皇家华人

On a sunny weekend at the end of April, we brought students and early career practitioners from all over the world together to compete in a behavioural science hackathon - 皇家华人udgeathon 2022. The level of expertise, creativity and innovation all our participants brought to the table was extraordinary.听
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We kicked off the Nudgeathon with a networking event at Impact Hub Kings Cross where participants, mentors and judges had the chance to hear from our friends at and mingle. The challenge and team allocations were announced at the end of the event.听

The challenge - developed with - was: 鈥淗ow can banks use carbon footprint and climate action data to encourage the average consumer to switch to lower carbon spending decisions?鈥�. 听A pressing, multi-faceted and complex topic that pushed teams to think creatively.听

While the event was hybrid, most teams chose to work together in person at 皇家华人鈥檚 BaseKX co-working space in central London - usually home to busy founders of cutting-edge, research driven, start-ups. Teams had 60 hours to learn how to work together, generate ideas and develop a pitch while being supported by their allocated mentors (you might recognise some of them as CBC alumni!).听
Mentors
鈼徧�听 听Zsofia Belovai - MoreThanNow听 听 听 听 鈼徧�听 听Katie McPhee - Sust Global
鈼徧�听 听Azim Arsiwala - Cowry Consulting听听 听鈼徧�听 听Sana Fasihi - Ogilvy听
鈼徧�听 听Kezia Stewart - Cycling UK听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听鈼徧�听 听Ella Jenkins - Ogilvy
鈼徧�听 听Ella Howes - Centre for Behaviour Change听 听 听鈼徧�听 听David Fanner - Ogilvy听
鈼徧�听 听Rebecca Brown - Norfolk County Council听 听 听 听 鈼徧�听 听Vy Do - Cogo
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After all pitches were submitted, we had a jam-packed roster of events for participants to take part in. Starting with an engaging workshop with communications coach - Bethan James - to learn about best practice in science communication. Being able to communicate complex ideas to a wide audience is an essential skill, but can often be daunting to develop. The workshop helped participants build on the basics and gain confidence in their ability.听

From there, we ran our first ever Sunday Showcase. We invited a range of speakers with experience in evidence-based behaviour change to share a snapshot of their work.听

Speakers

鈼徧�听 听Sana Fasihi - Consulting Analyst at Ogilvy
鈼徧�听 听Phoebe Fisher - Regional Project Manager at the Education Endowment Foundation听
鈼徧�听 听Zoe Featherstone Smith - Behavioural Scientist at Zavfit听
鈼徧�听 听Zsofia Belovai - Senior Behavioural Scientist at MoreThanNow听
鈼徧�听 听Isobel Madle - Behavioural Scientist at DG Cities听
鈼徧�听 听Christine van Vliet - Behavioural Scientist at Sentiance听
鈼徧�听 听Vy Do - Behavioural Scientist at Cogo听

It was fascinating to hear about projects that are making a meaningful difference to people鈥檚 lives right now. Showcasing the potential of applied behavioural science was really special and I know participants left energised by all the possibilities.听

After the Sunday Showcase we headed back to Impact Hub Kings Cross where Dr. Umar Taj (CogCo) was ready to announce the winning team. Team 3 - made up of Ella Tuominen (UCL), Elahi Hossain (UCL), Tvara Shah (KCL), Adelaida Mora Bustamante (Kingston University) and Letizia Zamperetti (Kantar Public) took first place with the winning pitch.听

They proposed a dual-stage digital intervention that leverages salience and gamification principles to encourage young professionals to choose public transport over ride-hailing services. They'll have the well-earned opportunity to present their idea at Ogilvy鈥檚 Nudgestock next month.

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None of this would have been possible without the incredible support and generosity of our sponsors: , , and , as well as the UCL Innovation & Enterprise team. We are so grateful to them for believing in us. 听

We were also lucky to welcome a fantastic panel of judges who took the time to put together individualised feedback for each team to help them to further develop and refine their ideas. Dr. Umar Taj (CogCo), Rory Sutherland (Ogilvy), Dr. Jo Hale (Centre for Behaviour Change), Brian Spurling (Cogo) and Alexander Elsen (VC) made up 皇家华人udgeathon 2022鈥檚 panel of judges.
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Our vision for this event was to not only bridge the gap between evidence and practice, but also bridge the gap between disciplines and foster collaboration. I鈥檓 so proud to say there was a range of disciplines represented 鈥� behavioural science, service design and neuroscience to name a few. There were highs and lows across the weekend, but ultimately ten teams came in as strangers and left as friends inspired to collaborate and innovate to tackle some of the world鈥檚 most urgent problems.听

I can鈥檛 finish off this blog without recognising the hard work of the UCL Behavioural Innovations Society Nudgeathon team to pull off this event. Here鈥檚 to 2023!听

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Jacqueline Kilby,听
Nudgeathon Director听