Professor Daniel Read is the academic lead on Nudgeathon™. Daniel has had a lengthy career as an academic behavioural scientist.  He was educated in Canada, studying at University of British Columbia (where he studied under Daniel Kahneman) and then at University of Toronto, where he received his PhD. He is currently head of the Behavioural Science group at Warwick Business School, and co-leads the Behavioural Science “Global Research Priority” a major Warwick initiative to integrate behavioural science across a wide range of disciplines at the business school. 

Daniel has published in world-leading psychology and economics journals on many aspects of decision making and judgment.  He is world renowned for his work on intertemporal choice, where he has made several fundamental contributions to our understanding of patience and future orientation. Daniel has taught and researched at many distinguished institutions, including London School of Economics and Political Science, INSEAD, the Yale School of Management and (currently) Warwick Business School.  Daniel’s teaching focuses on the application of behavioural economics to questions about organizations.   He teaches undergraduate and graduate students on the subject of “strategic games” which applies game theory, information economics and behavioural economics to a wide range of problems from personal, managerial through to global.

Dr Umar Taj is the founder of Nudgeathon™. He is a Research Fellow in Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School and an Executive Teaching Fellow in Behavioural Decision Science at London School of Economics and Political Science. His interest lies in helping public and private institutions apply the latest insights from behavioural science to improve decision making. His current projects span the domains of HR, tech, health, finance, security, politics and education. He is also the founder of Behaviour Insight™ – a tech-based behaviour change solution that systematically identifies barriers to behaviour change and guides the user to develop successful interventions. He delivers regular training and facilitation workshops and has provided his service to over 50 global institutions. He holds a PhD in Behavioural Science from Warwick Business School and a MSc in Decision Science from London School of Economics and Political Science.

NobuLali Dangazele is in the Organisation & Human Resource Management Group and Create Group at Warwick Business School. Her research explores the role of embodied interaction in top management teams, within the financial sector. She holds an MA in Dramatic Arts, following which she formed a social enterprise called ShakeXperience, which offers experiential learning, applied drama and theatre techniques, to facilitate learning in schools and organisational development in corporates clients. Lali has been awarded numerous scholarships, including the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship, Abe Baily Travel Bursary. Her doctoral research is funded by the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust and Warwick Business School.

Ivo Vlaev is a Professor of Behavioural Science, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick. Ivo received a DPhil (PhD) in Experimental Psychology from the University of Oxford (and St. John’s College) and MSc in Cognitive Science and BSc in Psychology from the New Bulgarian University. Before coming to Warwick, Ivo worked as a research fellow at University College London and senior lecturer at Imperial College London. He has a track record of research in decision science (behavioural economics) and behaviour change, which is published in peer-reviewed academic journals, book chapters and government reports.

In behaviour change, Ivo’s research focuses on developing an integrated theory of behaviour change which combines principles from psychology, neuroscience, and economics. Testing the theory involves developing and evaluating behaviour change interventions in various domains such as health (influencing lifestyle risk factors such as dieting and physical activity; modifying patient behaviours such as medication adherence; changing professional practice such as safety and quality of care) and finance (motivating customers to manage their money more effectively; design of financial products). Ivo is also a co-author of the famous UK Cabinet Office MINDSPACE report, which provides a framework for designing effective policy utilising the latest insights from behavioural sciences (also known as nudge theory). The report was the basis for establishing the ‘Behaviour Insight Team’ at the Cabinet Office. MINDSPACE is widely used across both local and central government and in the commercial sector.

Ivo’s advisory and consultancy work with various public organisationsis on applying behaviourchange principles to change people’s decisions about their health, finances, education, work, and environment. Ivo has helped public and private organisationsdevelop and apply lessons from behaviouralscience. The government sector organisations include: Department of Health, NHS England, Health Education England, Public Health England, NHS RightCare, NICE, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Cabinet Office, Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Education, Money Advice Service, Financial Conduct Authority, Financial Reporting Council, Citizen Advice; City of London, Croydon and Islington councils, West Midlands Combined Authority; European Commission. The private sector organisationsinclude: Institute and Faculty of Actuaries UK, Institute for Employment Studies, Decision Technology, Behavioural Architects, Mindmetic, Tesco, E.on, AXA, Aviva, Fairbanking Foundation, Orbit Group, Ipsos Mori, Swiss re, Barclays Bank, Capital One, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ecorys, Bearing point, Ogilvy, Prime Global Medical Communications, AtomicPR, Kindred Agency, Ernst & Young, Boehringer Ingelheim, UCB, Pfizer, McDonald’s.

Ivo’s work on using behaviouraleconomics (‘nudging’) to boost tax compliance (conducted for HMRC) was cited in the scientific background document accompanying the Nobel prize committee’s awarding of the prize for economic sciences to Richard Thaler in 2017.

Julia Kolodko is a Doctoral Researcher in the Behavioural Science Group at Warwick Business School. Her research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, conducted in collaboration with the Behavioural Insights Team and DEFRA, focuses on applying behavioural insights to environmental and health issues. For over a decade, Julia worked in telecommunications, banking and media sectors, overviewing marketing strategy, communication and consumer research. Julia holds an MA in Cross-Cultural Psychology and has lived and worked in five countries. She is a lecturer at Kozminski University in Poland and a marketing and behavioural change trainer and consultant.