Paul Dolan Keynote Speaker

Paul Dolan is a Professor of Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science. As an internationally renowned expert on happiness, behaviour and public policy, he conducts original research into the measurement of happiness, its causes and consequences and has over 100 peer-reviewed publications.

In 2010, Paul was seconded to the UK Cabinet Office to embed the ‘Mindspace’ report into policymaking which he co-authored. ‘Mindspace’ is a mnemonic for the nine most robust effects on behaviour that operate largely, but not exclusively, through our
automatic system (the part of our brain that responds unconsciously to contextual influences). His work on Mindspace is being used across the public and private sectors, and he is increasingly asked for consultancy advice on how to change behaviour in organisations and populations. He has previously worked with Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman at Princeton University (their 2008 paper in the Economic Journal is the most cited paper in that journal since that year.) and has written questions as a member of the National Wellbeing Advisory Forum for the Office of National Statistics for large scale reports on measuring national wellbeing. Paul regularly advises global corporations in behavioural economics as well as the National Academy of Sciences in the US on measurement issues in happiness research.

In 2002, he was the recipient of a Philip Leverhulme Prize in Economics for his contribution to health economics and quality-adjusted life years. The policy impact of his work in health was recognised more widely by his appointment in 2008 as Chief Academic Advisor to the UK Government Economic Service on Economic appraisal.