Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Behavioural Research in Government. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.

You are warmly invited to join this external webinar on “Behavioural and Social Science in Government”. In this external webinar, Dr Carrie Heitmeyer and Dr Kitty Saunders will explore i) the role of behavioural and social science advice in government, with a particular focus on the Government Office for Science, ii), how external behavioural and social science expertise is brought into and used in government, and iii) how Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) can be of use to behavioural and social science researchers. This will be followed by a Q&A.

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Behavioural Research UK: Policy dynamics and 'real world' decision making in policy informed by behavioural research. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.

This webinar will be led by government colleagues in UKHSA, Public Health Wales and Scottish Government. The purpose of the session is to understand the processes and dynamics of decision making in government and where behavioural science has been used, at various stages, to improve policy design and implementation of interventions. It will present information about how policy making is conceptualized, and evidence from research about how policy processes play out in real situations. The webinar will include reference to case studies from policy areas, with reference to contextual factors including ministerial and political dynamics, budgets and finances, government structure and professions, government processes for options appraisal, evaluation and ethics. It will be of interest to people working in and outside of government who are interested in translating behavioural research into government outputs.

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Behavioural Research UK: Policy dynamics and 'real world' decision making in policy informed by behavioural research. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.

This webinar will be led by government colleagues in UKHSA, Public Health Wales and Scottish Government. The purpose of the session is to understand the processes and dynamics of decision making in government and where behavioural science has been used, at various stages, to improve policy design and implementation of interventions. It will present information about how policy making is conceptualized, and evidence from research about how policy processes play out in real situations. The webinar will include reference to case studies from policy areas, with reference to contextual factors including ministerial and political dynamics, budgets and finances, government structure and professions, government processes for options appraisal, evaluation and ethics. It will be of interest to people working in and outside of government who are interested in translating behavioural research into government outputs.

I have registered for the Behavioural Research UK webinar on "Causality, evidence and policy in behavioural research". Join me and register at: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bK-rnH1zS8ewNtZJwltizQ#/registration

Most problems faced by policy makers involve causal questions: How do we promote healthier eating? How do we reduce energy consumption? How do we improve online safety? But various challenges arise in identifying causal relations and applying them to policy-relevant issues, especially those that involve human behaviour. For example, RCTs are seen as ‘gold standard’ evidence but are contextually fragile, Theories of Change are the hallmark for policy development but are often too weakly tied to evidence, and policy evaluation is often designed and conducted post-hoc. Can a richer understanding of causal mechanisms offer a route to integrate theory, evidence and evaluation in the policy process, making it agile and able to deliver better outcomes? In this webinar we explore these questions with two invited speakers and a panel discussion. Julia Rohrer will introduce the causal modelling framework as a reasoning tool for drawing robust conclusions from empirical data on human behaviour. Nancy Cartwright will illustrate how middle level theory can help in making better theories of change that underwrite more thorough bodies of evidence for causal claims that should in turn make these claims more reliable. As well as Q&A after each talk, we will have a panel discussion where we further explore these questions and ask how BR-UK can support better use of causal approaches to inform policy decision making.

Senior Behavioural Research Fellow (CENTRE-UB) - School of Psychology - 104547 - Grade 9

We are seeking an exceptional researcher to lead the development of a new behavioural research capability-building strategy within government. This role will involve the application of behavioural research knowledge, the use of social science research methods, and the application of relevant pedagogies.

Learning & Resources

Below we outline details of resources provided by others that can be used to expand your behavioural research knowledge and understanding.

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