182962 The Score That Matters — https://www.amazon.com/Score-That-Matters-Excellence-Yourself-ebook/dp/B0CGZ8HRXD The Algebra of Wealth — https://www.amazon.com/Algebra-Wealth-Formula-Financial-Security/dp/0593714024   Papers From Today's Episode: ‘Beyond the Status Quo: A Critical Assessment of Lifecycle Investment Advice' — https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4590406 ‘Global equity investing: The benefits of diversification and sizing your allocation' — https://corporate.vanguard.com/content/dam/corp/research/pdf/Global-equity-investing-The-benefits-of-diversification-and-sizing-your-allocation-US-ISGGEB_042021_Online.pdf

How can we use the insights of behavioral economics to make the world a better place? David Halpern joins Vasant Dhar in episode 78 of Brave New World to share his learnings from running the Behavioral Insight Team for the British government. Useful resources: 1. David Halpern on Wikipedia and the Behavioural Insights Team. 2. The work of the Behavioral Insights Team. 3. Inside the Nudge Unit -- David Halpern. 4. Social Capital -- David Halpern. 5, The Hidden Wealth of Nations -- David Halpern. 6. The behavioural science of online harm and manipulation, and what to do about it -- Elisabeth Costa and David Halpern. 7. Subsidies vs Nudges: Which Policies Increase Saving the Most? -- Raj Chetty et al Check out Vasant Dhar's newsletter on Substack. Subscription is free!

Matt is joined by Matthew Parris and Manveen Rana to discuss claims that Rishi Sunak is a bit thin-skinned, whether a Labour councillor has been blacklisted because of his sexy satanic novels, and what happened when Matthew jumped into the Thames to rescue a dog.Plus: Matt speaks to David Halpern, Founding Director of the Behavioural Insights Team - better known as the 'Nudge Unit' - about the role of behavioural science during the Covid pandemic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, behavioral science experts Michael Hallsworth and Scott Young of The Behavioural Insights Team discuss why it's important for organizations to examine their operational frameworks and systems, in order to better assess how established processes and environments may be impacting the work of their employees. They also share recommendations for reducing overconfidence bias, overcoming entrenched ways of thinking, and fostering a culture of transparency. 

Join us for an inspiring chat with Professor Michael Sanders as he lets us in on his approach for getting things done in academia, the need for code-switching to develop a career in multiple sectors and how to view and use your own privilege to empower others. Michael demonstrates the power of a porous career that spans academia, Chief Scientist in the Behavioural Insights Team, Chief Executive of a What Works charity and advisory work. He provides insight into the role of a professor and shares his take on protecting your wellbeing whilst building a fulfilling, multidisciplinary career in a competitive environment. 

In early 2023, the European Commission and national consumer protection authorities (the “CPC network”) screened 399 online shops. They only focused on 3 specific types of dark patterns: fake countdown timers; interfaces designed to lead consumers to purchases or subscriptions; and hidden information. Even on such a narrow basis, their investigation showed that 148 sites contained at least one of these three dark patterns. The Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) also conducted a sweep in 2023, during which they automatically detected a specific type of dark pattern: countdown timers. Results showed dozens of infringements, just on this one type of deceptive design. In today's episod, Marie Potel speaks with Dries Cuijpers, Senior Enforcement Official and coordinator of the Digital Economy at the Consumer Division of the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets. Dries has 20 years of experience as an enforcement official in numerous economic sectors. He set up ACM's Behavioural Insights Team and managed the team for the first 5 years, he has worked for the OECD on consumer policy and he is a co-author of ACM's Guidelines on the Protection of the Online Consumer.What type of harms are caused by dark patterns, from a regulator point of view? How is the Dutch authority tackling this issue? What's the future of regulation on deception and manipulation around the world? Let's talk about it here and now!To go further : ACM confronts online stores using misleading countdown timers with their practices Have a question or need some support? Visit us at fairpatterns.com and follow us on LinkedIn: FairPatterns! Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.

In this Catalyst Conversation, Sarah Hunter (Non-Executive Director; Director of Global Public Policy, ARIA; X, The Moonshot Factory), Ravi Gurumurthy (CEO and Chair of Behavioural Insights Team, Nesta), and Host Joanna Gosling examine the scale of the challenge and discuss whether ten years is enough time for the UK to achieve its net zero targets. The inaugural Innovation Zero Congress at Olympia London in 2023 convened 6,866 passionate, forward-looking experts who exchanged critical knowledge, debate and discussions around the implementation and scaling of the innovations needed to meet the Paris goals. Learn more via www.innovationzero.com.

In this episode of SDPtalk, William Clouston is joined by photographer, artist and author Laura Dodsworth. We are constantly bombarded with attempts to influence our behaviour, our speech and even our thoughts. Some are overt and transparent, such as advertisements which seek to persuade you to buy their product instead of a competitor's. Others are more insidious, such as the ‘nudge' tactics and fear propaganda deployed by the Behavioural Insights Team during the Covid pandemic. In their bestselling book Free Your Mind, Laura and her co-author Patrick Fagan discuss how to spot and resist the increasing manipulation present in our everyday lives.  Why are some attempts at political or social manipulation more successful than others? Can such tactics ever be justified? And what are the implications for freedom of thought and for democracy? Laura is also a guest speaker at the SDP Conference in October 2023. Learn more about the SDP at: https://sdp.org.uk/ The opening and closing music for SDP Talks is "Prelude in C (BWV 846)" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Author and teacher Adrian Bethune shares his experience with stress in his career and how this inspired him to find ways to support teacher self-care and wellbeing. In this episode, Adrian talks about:1. Normal versus chronic stress he has experienced in his career2. The difference between passive and active stress management strategies3. How to create a bank of wellbeing activities for better self-care4. How to build new habits using the Easy, Attractive, Social, Timely (EAST) frameworkTo learn more about Adrian's publications and work on teacher wellbeing, visit teachappy.ReferencesTo explore Dr Tal Ben-Shahar's work on happiness, go to: https://talbenshahar.com/Behavioural Insights Team (2023) EAST Four simple ways to apply behavioural insights. Available at: https://www.bi.team/here/east... (Accessed: 20 September 2023).Hello teacher. If you are experiencing high levels of stress, then there are organisations that can support. The Samaritans is an example of a charity that listens without judgment. You can call them anytime, email, chat, write a letter or use their self-help app. You can support the work we do at TESOL Pop by: - Leaving a rating and review- Sharing this episode with your teaching community - Buying us a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/tesolpopCredits Podcaster & Producer Laura Wilkes Audio-Video Editor Haven Tsang With thanks to our inspiring guest, Adrian Bethune.

Kate is Co-founder, Chair, and previous CEO of Applied, the essential platform for de-biased recruiting. Applied uses behavioral and data science to help organizations find the best person for the job regardless of their background. Through this platform, Kate aims to make hiring smart, fair, and easy. It also cares about being able to prove impact, so it publishes the results of its experiments and research that inform its product design. Prior to founding Applied, Kate was Principal Advisor and Head of Growth and Equality at the Behavioural Insights Team and has previously worked for UNESCO in South East Asia, and for the Australian Treasury. She is also a former member of the World Economic Forum's Global Action Committee on Behavioural Science. Kate holds a Master in Public Policy degree from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a Bachelor in Economic and Social Sciences from the University of Sydney. She is a Trustee at the Blueprint for Better Business.

Tabitha Rickard discusses Victoria's 'Behavioural Insights Team.' This is just my opinion. PS: If you enjoy my content, I will think of you while drinking my coffee. – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy Me a Coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Slippery Slope Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠J Fallon Apple Music⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠J Fallon Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠J Fallon YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Slippery Slope Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Slippery Slope YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Slippery Slope Stitcher --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-fallon/message

What lies ahead for applied behavioral science? How can we learn from the massive growth in the field over the last 15 years? Our guest, Michael Hallsworth, has very recently published a manifesto on the future of behavioural science and we're privileged to discuss this landmark publication with him on this episode.   Dr Michael Hallsworth PhD has been on the forefront of thought leadership and scholarship in behavioral science for many years. Having earned his PhD in Behavioural Economics from Imperial College in London, he has since spent most of his career working in either public policy or on corporate applications around the world. He is now the Managing Director, North America for the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT).   Stemming from the original Behavioural Insights Team formed at the heart of the UK government in 2010, BIT has grown into a global company, driving positive change in communities and organizations all across the world. Having grown international teams, demonstrated workable behavioral results and shaken up policies around the world, Michael felt it was a good time for BIT to reflect on how far they had come.   In the Manifesto for Applying Behavioural Science, Michael lays out 10 proposals that chart the path forward for behavioral science. We touch on these proposals in our discussion with Michael and the opportunities they present for the future.   * Behavioral science is a global field but unfortunately the spelling is not! In an effort to be diplomatic, we are using both spellings in the show notes!   Topics  (4:54) Why does behavioural science need a manifesto? (7:18) What are some of the major themes? (11:15) How Michael is flipping the prospective on scaling. (16:37) Using behavioral science as a lens. (21:33) Putting randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in their place. (26:02) Choice infrastructure. (30:25) The vulnerability of behavioral science to overconfidence. (35:09) Reframing our language away from rational vs irrational behavior. (39:25) Using algorithms to reduce inequities rather than exploit vulnerabilities.  (47:28) Grooving Session with Kurt and Tim on applying behavioral science.   © 2023 Behavioral Grooves   Links  Manifesto for Applying Behavioural Science: https://www.bi.team/publications/a-manifesto-for-applying-behavioral-science/  Misconceptions about the Practice of Behavioral Public Policy: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4328659  EAST Model: https://www.bi.team/publications/east-four-simple-ways-to-apply-behavioural-insights/  Mindscape Framework: https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guide/neuroscience/mindspace-framework  Ruth Schmidt, Zeya Chen, Veronica Paz Soldan (2022) Choice Posture, Architecture, and Infrastructure: Systemic Behavioral Design for Public Health Policy: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405872622000661  Ruth Schmidt & Katelyn Stenger (2021). Behavioral brittleness: The case for strategic behavioral public policy: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioural-public-policy/article/behavioral-brittleness-the-case-for-strategic-behavioral-public-policy/200D5BBC2947F7AB0CD4B4CD71B6A607  Behavioral Grooves Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/behavioralgrooves 

On this week's episode of the Governance Podcast, Mark Pennington, the Director at the Study of Governance and Society here at King College London, interviews Professor Cass R. Sunstein. This episode is titled "The Use of Algorithms in Society", and discusses the various ethical and moral dilemmas and implications of increasing AI us in society, and its impact on both social and economic factors.    The Guest Cass R. Sunstein is currently the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard. He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. In 2018, he received the Holberg Prize from the government of Norway, sometimes described as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for law and the humanities. In 2020, the World Health Organization appointed him as Chair of its technical advisory group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and after that, he served on the President's Review Board on Intelligence and Communications Technologies and on the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Board. Mr. Sunstein has testified before congressional committees on many subjects, and he has advised officials at the United Nations, the European Commission, the World Bank, and many nations on issues of law and public policy. He serves as an adviser to the Behavioural Insights Team in the United Kingdom. Mr. Sunstein is author of hundreds of articles and dozens of books, including Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (with Richard H. Thaler, 2008), Simpler: The Future of Government (2013), The Ethics of Influence (2015), #Republic (2017), Impeachment: A Citizen's Guide (2017), The Cost-Benefit Revolution (2018), On Freedom (2019), Conformity (2019), How Change Happens (2019), and Too Much Information (2020). He is now working on a variety of projects involving the regulatory state, “sludge” (defined to include paperwork and similar burdens), fake news, and freedom of speech.

Today I follow up on last week's episode on "nudging," "choice architecture," and the Behavioural Insights Team. We look at an example of the Behavioural Insights Team's work, and also spend some time talking about Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler's responses to criticism that their work has received.

Hear how understanding someone's culture can improve lives I was so excited to have the opportunity to speak with Britt Titus on our podcast. As you will learn, Britt found her calling when she discovered how behavioral sciences and humanitarian concerns could transform the world, one step at a time. The two of us are crazy about behavioral sciences, so it was such a joy to share our fascination with the difficulties people have understanding others who differ from them. Whether addressing Ebola in Liberia and West Africa or helping mothers in Mali avoid malnourishment in their children, Britt is constantly humbled by the challenges of helping people do things that seem so logical to those of us from the Global North. As she says, nothing is as simple as it might appear. And humility can often be the best way to bring about changes that can have a huge impact on health. Don't miss this one! Watch and listen to our conversation here It isn't that people cannot understand what you are saying They just have different stories in their own minds about what those words mean and how or why to change their behaviors. Solving problems with others requires us to understand what matters to them, what they believe to be truth. Remember, as I like to say, the only truth is there is no truth. Listen in to Britt Titus and enjoy our journey as part of your own. About Britt Britt's background lies at the intersection of behavioral insights and humanitarian action. She previously worked at Nudge Lebanon where she managed projects that applied behavioral insights to issues related to conflict and violence, ranging from gender-based violence to social cohesion and refugee integration. Beforehand, she spent most of her career working for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in humanitarian response and preparedness across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, including emergency deployments to Liberia for the Ebola outbreak and the Middle East for the regional Syria response.  Britt has a Master of Public Policy (MPP) from the University of Oxford where she focused on applied behavioral science and completed research at the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) in London. You can connect with Britt on LinkedIn or her page on the Airbel Impact Lab website. For more stories about living with a purpose, we recommend these: Podcast: Lisa McLeod—If You Want To Succeed, You Must Find Your Noble Purpose Podcast: Pat Shea—Use Your Passions To Become Who You Want To Be Podcast: Theresa Carrington—Transforming Impoverished Artisans Into Entrepreneurs Additional resources for you My two award-winning books: Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Businessand On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights Our website: Simon Associates Management Consultants   Read the transcript of our podcast here Andi Simon: Welcome to On the Brink With Andi Simon. Hi, I'm Andi Simon. I'm your host and your guide. As you know, I'm the founder and CEO of Simon Associates Management Consultants. We specialize in applying anthropological tools to help people change. And you know, as I've told you, so many times people hate to change, so we help you see things through a fresh lens and get off the brink and soar. Today, I'm absolutely honored to have with us Britt Titus. Now this is a very interesting woman whom you are going to love to meet to learn more about and understand how behavioral sciences can be applied in humanitarian ways that you may be unfamiliar with. Let me read you her background and then I'll introduce her. Her background lies at the intersection of behavioral insights and humanitarian actions. She previously worked at Nudge Lebanon where she managed projects that applied behavioral insights to issues related to conflict and violence, ranging from gender-based violence to social cohesion and refugee integration. She's going to tell you more about that. Beforehand, she spent most of her career working for the United Nations World Food Program in humanity, humanitarian response and preparedness across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, including emergency deployments to Liberia for the Ebola outbreak in the Middle East for regional Syria response. Britt has a Master of Public Policy from the University of Oxford, where she focused on Applied Behavioral Science and completed research at the Behavioural Insights Team in London. It's really an honor and a privilege to have you here. I'm so glad you could join me. Tell our listeners, it's so much fun. Let's add one behavioral scientist to another who are working in different areas, but in similar ways, sort of tell us about Britt. What's your journey like? Let's make you come alive so people can appreciate how you've applied behavioral sciences to all kinds of different problems. Please, who's Britt? Britt Titus: Thanks, Andi. Happy to share. So I started my journey really working for the United Nations when I was in my early 20s, which seems like a long time ago now. And, you know, the team that I was working with within the United Nations was really like a fire response department. So we were responsible for responding to emergencies all over the world, across many different continents, which included a lot of kind of rapid deployments for sudden onset emergencies. And so I really started my career by being thrown in the deep end. My first year with the UN, I was deployed to work on the Syria emergency across Jordan and Lebanon, trying to support the humanitarian community to get aid and relief supplies into the country across borders. And shortly after that, I was also deployed to the Ebola outbreak in 2014, if you can remember that, at that time. So being deployed to Monrovia, that capital, and working within the UN system to try to better respond to the growing number of Ebola cases at that time. And so this was a really formative period in my life. It was extremely rewarding. But something that was always the most interesting to me was the human element. Why are people responding the way they do? Why, when we, the humanitarian community, are bringing relief supplies to communities in Liberia and West Africa, why is there so much fear, and, you know, the incredible, impossible task of trying to encourage people who are experiencing the Ebola outbreak, to kind of turn over their sick family members to these faceless, masked PPE-donned health workers? In the midst of this crisis were all actions that needed to happen and we were struggling. We were building these large Ebola treatment units across the country, these large hospitals, and the beds were empty. And so we had to try and understand very rapidly, why are people not bringing their loved ones, their family members to these hospitals. What we understood was, it was the human element. It was the fear, it was the misinformation, it was the rumors. And the very, very difficult task of taking someone who's very ill and handing them over to these places that were very unknown and unfamiliar and foreign. And so these were the questions that I always grappled with and was so fascinated by. And so, partway into my career within the UN, I really knew that I wanted to go back and spend some time studying a little bit more and understanding how we can shift the way we do humanitarian response. A lot of organizations, you know, the way that we've been doing humanitarian response now is the way we've been doing it for 50 years, and so there's a lot of growing interest in more innovative ways of responding so we can improve outcomes for people whose lives are affected by crisis and conflict. And so one of those ways that I found, maybe my first week doing my master's of public policy, someone mentioned behavioral science, and I said, what's that? As soon as they told me what it was like, that's what I've always been interested in. I just didn't know the name of it. I didn't know that it had a whole evidence based theory behind it. And so I signed up for every course that I could at the University of Oxford, and really delved deep into it. The struggle was, of course, that I found that it was being applied in government, and it was being applied in private sector companies around the world. But, it was not being applied in a systematic way in the humanitarian sector to deal with the issues that I cared about, like pandemics, and health, and prevention of violence, and education for people affected by crisis. And so I was searching high and low for people who would be interested in this behavioral science thing. And it was difficult at that time, that was 2016. I had a lot of really interesting conversations with people who thought it was a great idea. But, it was definitely difficult to get some traction. And so eventually, I found Nudge Lebanon which is a small NGO working out of Beirut, in Lebanon, applying behavioral science to issues like social cohesion between the host population and refugees, health, nutrition, all of these topics that I care so deeply about, and really was able to start start running experiments to understand human behavior, and all for the purpose of trying to improve humanitarian outcomes for people, Syrian refugees, and Lebanese, in Lebanon. And so that was really the beginning of my career in this intersection of these two areas that I care about so deeply, and eventually found that IRC, the International Rescue Committee, the organization I currently work for, has an innovation team called the Airbelt Impact Lab. And within that, one of their core areas, or kind of tools in their toolkit, is behavioral science and so I joined that team, and now I lead the behavioral science team there. So that's my journey, Andi Simon: The most exciting part is that you have gone through your own self discovery. At the same time, you're now trying to bring a new perspective and way of seeing things to people who think they're doing just fine, thank you very much. The most interesting part, you know, there are many things that are interesting about what you're doing, but the hardest part is that it isn't working but that's the way we do it. And if that's the way we've always done it, that must be the right way to do it. But it's not working. Well, maybe it could work better. But that's the way we've always done it. And I can tell you, it's not that different from going into an organization, a business that is fractured, a toxic culture. And they say, well, this isn't good, but it's the way we've always done it. Humans are wonderfully resistant to leaving that shiny object and going to a new way of seeing things that might do better. And the big question is, how will we know? You know, the unknown becomes a crux for not doing it. And so I'm anxious to hear about some of your extraordinary experiences, helping them honestly do just what we said today: see, feel and think in new ways, so they can really overcome the resistance and do better. Help us understand some of the ways that this has been working for you. How have you been able to start the transformation of people's minds? And you know, breaking down the resistance to change? Britt Titus: Well, yes. So yeah, normally with our work, applying behavioral science in humanitarian settings, we are aiming to shift behavior in the population that we're serving. So for example, we're aiming to shift behavior of teachers in a refugee camp or parents in a conflict setting. But you're absolutely right, Andi, that the change needs to start at home. And it is really difficult. And a lot of the behavioral biases and the resistance to change that we see in all of us also happens in our own organizations and our own teams. And so, yes, we are a small team, doing behavioral science work, a team of around four people at the moment, sitting within a wide integration of 15,000 people almost in 40 different countries around the world. So it is no small feat to embed this new approach into the work we're doing. So yeah, I think, you know, a lot of what we try and do with the population, we also try to do at home. I think one of the good things, one of the opportunities, is that a lot of what teams have been doing for a long time, their aim is ultimately what we're trying to do is try to shift behavior, or help people kind of align their actions with their intention. So supporting populations to achieve the outcomes that they want for themselves, whether that's improved education for their family, improved health, whatever it is, and so often, that's really an entry point for us. Because ultimately, we want the same thing. We want to shift behavior in some way, or help people kind of leverage these drivers of behavior, which can help achieve outcomes. So that's our first entry point. And so I think, what is important is to first kind of help these other teams see that we're trying to achieve the same thing, which is always important for behavioral science work, is kind of identifying where the kind of similar values are, or where your shared values, your shared objective is, and then coming in and offering behavioral science, and that is something that's going to replace the ways of doing things from before, and it's definitely not a silver bullet. But what we try to do is help teams see that we can all use it as an added boost. All of these projects, especially for these humanitarian contexts, are working in where the challenges are extremely complex, and extremely just have a lot of complexity in them. Using these tools that can help us understand human behavior, not just at the individual or household level, but also at the system level within a country can be extremely, extremely helpful. And what's also beneficial is that behavioral science interventions tend to be quite cost effective, whether it's shifting the way that people see an intervention, or using different types of messaging, or helping people plan for the future. These are not tools that are incredibly expensive. And so they actually work very well in these contexts, especially where we're resource constrained, which we often are in a humanitarian context. So there's a lot that we can do there to kind of help people see that this is something that can be added on to their existing way of doing things and be embedded within program development and design and doesn't have to replace it. I think what's also really important is bringing teams along in the entire journey. So we know that if people are involved in things early on, they tend to have a sense of ownership, which is really good for building momentum and having buy-in. But at the same time, we know that these programs and these projects are only really going to be effective if we have the input of the people who are closest to the problem. And so it's really twofold. It is important to build ownership. But it's even more important to have their input, because behavioral science interventions are only as good as we understand the context of the problem. And typically, it's our project teams and and our teams on the ground who know those things the best. Andi Simon: How my head is going through at least a dozen questions. Let me take you through the first question. I'll be an apologist. How do you access real insight into what they think the problem is, or how do you begin to, because to your point, people have a story in their mind and that's the one they're trying to live. Like, we don't want to. You're trying to show them a different way that might be more effective, whether it's teaching or it's abuse in the home, or it's whatever the issue is. So somehow, we have to change their story. The Ebola one is a perfect one. You know, the big place wasn't the right place for my sick mom. But you didn't know how I felt or my story about it so I'm not going to do what you say. Even if it may be the right solution, but doesn't fit the way we do things. So story, changing your messaging point is extremely important. And it has to resonate with both the people you're collaborating with on your side and the people who you're trying to engage. Because if they don't engage in the solution, it'll just sit on the surface and never get below it. Am I right? Britt Titus: Absolutely. Yes. What do you do? Great. It's a great question. So I think, traditionally, behavioral science has tended to be a little bit top down. So behavioral scientists get together in a team, they come up with an intervention. You know, they try and understand a bit about the context in which they test that intervention, usually in a rigorous way or with some type of evaluation, but what we've found especially, definitely around the world, but definitely in these contexts, is, we have to spend a lot more time doing this in a more bottom up approach. One, because a lot of the behavioral science evidence including anthropology and psychology and social sciences is really based in the Global North and stable Western context. And so we don't actually know, as a field, as a community, a lot about the unique psychologies of people who are experiencing conflict displacement, or people who are living in the Global South. What is challenging about that is that means we have to do a lot better. But there's really an opportunity there as well, because I think it really forces us to be more humble about what we don't know, and really go in and speak to our clients, we call them clients, the communities that we're serving, as the experts. They are the experts in what is going to work best for them. They are the experts in what has been tried before and has failed. If we create something for them without them being included, then it's never going to be a sustainable solution. Even if we encourage people to take something up once, it doesn't mean they're going to change their behavior in the long run. And so I have an example of a project where this was very evident in northeast Nigeria. So in northeast Nigeria, and globally, the community has been trying to roll out a different way of teaching children, which is called social and emotional learning, which really tries to improve the social and emotional capabilities and skills of children, especially vulnerable children in places like the ones we work in northeast Nigeria, and Yemen, and Lebanon. And so the reason we're doing this is because there's a lot of evidence in the Global North about how these types of activities that can improve emotional regulation, or conflict resolution in children, have been extremely effective. And so humanitarian organizations have tried to roll those out in these contexts as well, except they found very little impact or even no impact when they roll them out. This obviously leads to a lot of confusion. Why are these interventions, these very effective evidence based interventions, working in the Global North and not in places like northeast Nigeria? And so when we went into the project to try and look at this, we had two hypotheses. One was, maybe these activities have not been contextualized enough for the northeast Nigerian context. And the second one was, teachers may not be using them enough for them to have the skill building effects on children so we're not seeing any impact. And so what we did is, we started from the very kind of most local way we could start. So we started by speaking to teachers, parents, headmasters, to the local government in the area, and trying to understand how they see social emotional learning happening in children. What does it mean to grow up to be a successful, socially adapted, emotionally regulated adult in Nigeria, not in the US? What does it mean to do that in Nigeria, and we learned a lot from that exercise. What we learned is, the skills that they thought were most important did not sound very much like the ones that we had been trying to promote. From the US context, the skills that teachers told us in northeast Nigeria that were the most important for children to learn were things like self discipline, obedience and tolerance, which is very different from terms like emotional regulation and conflict resolution. And at first, this was quite alarming to some of our colleagues in the US because words like obedience and discipline don't go down so well in the US context. And so, we had some people who didn't want to use those terms. Andi Simon: Forgive me for laughing, I'm holding back my laugh, because those aren't the right terms? How would they know? Well, they are who they are, and what they know. But I'm sitting here going, we can deny right? Britt Titus: So yeah, we had this little bit of a moment of tension where the local terms and the locally valued skills sounded very different from what had been promoted and studied in the Global North. And so what we did is, we actually did a mapping exercise where we try to understand: what did these words mean to you? We asked the teachers: What does it mean for a child to be obedient and have self discipline, what does that look like? And they told us things like: being able to focus on a task for a long period of time, being able to work well with other students in the classroom and not getting in fights. And it was all the same thing that we were trying to promote in the Global North, they just had completely different ways of talking about it. And that was a real breakthrough, because we realized that teachers were going to be far more interested in using an activity that promotes self discipline and obedience than one that promotes emotional regulation, a term that meant nothing to them. And it meant the same thing, it was promoting the same outcome. And we found as we tested, as we used more of this local framing, and more of this local content, the way we talked about the activities, how we talked about the benefits to the children of engaging with these, we saw more uptake. Teachers were more and more interested in using these activities. And it was almost like, finally, you've created something that's actually for our classrooms. And so we did this kind of iterative approach of working with, I think it was about 12 core teachers over a year, continually improving, adding more local content to the program, infusing these local framings, to the point where every single word we used throughout this program, from the training to the activity cards to the illustrations, were completely localized. And we saw really big improvements. And we just did a pilot study that ran for about six months, and found that on average, teachers have been using these activities for about 18 minutes a day, up from pretty much zero. So we're really excited about this progress. And, yeah, it seems to be the evidence so far showing that teachers are really excited and motivated to use these activities for the first time since we've been testing them, so just an example. Andi Simon: That's a big example. And for our listeners or viewers, think about what Britt is talking about. First, they are co-creating it with the end user. And the second thing is that words create the worlds we live in. And they are words that may sound like your words, but they don't have the same meaning. And the third part is that if you don't understand the story and what they're looking for in the behavior, as opposed to the words, you won't know what it is you're trying to actually achieve. And it becomes an interesting, I'll call it my aha moment, when you realize that we're trying to both do the same thing really well, but if we don't think of it from your perspective, you know, not mine, and it isn't what I do, it's what you need, how do I help you? It reframes the whole conversation and now we become a support team. And maybe that's not how you see it but our job is to be an enabler, a facilitator, a support team, and then watch what's actually happening and redirect it along, and we become collaborators and partners in transformation. That is a very exciting place to be, isn't it? Britt Titus: Yes, absolutely. I think you summarized it perfectly. Andi Simon: But your word humble is very important as well. Britt Titus: Yes, it's a mindset. But I think putting it into practice looks exactly like what you said. It is working extremely closely with the people that you're designing for. It's treating them as experts. It's co-creating with them at every step of the way. It's making sure that you are checking every assumption you have and everything down to the words and what they mean, and how they know what they mean, to people that might be different from the way you think about them. You know, I think all of those things are the practical applications of a humility mindset. And I think every project could benefit from that type of approach. Andi Simon: Well, what you're really doing is something very powerful because if you have 4000 folks out there who all think that they know better, and the folks are trying to help, don't, you can't go very far. I don't know if you know Judith Glaser's work on conversational intelligence and the power of neuroscience. She was an organizational anthropologist. The brain assuming they're all very much the same brains. When you say I the amygdala immediately fears, it flees, it hijacks it, it fights, it runs away from it, it just protects you. You're challenging me. But if we say we, all of a sudden: procreation, the trust, the oxytocin flows through your brain. We bond and if that's the way our minds work, regardless if you're in West Nigeria, or Lebanon, and we say the right words, however that said, and that doesn't necessarily mean we, but it is a different response for reasons that are good, but the mind isn't fighting you or fleeing you. It wants to know how, and that creates a behavioral sciences. An enormous power of transformation. As you're thinking, is there another illustrative case of things actually working? Britt Titus: Yeah, Absolutely, yeah. So I think another really exciting project we have been working on using a similar approach is in Mali. And one of the big problems that we're trying to address in Mali and other countries is severe acute childhood malnutrition. And so one of the big problems with trying to address childhood malnutrition is being able to detect it and diagnose it. And a lot of children don't get the treatment that they need because they never get diagnosed, and it's too late by the time that they are diagnosed, it's too late in their journey. And, it's too difficult to either bring them back or there's a lot of health morbidities that come with that. So, in rural areas, like in Mali, where we work, typically the place to get diagnosed is quite far away. Mothers and fathers tend to have to travel very, very far distances, hours a day, if they want to go visit a clinic. And so one of the kinds of solutions within the humanitarian space is to put the opportunity and responsibility of screening children in the hands of parents themselves. And so there's a tape that is given out to mothers which goes around a child's arm, upper arm, and can measure whether or not they're malnourished or not, with a red, yellow, green kind of traffic light type measurement. The problem is, if you are going to screen your own child for malnutrition, you have to do that every single month at least, sometimes every single week, in order to detect these small changes that can happen that you might not notice just by looking at your child if you see them every day. And so this is a behavior that is quite difficult. It's something that you have to do every single month, which is a very difficult timing to remember. I think, if you and I were told to do something every month for the next year, at some point in the month without a phone reminder, or an email calendar, notification, there's pretty much no way I remember to do that. And also, these mothers are expected to do a lot. They are cooking for the family, they are cleaning, they are sometimes working. And so, in terms of mental scarcity, and in terms of all the things that they're expected to remember and to do every day, it's pretty much impossible that they remember to do this. And so we've seen in areas where the majority of women were trained on this approach, very little, maybe a fifth of those women, ever use that tape to screen their own children for malnutrition, which is a big problem. So we wanted to understand why this is happening. What's going on? What is the reason why we're seeing so much kind of drop off after the training, and how can we encourage women to screen their children because ultimately, they want their children to be healthy and happy and to know if their children are experiencing malnutrition, so they can get help in time. So when we did this kind of exploratory phase, which we'd like to do, especially based on what we said earlier, we don't know a lot about the psychologies of women in rural Mali. And there are no papers out there that say how to encourage mothers in rural Mali to screen their own children for malnutrition. There's actually very little to go on. And if you were going to try and develop a reminder, which is a common behavioral science tool used across the world, if you were going to try and set that up, for example, in the US or the UK, you might send text message reminders, once a month. The problem is these women do not have their own phones, maybe they share a phone in the household. Even if there is a phone, they might not have a signal. Very often it might be in and out. And they might not have the ability to have phone data on a regular basis. So that's really not an option for us. And many of them are illiterate, meaning that even if we sent a text message, it would be very difficult for them to read it. So we had to come up with a way of reminding women in rural areas without using any technology or any kind of, you know, device or data which we often rely on. And, this is especially difficult in areas where these women have a different way of considering time and timekeeping than we would. There's no calendars in their home, there's not necessarily kind of the same way we would think about timing and marking days. And so we really have to understand how these women think about time. How do they remember to do the things that they already do? What are their existing things that they have to remember to do once a month or once a week? And how can we really leverage what they're already doing and the way they already consider time and piggyback onto that. And so we did a lot of testing with these women over and over again, going back and back and forth to this region of Mali, and testing and prototyping and showing them examples, which was really fun and they really enjoyed being able to rank different ideas and give us feedback, and they were very honest with us. One of our ideas was, should we get a little device that goes off once a month, a little beeper? They very confidently said, Well, where are we going to get the batteries for that? That's a silly idea. And so they were very, very helpful in that co-creation. process. And I think we've found across projects that the more time you spend with the user group, the more you build trust, and the more honest answers you start getting. It's not always the case at the beginning. So really investing in those relationships, and seeing the same women over and over again, was very, very helpful for the project, to really get the nitty gritty out of the context and their lived experience. And so what we ended up finding out is that many of these women are in these informal women's savings groups. So they meet about once a month, with other women, and they pool their savings. And we were like, Great, well, you're already doing this thing once a month. And so we thought, Well, what happens if we piggybacked on that, and we encourage women to bring their children to these meetings once a month, and they can all screen together, which would be socially reinforcing. You'd be seeing other women doing it. It would be the reminder to you and have the ease of doing it there when everyone else is doing it, and you have support of other women if you're not quite sure, if you're getting the right reading especially if you are holding a wiggly child on your lap and trying to get their arm to hold still is, is an impossible feat on its own. So we tested this out, and they really, really loved it. So we got really positive feedback. And we're able to continue iterating on that idea, and kind of create the social network reminder that came out of months and months of spending time with a population understanding their lived reality that we would have never known had we tried to come up with a solution and implemented in the first few weeks, that took months of getting to know the population before we're able to find that kind of sweet spot between what they're already doing, and what also meets the needs of the program. So we've also just run a pilot study on that and found really promising results from that activity. And women are really excited about using those groups with other women to screen their children for malnutrition. Andi Simon: We don't have to talk now about what they do if they find out if they are malnourished. But that's another piece of this, but I think that the power of the group is fascinating for Westerners who think about isolation. And families having new grandparents here. There's a great bunch of articles that just came out on the power of the grandparent and that the nature of society and smallest scale societies is very much about each other, about a collaboration. Even if you live in isolation, you need the others to help you save, take care of your kids, and know-how and doing it together. It's much more exciting and fun, and something purposeful, in your mind, as opposed to simply tactical and practical. Yes, it was tactical and practical. Take the measurement, and you'll know. Britt Titus: Much better to have that kind of social accountability and to have that reminding point, and to know that other women are going through the same thing, which also can help a lot with stigma and norms as well. So we believe that can also be a kind of an intervention that picks up momentum, as people start to see that this is the new norm, and start to see others doing it more often. Andi Simon: I think you'll probably have a bunch of detours along the journey. I don't think there's a destination per se. But I think the other part you might find is that there'll be self-appointed leaders who begin to take ownership of this and who now feel a responsibility to the group, casual, informal leaders, who now talk to each other in a way that they can see the benefits and then it becomes contagious. It's so interesting because it doesn't matter whether it's here in the States or anywhere else, humans are fascinating. And if you don't pause for a moment and see through their eyes and how to do it, you can't go anywhere, even if we know where we need to go, it won't get there. And then they're the problem, but they're not the problem. You're the problem. Actually, you're not the problem, either. The problem is a problem. Then the question is, how can we get past it to find some solutions that are clever and creative and innovative? There's a book called, The Secret of our Success. It's a wonderful book about how human evolution has happened. You and I both love to look back to go forward. But it's because of our collective brains. And what you're describing as a collective brain, not an isolated one. The isolates didn't do very well, they didn't survive very well. But together, we can do far better, in the shareables, and you will almost probably become part of the shareables. You are no longer the outsiders but part of the insider. This is such fun. You and I could talk for a while. We've probably taken our listeners' and viewers' time up, but I so enjoy the opportunity to share your sharing with us. And I can't thank you enough for doing that. The organization: would you like to share a little bit more about the work that you're doing at the IRC? And how people might find out more about it? And why it should be important for them, please? Britt Titus: Absolutely, yes. So the IRC is also speaking of looking back in time, quite an old organization. So it was actually set up in 1933, at the request of Albert Einstein to support the Germans who were suffering under Hitler's regime, and also eventually refugees from Mussolini's Italy, and Franco's Spain. And so this organization has been around for a long time, and has also had many iterations. And so yeah, now we're a large organization, as I mentioned, serving around 40 different countries around the world. And within that organization, we have the Airbelt Impact Lab, which is our research and innovation, part of the organization. And so within that team, we're really focused on trying to create breakthrough solutions in the areas of malnutrition, which I've mentioned, education, and emergencies, which I've also mentioned, women's health, and climate resilience and adaptation for the future climate shocks and current climate shocks that are disproportionately affecting people in humanitarian contexts. So those are the main areas that we are focusing on with our innovation, behavioral science, human-centered design, and all of these different approaches. And so I welcome everyone to have a look at our website, which is the Airbelt Impact Lab website, which I think you can probably share with people. It's airbelt.rescue.org, to read about some of the projects we've been working on and see how you can support it if you're interested in being involved. Andi Simon: Don't you love it! You have found your calling. It is so beautiful. Thank you, I don't know where your journey is going to take you, but thank you for sharing it today. And for all of our listeners and viewers, thank you for sharing our podcasts with your network and wherever you can. As I mentioned, we are now in the top 5% of global podcasts. It's truly an honor and a privilege to be able to find great people like Britt to share with you and then you take it from there. If you've got folks you want us to interview, info@Andisimon.com is just how you can reach us. And SimonAssociates.net is our website. My books are available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. And they continue to be best sellers and award winners and having fun. My next book comes out next September 2023 and I will tell you all about it when it happens. But for now, I want to wish you a safe and happy journey wherever life is taking you. And please enjoy yourself for every day is a gift. And we have to leave it like that. And Britt is doing some marvelous work. Go look at her website and take a look at how you might be able to help her or at least learn from what she's doing. The messaging is very important. She is helping you see, feel, and think in new ways. And that's what we're here to help you do. So on that note, I'm going to sign off and say goodbye. Thanks for it.

Every day we're talking about the rising cost of living - interest rates, power bills, grocery prices, petrol. But could behavioural science help to alleviate the pressure?Sean Aylmer talks to Commonwealth Bank Chief Behavioural Scientist William Mailer, and Professor David Halpern, the CEO of the UK's Behavioural Insights Team, about how banks can use behavioural science to make life easier for customers.Support the show: https://fearandgreed.com.au/all-episodesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode features a conversation with Marcos Pelenur, Head of Sustainability and Decarbonization at the Behavioural Insights Team, Americas. It was recorded at the beginning of October 2022. The Behavioural Insights Team generates and applies behavioural insights to inform policy, improve public services, and deliver results for citizens and society at large. And in his role, Marcos works to develop and implement the Behavioural Insights Team's sustainability and decarbonization strategy. Previously, Marcos headed up Strategy, Insights and Regulations at New Zealand's Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, which has the mission of mobilising New Zealanders to be world leaders in clean and clever energy use. Here, Marcos worked across government entities to deliver strong, evidence-based programme design, as well as the implementation of energy efficiency standards and regulations. Prior to this, Marcos worked across a range of senior policy leadership positions at New Zealand's Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment and also headed the Behavioural Insights Team's work on energy and sustainability in the UK. He's guest lectured on Behavioural Economics at the University of Victoria and taught "Introduction to Behavioural Economics for Policy" for the New Zealand Government Economics Network. He holds a PhD and MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development from the University of Cambridge. And before all of that, Marcos worked as an engineer in smart metering and energy management. Our conversation, which is packed with actions for us, as communicators, to consider in association with our outreach, covers the many and varied ways that behavioural insights can contribute to more effective communications, particularly when it comes to engaging audiences about climate change. Additional links:Behavioural Insights Team websiteThe Little Book of Green Nudges

David Halpern, the ‘What Works' National Adviser since 2013 and Chief Executive of the Behavioural Insights Team, has spent nearly a decade advising ministers and other leaders in government on using evidence to make better policy. As his term as national adviser comes to an end, he spoke at the Institute for Government to look back at the successes, failures and future prospects for doing ‘what works' and how it should continue to inform government practice and policy. Tamara Finkelstein, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and head of the civil service policy profession, joined David to reflect on good policy making, with Alex Thomas, Programme Director at the Institute for Government chairing the event. #IfGWhatWorks

David Halpern, the ‘What Works' National Adviser since 2013 and chief executive of the Behavioural Insights Team, has spent nearly a decade advising ministers and other leaders in government on using evidence to make better policy. As his term as national adviser comes to an end he spoke at the Institute for Government to look back at the successes, failures and future prospects for doing ‘what works' and how it should continue to inform government practice and policy. Tamara Finkelstein, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and head of the civil service policy profession, joined David to reflect on good policy making, with Alex Thomas, Programme Director at the Institute for Government chairing the event. #IfGWhatWorks

Inside The Nudge Unit is a podcast from The Behavioural Insights Team. Episode 12 looks at recent work from the team in the areas of road safety, online fraud, conflict resolution and synthetic data. Over the past decade, car crash death rates in the US for pedestrians rose by 36%, even as death rates fell for drivers and passengers. Over a third of San Francisco's traffic deaths are caused when drivers make left turns and don't see the person in the crosswalk.  BIT's Lis Costa is joined by Maximillian Kroner from our US office to discuss a pilot study conducted by BIT on the roads of San Francisco that reduced average speeds of cars approaching potentially dangerous turns by 17%.  If you're not familiar with the concept of synthetic data you are not alone but its potential in the fields of behavioural science and policy research is considerable. BIT's Head of Data Science and Technology Dr Paul Calcraft spoke to BIT's Aisling Colclough to explain more. Boko Haram in Nigeria has been conducting a violent campaign against the authorities for many years but increasingly members are turning away from the militant group, expressing remorse and asking to rejoin the society they were previously terrorising. BIT's Dr Antonio Silva talks about the work the team have been doing to help with this reconciliation and reintegration challenge. Finally this episode of Inside The Nudge Unit features a project from BIT France looking at how to help protect people from the ever present risk of online fraud. This project was run with and financed by the DITP - France's Département for Public Transformation. Tom McMinigal from BIT France speaks to BIT's Andrew Schein about his experience pretending to sell coffee machines through a fake online scam to help teach people how to avoid the actual ones.  More information can be found on our website www.bi.team: Road safety: https://www.bi.team/blogs/dangerous-left-turns-slow-by-17-in-traffic-study-leveraging-behavioral-science/ Synthetic data: https://www.bi.team/blogs/accelerating-public-policy-research-with-easier-safer-synthetic-data/ Peacebuilding: https://www.bi.team/blogs/can-mass-media-reduce-violent-conflict/ Online fraud: https://www.modernisation.gouv.fr/publications/comment-mieux-proteger-le-consommateur-des-fraudes-lachat-en-ligne-la-ditp-mobilise   Inside The Nudge Unit is a production of the Behavioural Insights Team Editing and sound design is by Andy Hetherington of Studio Gibbon: https://www.facebook.com/thestudiogibbon/ Producer is Rich O'Brien https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1m3zn3SHmMh3vuR13hkLCP?si=88ed700f455c4dc4

Key learning points1.How Zurich is changing company culture by embracing diversity and inclusion2.The learnings from Zurich's D&I initiative3.How to get leaders on board with D&I change Today on the Risky Mix podcast we're delighted to be joined by Steve Collinson, Chief HR Officer at Zurich UK. As well as sharing his personal journey and passion for D&I, Steve is here to talk about Zurich's impressive efforts to overhaul company culture and improve both diversity and inclusion across the organisation. From flexible work initiatives to more inclusive employee benefits, Zurich has led by example over the last few years, and we're really looking forward to hearing more about the progress they've made and what they've learned along the way.Being a Zurich ‘lifer', Steve has worked in all sorts of change-focused roles, eventually becoming Chief HR Officer in 2018. Steve shares his passion for change at work, particularly through listening to employees' lived experiences, not just examining data. His core goal was simple: ‘To put weight to the voice of our own people'.We ask Steve about the change employees were asking for. Taking gender as an example, he tells us that whilst Zurich's workforce had gender parity in their most junior roles, the same could not be said for senior positions. He emphasises how important it was for the firm to be open and honest about its starting point and progress; Zurich still published its ethnicity, gender, disability, and LGBT pay gap data, despite the reporting government's break in 2020.Steve engaged The Behavioural Insights Team, who challenged Zurich to introduce a ‘behavioural nudge'. Now, all job roles are advertised as 'part-time, job-share or full-time', which made a significant difference; the proportion of women hired rose and the number of applications for all positions more than doubled. Moreover, the number of women working part-time has risen significantly – almost one in four female hires in the last 12 months are employed part-time.When asked about Zurich's progress with inclusion, Steve tells us that the firm has put massive effort into diversity, yet inclusivity is almost more important – as it's critical for employee retention. He introduced various initiatives, including having employee resource groups visit the board at least twice a year. Steve also worked to introduce benefits and policy to ‘celebrate diversity' – including equalising parental leave, and creating menopause, premature babies, IVF, and other policies – not just for support, but to also create a conversation around these experiences.We also ask Steve how he got leaders on board with his ideas. Steve notes that he was lucky to work with a supportive CEO. But he has also stressed the importance of D&I to his executives, with the knowledge that ‘a more diverse and inclusive, empowered and engaged organisation delivers a better bottom-line result'. But Steve also adds that he avoids ‘opening Excel and creating a business case for every scenario' as many initiatives ‘were simply the right thing to do'. Where costs are associated, communicated these in advance and planned for them.And the result? Engagement in the company is ‘at levels that would have been dreamed of five years ago' and Zurich is the only insurer ranked in the top fifty places to work on Glassdoor. Yet whilst Steve is very happy with the progress made, he believes the company still has a way to go. Steve realises it remains a challenge in financial services to attract workers from the black community, which he argues is a reality leaders need to accept and resolve. He is adamant that Zurich seeks a diverse and balanced applicant pool ‘at the top of the funnel' and wants to ensure that the recruitment process is free of unconscious bias that does not create disadvantage to certain groups.

Joining us today we have the authors of a new paper reporting the effect of a text message intervention on burnout in trainee anaesthetists. First we have Emily Larson who is a Senior Advisor at The Behavioural Insights Team. Emily has worked on reducing burnout and increasing wellbeing with physicians, educators and children. We also have Dr Alix Brazier who is also a Senior Advisor at The Behavioural Insights Team and currently leads BIT's work applying behavioural insights to improve healthcare. Alix is also a PhD student at Imperial College, London, who also supported this research. Finally, we have Dr Yihan Xu who is a research advisor at The Behavioural Insights Team and she designs and runs rapid online or field trials to inform and improve the delivery of government services in public health and education, for clients like the Department of Health and Social Care, the NHS, the Education Endowment Foundation, and the Ministry of Defence.

Boris Johnson has announced that all Covid rules could be scrapped next week in England, but with daily Covid cases still high and millions of people still unvaccinated, how should scientists and the government talk to those who are hesitant to get the coronavirus jab?  On today's episode we speak to David Halpern, Chief Executive of the Behavioural Insights Team, about why some people have not yet had the Covid vaccine.  We also ask him what more the government could do to ensure as many people as possible get the jab, and why people in some countries have adhered to Covid rules better than in others.

În acest nou episod din podcastul The Mind Online, parte a seriei #NOHACK realizată de start-up.ro în parteneriat cu Bitdefender, aflăm cum ne-a afectat pandemia (și mutarea cu totul în online) memoria, atenția și puterea de concentrare. Invitatul permanent al The Mind Online Podcast este Nansi Lungu, Consumer's Behaviour Coordinator la Bitdefender și fondator al Behavioural Insights Team. Nansi are un doctorat în filosofia minții și un masterat în terapie cognitivă. Împreună cu el am încercat să aflăm răspunsurile pentru întrebarea ”ce s-a întâmplat cu memoria noastră în ultimii ani?”. Nansi explică faptul că e complet normal să uităm lucruri. Și nu doar că e normal, ci și sănătos. ”În mod sigur, creierul uită constant - și e foarte bine că uită, în sensul în care restructurează informația astfel încât să rămână doar informațiile esențiale. E un lucru foarte important. Nu e o problemă că, din când în când, mai uităm. Văd foarte des în jurul meu oameni care spun «am început să uit, nu știu ce se întâmplă cu mine» - e cel mai probabil o panică nejustificată. Nu uităm atât de server încât să fie considerată o problemă cognitivă”, explică Nansi Lungu. El mai punctează faptul că dacă ar fi, într-adevăr, o problemă serioasă s-ar manifesta ”atât de evident încât nu ar mai fi dubii”.

This episode features a conversation with Harry Fletcher-Wood, who has written an absolutely fascinating book called Habits of Success: Getting every student learning. Ground-breaking books about education don't come around too often, but Habits of Success is truly pioneering. We've heard a lot about cognitive science in recent years - often a quite narrow interpretation of cognitive science which focuses largely on memorising stuff. But there has been another area of social science bubbling away in the background in recent years, slowly coming to the boil - the field of behavioural science. A few years ago the UK government set up something called the Behavioural Insights Team - also known as the Nudge Unit - which focuses on how to change people's behaviour not by telling them what to do (like ‘eat 5 fruit and veg a day'), but by nudging them in the right direction (like by putting attractive displays of fruit next to the checkout in a school canteen). In Habits of Success, Harry applies insights from the world of Behavioural Science to the problem of how to help students build helpful habits for learning effectively, while breaking one or two unhealthy habits along the way. I really enjoyed my conversation with Harry. About half-way through the podcast there's a section where I ask him some taxing questions about the book, and his responses were really impressive. Harry has an enviable gift for expressing complex ideas in a really engaging, accessible way. As always, this was a fascinating conversation which left me with many more questions than answers, which is always a good sign that you've hit a rich seam. Link to the Fiorella paper on the Science of Habits Harry mentions paywalled unfortunately): https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10648-020-09525-1 Mighty Network Welcome Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47xZ73YPTNs Rethinking Education Campfire Conversations playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ…WX9gMBCQJtHxoGNh2 The Rethinking Education Mighty Network: https://www.rethinking-education.mn.co/feed Become a Patron of the Rethinking Education project: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy James a pint, a coffee - or perhaps even a pint of coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at https://rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.

The second and final part of a very special episode of Inside the Nudge Unit, recorded to tie in with the recent 10 year anniversary of the Behavioural Insights Team. Join our CEO, Professor David Halpern, with the founders and pioneers of behavioural economics, Professor Richard Thaler, Professor Cass Sunstein and Google's head behavioural scientist Dr Maya Shankar, discussing how ‘nudge' has evolved over the last decade and where the science of human behaviour is headed next.  Richard Thaler is the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the 2017 recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to behavioural economics. He has been at the forefront of research into psychology of decision-making and economics for over two decades and is the co-author of the international best seller Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness in which the concepts of behavioural economics are applied to tackle many of society's biggest problems.  As well as being co-author of the best-seller Nudge, Cass Sunstein is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School and Chair of the World Health Organization's technical advisory group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and served on President Barack Obama's Review Board on Intelligence and Communications Technologies and on the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Board.  Maya Shankar is Google's Global Director of Behavioral Economics and joined Cass Sunstein as a Senior Advisor within the Obama White House administration where she founded and served as Chair of the White House's Behavioral Science Team — a team of scientists charged with improving public policy using research insights about human behavior. Maya completed a post-doctoral fellowship in cognitive neuroscience at Stanford after receiving a Ph.D. from Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship and a B.A. from Yale in cognitive science.  To learn more about BIT's first and next 10 years, go to www.bi.team/bit10. You can find every other episodes of Inside The Nudge Unit at www.bi.team/our-work/podcast-inside-the-nudge-unit and keep up to date with all our latest insights on Twitter @B_I_Tweets.   Further reading Nudge is available to buy as paperback or e-book on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nudge-Improving-Decisions-Health-Happiness/dp/0141040017   Read more about Maya Shankar's work on behavioural science at her website https://mayashankar.com/bio   Check out Richard Thaler's Nobel Prize winning work here https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2017/thaler/biographical/   Credits  Editing by Andy Hetherington Music by Rich O'Brien

Part 1 of a very special episode of Inside the Nudge Unit, recorded to tie in with the recent 10 year anniversary of the Behavioural Insights Team. Join our CEO, Professor David Halpern, with the founders and pioneers of behavioural economics, Professor Richard Thaler, Professor Cass Sunstein and Google's head behavioural scientist Dr Maya Shankar, discussing how ‘nudge' has evolved over the last decade and where the science of human behaviour is headed next.  Richard Thaler is the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the 2017 recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to behavioural economics. He has been at the forefront of research into psychology of decision-making and economics for over two decades and is the co-author of the international best seller Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness in which the concepts of behavioural economics are applied to tackle many of society's biggest problems.  As well as being co-author of the best-seller Nudge, Cass Sunstein is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School and Chair of the World Health Organization's technical advisory group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and served on President Barack Obama's Review Board on Intelligence and Communications Technologies and on the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Board.  Maya Shankar is Google's Global Director of Behavioral Economics and joined Cass Sunstein as a Senior Advisor within the Obama White House administration where she founded and served as Chair of the White House's Behavioral Science Team — a team of scientists charged with improving public policy using research insights about human behavior. Maya completed a post-doctoral fellowship in cognitive neuroscience at Stanford after receiving a Ph.D. from Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship and a B.A. from Yale in cognitive science.  To learn more about BIT's first and next 10 years, go to www.bi.team/bit10. You can find every other episodes of Inside The Nudge Unit at www.bi.team/our-work/podcast-inside-the-nudge-unit and keep up to date with all our latest insights on Twitter @B_I_Tweets.   Further reading   Nudge is available to buy as paperback or e-book on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nudge-Improving-Decisions-Health-Happiness/dp/0141040017   Read more about Maya Shankar's work on behavioural science at her website https://mayashankar.com/bio   Check out Richard Thaler's Nobel Prize winning work here https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2017/thaler/biographical/   Credits  Editing by Andy Hetherington Music by Rich O'Brien  

While the use of Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) in government has historically been low, over the last 10 years, the Behavioural Insights Team has aimed to popularise the use of the RCTs and support the work of the organisations like the Cochrane and Campbell Collaboration to get evidence into policy. During this time, a passionate debate has raged between the proponents of RCTs and also those who have argued that RCTs may even be overused or that they are not driven by theory enough.    However, this debate has not stopped action organisations like the Education Endowment Foundation supercharging the number of RCTs being funded, or organisations like Administrative Data Research UK or the UK Ministry of Justice's Data Lab service finding new ways to support governments to be more effective. In this podcast, Alex Gyani in Sydney and Alex Sutherland in London discuss what being a fully evidenced based  government means and how we can get there. We'll start by discussing what it means to be evidence based, then highlight how BIT has been able to run trials at scale and how ‘nudge' trials compare to those run in academia. Finally, we look to the future and the promise of machine learning and how AI might be able to help human decision making.   If you would like to know more you can download Test, Learn, Adapt here and can also read our report on data science and behavioural insights here. If you would like to know more about the history of whey, you can go here.   Credits:  Editing by Evan Sycamnias at Pixelife Studio Production by Alex Gyani    Musical credits:  Intro: Next to you by Jessie Villa Outro: Cassette Deck by Basketcase 

The Behavioural Insights Team have spent the last 10 years developing solutions that are informed by behavioural science. These insights do not emerge overnight. Instead, they are grounded in a firm understanding of the systems in which we operate. Reading academic (or policy) papers is an important step to developing evidence based interventions, but it will only get you so far if you want to understand the context in which you want to implement an intervention. Instead, we argue that you need to leave the office and try to experience the context as closely as you can, either by directly experiencing it, or by directly speaking to the people that do.  To try to convince you that you should step away from your desk, we've created a podcast which we think will give you a much better sense of why you can't read your way out of a complex policy problem.  In this podcast, Alex Gyani and Rory Gallagher from BIT's Sydney office speak to Zoe Powell, Saul Wodak, Allison Wong, Edwina Crawford and Sophie Munro about their experiences of going out into the field and some of the insights they took from that process. We'll describe projects that have tackled domestic violence, unemployment and the health and safety of gig economy workers. If you want to know more about those specific projects, just follow the links posted in this description.    We cover lots of projects in this podcast. This work has been designed with and funded by a wide range of organisations. In particular, we would like to acknowledge and thank: The NSW Behavioural Insights Unit, the NSW Aboriginal Services Unit within the NSW Department of Justice (for the work on reducing domestic work in NSW) The NSW Government's Centre for Work Health and Safety (for the work on Food Delivery Workers in NSW) The JobCentre Plus teams in Essex, UK (for the work on employment in the UK) And the Customer Experience and Design, and Trial Design Evaluation teams in the NZ Ministry for Social Development (for our ongoing partnership) We apologise to anyone we have omitted and thank all our partners who have helped inform and evolve our Explore work.   Note: that this podcast describes the court processes involved in domestic violence cases. While no acts of violence are described in the podcast, if you are affected by domestic violence or abuse, there are a number of services you can reach out to.    Australia:  Call 000 if you are in immediate danger. To access 24/7 counselling and support call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732. New Zealand: Call 111 if you are in immediate danger. Call 0800 456 450 free from any phone, 9am to 11pm every day. UK: Call 000 if you are in immediate danger. For free and confidential advice, anytime call 0808 2000 247. US: Call 911 if you are in immediate danger. For free and confidential advice, anytime call 1800 799 7233.    Credits: Editing by Evan Sycamnias at Pixelife Studio Production by Alex Gyani  Musical credits: Intro: Next to you by Jessie Villa Outro: Cassette Deck by Basketcase Additional music by Enrize Studio

Welcome to Inside The Nudge Unit, the new podcast series from the world's first Nudge Unit, The Behavioural Insights Team, exploring the fascinating world of behavioural insights

Part of the Colloquium on AI Ethics series presented by the Institute of Ethics in AI. This event is also part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding stones for the future Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities. Imagine that two doctors in the same city give different diagnoses to identical patients - or that two judges in the same courthouse give different sentences to people who have committed the same crime. Suppose that different food inspectors give different ratings to indistinguishable restaurants - or that when a company is handling customer complaints, the resolution depends on who happens to be handling the particular complaint. Now imagine that the same doctor, the same judge, the same inspector, or the same company official makes different decisions, depending on whether it is morning or afternoon, or Monday rather than Wednesday. These are examples of noise: variability in judgments that should be identical. Noise contributes significantly to errors in all fields, including medicine, law, economic forecasting, police behavior, food safety, bail, security checks at airports, strategy, and personnel selection. Algorithms reduce noise - which is a very good thing. Background reading: two papers (i) https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3300171; (ii) https://hbr.org/2016/10/noise Speakers Professor Cass Sunstein (Harvard Law School) Commentators: Professor Ruth Chang (Faculty of Law, University of Oxford) and Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt (Jesus College, Oxford and Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford) Chaired by Professor John Tasioulas (inaugural Director for the Institute for Ethics and AI, and Professor of Ethics and Legal Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford). Biographies: Professor Cass Sunstein is currently the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard. He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. In 2018, he received the Holberg Prize from the government of Norway, sometimes described as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for law and the humanities. In 2020, the World Health Organization appointed him as Chair of its technical advisory group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and after that, he served on the President's Review Board on Intelligence and Communications Technologies and on the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Board. Mr. Sunstein has testified before congressional committees on many subjects, and he has advised officials at the United Nations, the European Commission, the World Bank, and many nations on issues of law and public policy. He serves as an adviser to the Behavioural Insights Team in the United Kingdom. Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt is Principal of Jesus College Oxford and a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford. He has researched and published on topics in artificial intelligence, cognitive science and computational neuroscience. In 2009 he was appointed along with Sir Tim Berners-Lee as Information Advisor to the UK Government. This work led to the release of many thousands of public sector data sets as open data. In 2010 he was appointed by the Coalition Government to the UK Public Sector Transparency Board which oversaw the continued release of Government open data. Nigel continues to advise Government in a number of roles. Professor Shadbolt is Chairman and Co-founder of the Open Data Institute (ODI), based in Shoreditch, London. The ODI specialised in the exploitation of Open Data supporting innovation, training and research in both the UK and internationally. Professor Ruth Chang is the Chair and Professor of Jurisprudence and a Professorial Fellow of University College. Before coming to Oxford, she was Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University, New Brunswick in New Jersey, USA. Before that she was a visiting philosophy professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a visiting law professor at the University of Chicago. During this period she also held a Junior Research Fellowship at Balliol College where she was completing her D.Phil. in philosophy. She has held fellowships at Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and the National Humanities Center and serves on boards of a number of journals. She has a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Her expertise concerns philosophical questions relating to the nature of value, value conflict, decision-making, rationality, the exercise of agency, and choice. Her work has been the subject of interviews by various media outlets in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany, Taiwan, Australia, Italy, Israel, Brazil, New Zealand, and Austria, and she has been a consultant or lecturer for institutions ranging from video gaming to pharmaceuticals to the CIA and World Bank. Professor John Tasioulas is the inaugural Director for the Institute for Ethics and AI, and Professor of Ethics and Legal Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford. Professor Tasioulas was at The Dickson Poon School of Law, Kings College London, from 2014, as the inaugural Chair of Politics, Philosophy & Law and Director of the Yeoh Tiong Lay Centre for Politics, Philosophy & Law. He has degrees in Law and Philosophy from the University of Melbourne, and a D.Phil in Philosophy from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. He was previously a Lecturer in Jurisprudence at the University of Glasgow, and Reader in Moral and Legal Philosophy at the University of Oxford, where he taught from 1998-2010. He has also acted as a consultant on human rights for the World Bank.

India's financial shock therapy continues, this time with an all-new tax system. The BBC's Rahul Tandon reports on its progress. Presenter Ed Butler speaks about the new plan with businessman Gaurav Daga, founder of plastics supply company Oswal Cable, near New Delhi.And Simon Ruda, the director of home affairs and international programmes at the Behavioural Insights Team in London, also known as the Nudge Unit, says getting people to pay tax isn't as simple as it might seem.(Photo: India flag. Credit: Getty Images)