David Halpern

David Halpern has been the Chief Executive of the government’s Behavioural Insights Team (unofficially known as the Nudge Unit) since its inception in 2010. Prior to this, David was the founding Director of the Institute for Government, and between 2001 and 2007 the Chief Analyst at the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit. David was also appointed as the What Works National Advisor in July 2013. Before entering government, David held tenure at Cambridge and posts at Oxford and Harvard. He has written several books and papers on areas relating to behavioural insights and wellbeing, including Social Capital (2005), the Hidden Wealth of Nations (2010), Inside the Nudge Unit (2015), and was co-author of the MINDSPACE report. In 2016, Halpern was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.