Behave Yourself

Bruce Rigal has indeed lived in interesting times. In a glittering career in Finance spanning over 20 years, Bruce rose to become Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Global Banking at Deutsche Bank. In this time at DB, he oversaw the daily operations of the bank; from Asset Finance and Leasing to Commercial Real Estate, from Debt and Equity Capital Markets to Mergers & Acquisitions the list goes on... As well as this, he was also strapped into a front row seat for the worst financial crisis the...

Today's episode of Behave Yourself meanders through the rapidly advancing field of synthetic biology - an interdisciplinary branch of biology and engineering. Here, scientists channel Dr Frankenstein himself as they strive to alter, enhance and ultimately build living organisms in the laboratory. To help us breathe life into this fascinating topic, Marco Delise and Jesus Miguens (both of the School of Life Sciences at Warwick University) report back from one of the most exciting frontiers in...

This week Behave Yourself sat down with two extraordinary students with a big idea. Hunia Chawla and Josh Halliley are two-thirds of the winning team (special shout out to Hamza Ebrahim, their third team-member) from University of Warwick's qualifying round of the largest student competition in the world - the Hult Prize. They have a vision to re-design people's approach to energy-efficiency and want to create a system by which we are rewarded for using less energy. A hugely ambitious task...

This week Behave Yourself sat down with Merle Van Den Akker to discuss the current hot topics that are emerging in the field of behavioural science and its related disciplines. Would you be happy for companies to customise their ads to match your personality and mood? Would you want to get involved in a no-lose lottery? Can we turn social conservatives into liberals? This episode wanders through some of the newest and most interesting studies that are emerging in psychology and behavioural...

Can studying behavioural science actually improve the day-to-day decisions that you make in your own life? Is awareness of a wide array of our human biases enough to keep you from falling victim to the worst miscalculations in your own? There is nobody better-placed to tackle these questions than the three guests on the show today; Fernanda Maria dos Santos Machado - current MSc student in Behavioural & Economic Science (BES), Michael Kendro - recent graduate in BES, and Merle van den Akker...

How do you solve some of the most ingrained social issues in our world today? A team of behavioural scientists from Warwick Business School think that they may have an answer. On today's episode we are introduced to the concept of Nudgeathon; a new take on a hackathon that uses the findings of behavioural insight applied to real-world problems, such as saving energy or increasing the folic acid intake of pregnant mothers. Joining Donal in the studio to talk about how this idea got off the...

Applying for jobs can be one of the most stressful and draining processes in life. Recently, this transitional period has attracted an increased focus of research into the cognitive biases and heuristics that play a scarily large role in all of these important decisions. Here, the Bad Boys of Behavioural Science (I promise not to say that ever again)take a look under the hood of job interviews, job applications, job searching and all the gritty details that go along with it. It obviously...

Understanding the impending ramifications of artificial intelligence may be one of the most urgent issues facing society today. In this episode, the Behave Yourself regulars are joined by Dr. Elliot Ludvig. As an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Warwick, Elliot is a very active researcher in the growing field of Neuroeconomics. On top of this, he also likes to keep a close eye on the most interesting research questions being asked at behavioural labs around the world....

Thomas Hills is not your average professor of psychology. With the experience of several years spent teaching in Ghana and a PhD in biology, he can't shake the feeling of being an outsider in his field. His unique approach to research brings together insight from a varied range of academic topics, such as mathematics, evolutionary biology and cognitive processing. Behave Yourself gets to know what makes him tick and finds out more about his not-so-secret passion for music. As ever, host...

Alanda Kariza appears to be on a mission. She has started on an ambitious journey to organise the 40 million young people of Indonesia into productive, engaged and socially responsible citizens of their country. Behave Yourself is proud to interview a lady of purpose, with many notable achievements already to her name and seemingly boundless energy. Your host, Donal Connolly, is joined in the very enjoyable task of discussing these achievements by regular, Matt Chennells.

This week we take a look at what makes Britain, so very British. What are the quirks of behaviour that set this small island apart from the rest of the world? Not afraid to tackle the big issues of the day, Behave Yourself goes deep into the cultural and historical psyche of the UK to explore how its days of former Empire may have shaped today's society. The multi-cultural panel include an rambling Irish host, Donal Connolly; a plucky South African pundit, Matt Chennells; and a sophisticated...

Why do people love a good puzzle? Without ever offering a definitive answer, Behave Yourself dives into the puzzling world of riddles, problems, questions and conundrums. Be prepared for the now-customary tangents into such varied topics as crushing childhood aspirations to mid-sleep murders. Once again, Donal Connolly is joined in the studio by the masterful Matt Chennells and the roguish Rob Snashall.

Do we have deep-seated beliefs and preferences that are stable over our lifetimes? Or are they all an illusion and we can only infer them through our actions? This is the philosophical question that we attempt to dig into this week. Hopefully you can stay with us as we struggle through this mind-bending journey into our deepest thoughts.

Nudging seems to be the latest public policy gimmick. Small tweaks to how choices are presented appear to have big differences in how we respond to them. Behave Yourself lifts the bonnet and tinkers around with the brand new field of 'choice architecture' and nudging. Donal Connolly is joined in the studio this week by regular ranter Rob "Let's Smash All" Snashall and Bruce "The Vet" Rigal.

Is there more to life than just the hard, cold cash? How can we aim to make people happier as well as better off? Behave Yourself takes aim at the clunky measure of GDP and talks about some of the findings in the growing field of study into people's happiness and well-being.

You've probably heard it mentioned somewhere in a TED talk, or in an article you pretended to read, or remember your friend droning on about it at 2am, but never had the courage to ask the obvious question: What is behavioural economics? Unfortunately, we're not so sure either - but we spend an hour trying to figure it out.

Behave Yourself picks apart one of the main papers in the field of behavioural economics, looking to answer that eternal question: why can't we find a taxi in NYC when it rains?? Donal Connolly, Matt Chennells and Rob Snashall once again flit seamlessly between such far-reaching topics as taxi driver's labour supply,Trump's use of media, hair-lice and long-term favourite, artificial intelligence.

Behave Yourself gets 2017 underway with an honest look at which resolutions we're likely to keep and which ones will fade away like mist in the morning. Donal Connolly and Matt Chennells also make some bold predictions of what's to come in the turbulent year ahead.

Behave Yourself reverts to childhood and takes a look at some interesting aspects of playing games. Donal is joined in the studio by Matt Chennells and Rob Snashall who play their way through a range of games explaining the relevant game theory as they go.

Behave Yourself jumps in at the deep end for its first episode, dissecting Donald Trump's shock win in the US Presidential Election. Host, Donal Connolly is joined by Matt Chennells and Etinosa Agbonlahor for some analysis, review, predictions and group therapy to get us through.