Autumn 2015 | Public lectures and events | Audio and pdf

Contributor(s): Dr David Halpern | It all started as a cautious experiment. In 2010, David Cameron set up the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT or ‘Nudge Unit’) at 10 Downing Street. Plans were greeted with wry amusement from the media and deep scepticism from the corridors of Whitehall. Not many believed it would last, yet within 18 months, the team was producing results which changed the minds of critics inside and outside the government. Headed up by behavioural scientist Dr David Halpern, the aim

Contributor(s): Professor Timothy Snyder | In this lecture Timothy Snyder (@TimothyDSnyder) will talk about his new book, Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning, in which he argues we have missed basic lessons of the history of the Holocaust, and that some of our beliefs are frighteningly close to the panic that Hitler expressed in the 1920’s. As ideological and environmental challenges to the world order mount, our societies might be more vulnerable than we would like to think. Timothy

Contributor(s): Guru Madhavan | Guru Madhavan will discuss the essentials of the engineering mind-set—based on narratives from his book Think Like an Engineer—and explore how the application of concepts including optimization, reliability, and efficiency could help inform and enhance approaches in economics and public policy. Guru Madhavan (@BioengineerGM) is a biomedical engineer and senior policy adviser. He conducts research at the National Academy of Sciences and has been named a distinguished

Contributor(s): Shaa Wasmund | Entrepreneur and author of bestsellers Stop Talking, Start Doing and Do Less, Get More, Shaa Wasmund explains how to apply the well-known Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto's 'law of the vital few' to become more productive and happy. This event marks the publication of her latest book Do Less, Get More: How to Work Smart and Live Life Your Way. Shaa Wasmund (@shaawasmund) is one of the UK's most prominent female entrepreneurs and a champion of small businesses. She is