Nov 20-21: Seminar on Socially Situated Nudges with Sander van der Linden, Cambridge University

Stream Institutions and Behavior Event

Seminar on Socially Situated Nudges with Sander van der Linden, Cambridge University

November 20-21, 2019

In this two-day seminar, we aim to bring together scholars, policy makers and practitioners to discuss when and how the concept of nudges that are often aimed at increasing citizen personal benefit can be extended to address important public policy topics that relate to the benefit of all (‘prosocial nudges’). Whereas personal benefit for a group of individuals caused by a nudging intervention may have important societal consequences (e.g., lower health care costs when less people are obese because they have been exposed to nudges to eat less fatty foods), new concepts of nudges should also address societal benefit when there is no immediate personal benefit or even personal costs, such as for example in case of a range of sustainability issues (energy consumption, meat consumption, public transport).

Day 1: We will start with a small-scale workshopwith max 25 participants, including researchers and public policy officers,  to address the possibilities and pitfalls that policy makers and practitioners may encounter when translating insights relating to the concept of prosocial nudges into the design of and implementation in public policies. More information of the application procedure for the workshop will be announced by the end of September.

Day 2: On the second day, dr. Sander van der Linden (Cambridge University) will deliver a keynote that offers a general picture of the concept of prosocial nudges. We will also invite experts from the Utrecht University Institutions & Behavior network to discuss the role of prosocial nudges from a multidisciplinary perspective. Particularly, their reflections will provide insight into issues associated with the employment of prosocial nudges in the wider context of public policy making. The day will conclude with a panel discussion.

Target audience: academics from several disciplines participating in the Institutions & Behavior network (public administration, psychology, behavioral economics, communication science, and law), the Prompted Rationality network,  as well as professionals working in behavioral insight units at the national and local level.

For more information, see the events on this website, or contact Denise de Ridder at d.t.d.deridder@uu.nl.