A prestigious ESRC-funded Research Fellowship has been awarded to Angus Holford, who joins the high profile Cabinet Office Behavioural Insights Team in October.
The Behavioural Insights Team was set up by the coalition government to explore how behavioural science can improve the design, delivery and evaluation of public policy. There is a growing consensus that the success of many policy initiatives is contingent on their behavioural impact.
Angus said:
“I’m really pleased to be taking this opportunity for an ESRC research fellowship with the Behavioural Insights Team. Understanding why people behave as they do is essential to inform policy design effectively, whether investigating welfare or benefit participation, risky behaviours among teenagers, or any question addressing unemployment or social mobility.”
“Working with the team I will be contributing my ideas for interventions in a variety of areas, and gain practical experience in conducting field experiments to expand the evidence base for such policies. I’m looking forward to bringing these ideas and methods back to ISER to inform my existing research questions and conceive further questions that can be tackled.”
Angus recently published Take up of Free School Meals: Price Effects and Peer Effects, examining the reluctance of children to participate in the Free School Meals programme and the consequent results on Pupil Premium distribution, as part of the ISER Working Paper Series