You can easily change people’s behaviour while ignoring the brain, just as you can perfectly write software without knowing anything about a computer’s hardware. But are we so sure that knowing what the brain does is not important for behavioural insights? Can neuroscience improve behavioural science? How could neuroscience be a useful additional tool for behavioural insights practitioners? And what is the risk of failing to keep up with the latest developments in neuroscience?
In this session we will discuss if and how some challenging policy problems, such as pathological gambling and financial decision-making, could be better addressed with the help of neuroscience.
Jakob Hohwy
Jakob Hohwy is currently Associate Professor of Philosophy at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. His research focuses on cognitive science, neuropsychiatry, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of neuroscience.
Jakob is a truly interdisciplinary researcher, who works at the intersection of philosophy, neuroscience and psychology. He was educated in Aarhus and St Andrews and holds a PhD from the Australian National University as well as a Dr. Phil from Aarhus University.
Ralph Lattimore
Ralph is the Executive Manager of the Canberra office of the Productivity Commission. He has spent most of his time in Australia undertaking public policy analysis and formulation on a wide variety of issues. His work has covered diverse areas of economic and social policy, among them 2 major inquiries into Australia’s gambling industries, paid parental leave, workplace relations, disability insurance, and immigration. Most recently, he led the 5 year productivity review, which focused on Australia’s health and education systems, government effectiveness, and cities.
Élise Payzan-LeNestour
Élise Payzan-LeNestour is a Scientia Fellow Associate Professor of Finance at the University of New South Wales. She received her PhD in finance from the Swiss Finance Institute at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in 2009 and was a Visiting Associate at the California Institute of Technology from 2010 to 2014. She is also a former student from the École Normale Supérieure de la Rue d’Ulm.
Chiara Varazzani
Chiara Varazzani is a Behavioural Science Adviser in the Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian Government (BETA) within the Australian Government Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.