This ‘In Conversation’ event will explore the role insights from behavioural science can play in future hospital design, bringing together two experts on the healthcare environment. With the event being hosted just under two weeks before the deadline for first-round entries to this year’s Wolfson Economics Prize – which invites radical thinking on hospital design with £250,000 on offer for the winning entry – the discussion will explore how future hospital design can promote positive behaviours – such as encouraging healthy lifestyles, improve patient experiences and satisfaction and improving the hospital as a workplace for staff.

Our speakers will also consider the role that aesthetics can play in behavioural change. Whilst an increasing body of academic literature supports the idea that considering light, space, style and surroundings can have a therapeutic benefit for staff and patients alike, how could the design of public buildings positively influence public health? How might hospitals drive positive behavioural change as hubs to connect to the wider healthcare system? How might they fit into neighbourhoods and the civic realm? These are just some of the topics our speakers may touch upon as they draw upon their own experiences in policy design and facility planning for improved health and wellbeing.

Speakers

Professor David Halpern, Chief Executive, Behavioural Insights Team

David Halpern is the Chief Executive of the Behavioural Insights Team. David has led the team since its inception in 2010. Prior to that, David was the first Research Director of the Institute for Government and between 2001 and 2007 was the Chief Analyst at the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit. David was also appointed as the What Works National Advisor in July 2013. He supports the What Works Network and leads efforts to improve the use of evidence across government.

Before entering government, David held tenure at Cambridge and posts at Oxford and Harvard. He has written several books and papers on areas relating to behavioural insights and well-being, including Social Capital (2005), the Hidden Wealth of Nations (2010), Online Harms and Manipulation (2019) and co-author of the MINDSPACE report. In 2015, David wrote a book about the team entitled Inside the Nudge Unit: How Small Changes Can Make a Big Difference.

Dame Laura Lee, Chief Executive, Maggie’s; Prize Judge, Wolfson Economics Prize 2021

Laura began her career working as a clinical nurse specialist in Edinburgh, where she administered chemotherapy to Maggie Keswick Jencks, before becoming the first Chief Executive of Maggie’s, a role she continues to the present day.

Laura shared Maggie’s vision of a cancer support centre housed in a non-clinical and uplifting environment where anybody affected by cancer could visit to access practical information, psychological and emotional support to help them build a life beyond a cancer diagnosis. There are now 26 centres with plans for future centres both in the UK and overseas.

In 2016 Laura was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor from Queen Margaret University, and in 2019 was awarded a Damehood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.