Scottish Behavioural Sciences Conference 2025

Two BR-UK Research Fellows Drs Niamh Hart & Amy Rodger recently presented at the 2nd Scottish Behavioural Sciences Conference hosted by the University of Glasgow, Adam Smith Business School.

  • An image of a woman standing at the front of a room, in front of two projections where the text says 'Current and Future Priorities for UK Behavioural Research. A review of national and international strategy documents.'
  • An image of a woman standing at the front of a room, in front of two projections where the text says 'main takeaways and next steps for BR-UK.'
  • An image of a woman standing at the front of a busy room, speaking to the information presented on the 2 projection boards behind her.

This transdisciplinary event brought together researchers, students & policy makers in Scotland working in or with behavioural science.

Niamh outlined current and future priorities for behavioural research in the UK that were identified as a result of a rapid review of existing published strategies and agendas to advance this agenda. 

The review highlights key development areas for behavioural research in the UK, including:

  • Building cross-sector collaboration
  • Expanding systems- and population-level approaches
  • Strengthening research capability and leadership
  • Promoting open science and ethical practice
  • Enhancing diversity and support for early career researchers

Read more about the findings here.

Amy presented research undertaken in collaboration with Greta Sanna and the wider team at UCL which looked into how different types of evidence effect public policy support. 

They examined how various types of evidence on policy effectiveness affect public support for polices addressing key societal challenges, including public health, the climate crisis, and community resilience. Across three experiments, they found that while evidence of policy effectiveness—whether statistical, anecdotal, or a combination of both—did not significantly increase support, negative anecdotes about policy ineffectiveness reduced it. 

Additionally, participants highlighted several issues beyond just effectiveness, such as personal choice, challenges related to policy implementation and enforcement, and concerns about inequalities when considering new policy information.

Read the blog or Pre-print on this research.

Publication date