BEAR x BIOrg Monthly Webinar Series 2019-2020

Catherine Yeung is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Prior to that, she was an Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore. Catherine holds a PhD in Marketing. Her main research areas are behavioural decision making and consumer psychology. She conducts both academic and community-based research, which designs and tests interventions that aim at improving individual and community wellbeing. Her research cuts across multiple domains, including weight loss, diabetes prevention, medication adherence, transportation, and workforce development. Her research has been published in leading academic journals including Management Science, Journal of Marketing Research, and Journal of Consumer Research.

Date: April 16, 2020 12 PM ET
Topic: The chasm between BI knowledge and BI practice: What is it and how does it affect the success of your own project?
Description: In this webinar session, Catherine will talk about some of the fundamental differences between BI researchers and policymakers in the way they approach behavioural science, and how do these differences pose challenges to BI projects.

Ned Welch is an Adjunct Professor and Executive in Residence at Rotman and an expert in using insights from behavioural economics and consumer psychology to help companies make better decisions. Before joining Rotman, Ned held Senior Design Director and Senior Expert roles at McKinsey & Co.’s Marketing Practice and at McKinsey Design, where he led clients and consulting teams on topics related to insight-driven product development, innovation, product and pricing optimization, and customer strategy. Ned holds MS and PhD degrees in Behavioral Decision Theory from Carnegie Mellon University.

Date: March 27, 2020 12 PM ET
Topic: Organizing for Behavioural Insights
Description: As a discipline, behavioural insights is at a threshold in the adoption process. For both its practitioners and consumers, the question is how to move beyond early adoption (with lead users) to mass adoption by a larger and more diverse set of organizations. In this talk, Ned draws analogies between behavioural insights and related types of consumer insights that have a long and rich history. Companies vary widely in how they organize themselves for these activities, and their experiences offer useful lessons for how to think about structuring such work and using deep functional expertise in organizations.

Mariam Chammat is an executive advisor at the French behavioural insights unit within the Interministerial Directorate for public transformation (DITP). Her work consists in translating findings and methods from cognitive and behavioural sciences into improvements in public policies. Mariam also works on strengthening evidence-based policy making by developing and piloting projects between policy-makers and researchers. Ms Chammat holds a PhD in affective and cognitive neuroscience and has co-founded a think tank (CHIASMA) that aims at translating findings on cognitive biases into tools that can help improve people's mental habits and their metacognitive skills.

Date: February 12, 2020 12 PM ET
Topic: On the Importance of a Solid Theoretical Framework for Behavioural Insights
Description: In this talk Mariam will try to show how different theoretical frameworks underlying BI can have different policy implications. More generally the aim is to underline the importance of building solid frameworks of human behaviour in order to build more effective and long lasting interventions.

Eric Singler is the Managing Director of BVA group, one of the world’s top consulting and research firms (www.bva-group.com). He is also the Founder and CEO of BVA Nudge Unit (www.bvanudgeunit.com) which is a global consultancy firm specialised in driving successful behavioral change. Eric is passionate about bringing Behavioral Science to Business and Social entities to drive efficiency. He has become a pioneer in applying behavioral economics learnings and Nudges– first in France (he has accompanied Emmanuel Macron’s team during the 2017 Presidential election) and in more than 15 countries – with public policies, Fortune 100 companies, NGO and international organisations. Eric is also the founder and President of the NudgeFrance think tank. He is the author of 3 books specialising in the application of Nudge: “Nudge Marketing”, “Green Nudge” focused on sustainability and “Nudge Management” focused on creating better work environments.

Date: January 15, 2020 12 PM ET
Topic: Nudging for Good : From Gender Equality to Healthier lives, how organizations could apply behavioral science for a better world
Description: The purpose of this webinar is to share case studies – from United Nations to private companies (Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, etc.) – demonstrating the power of behavioral science and nudge to encourage new successful behaviors on critical topics.

Jennifer Robson is an Associate Professor in the Graduate Program in Political Management at Carleton University. Her research touches on poverty, Canadian social policy and public administration. Prior to becoming an academic, Jennifer worked in government and the voluntary sector.

Date: December 4, 2019 12 PM ET
Topic: How do you manage when you don't know what your income will be next month?: The incidence and effects of income volatility
Description: An important share of households, particularly those with lower incomes, report substantial swings in their monthly incomes. Volatility appears to be related to poorer financial literacy and financial capability. But psychological dimensions, particularly economic locus of control, may mediate the relationship. Implications for the design and administration of income security policies will also be discussed.

Lisa manages the application of Behavioural Finance & Thought Leadership at TD Wealth. She created the TD Wealth Personality Assessment Tool using the Five Factor Model of Personality, enabling clients and advisors to identify their financial and investing blind spots – the key to delivering relevant financial advice that helps people achieve their goals and stay on track. Lisa also leads Thought Leadership, conducting and applying behavioural finance research to digital tools, training and strategy. She collaborates with Behavioural Economics academics and practitioners around the world conducting research, authoring industry reports and creating content that educates people on how to overcome their behavioural biases. Prior to TD, Lisa worked primarily in the packaged goods industry specializing in Innovation.

Date: November 14, 2019 12 PM ET
Topic: Exploring Financial Personality and the Impact on Our Investing Decisions
Description: This webinar will focus on how TD Wealth Management has applied behavioural economics to develop a differentiated relationship model with clients. It will also dive into recent TD research on personality and financial decision making.

Sasha is the Director of BIT Canada, leading BIT’s team in Toronto and its work across Canada. Previous to taking his current role, Sasha oversaw BIT’s work with local governments in the US through the What Works Cities initiative. This initiative helps cities build their capacity for using data and evidence, including the application of behavioural insights. Prior to joining BIT, Sasha co-developed and led Deloitte’s Canadian behavioural insights capabilities, where he consulted to public sector organizations across Canada with a focus on strategy and innovation. He began his career as a policy advisor with the Government of Ontario. Sasha holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration from Ryerson University.

Date: October 17, 2019 12 PM ET
Topic: Reducing Burnout Through Behavioural Insights
Description: This webinar will focus on a recent trial conducted by the Behavioural Insights Team that reduced burnout and resignations among 911 call takers and dispatchers in the United States. It will also describe how similar approaches are being taken to reduce physician burnout in the UK and teacher / school staff burnout in Canada.

Joyce He is a PhD candidate in Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. She obtained her Honours Bachelors of Science with high distinction in Psychology from the University of Toronto. Her research has examined how female job seekers attempt to overcome anticipated gender biases in hiring decisions for male-dominated jobs. Her current work harnesses behavioural insights to apply structural changes and “nudges” to the selection procedure to reduce gender biases.

Sarah Kaplan is Distinguish Professor, Director, Institute for Gender and the Economy, and Professor of Strategic Management at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. She is a co-author of the bestselling business book, Creative Destruction as well as Survive and Thrive: Winning Against Strategic Threats to Your Business. Her latest book, The 360° Corporation: From Stakeholder Trade-offs to Transformation appeared in 2019. Her research has covered how organizations participate in and respond to the emergence of new fields and technologies in biotechnology, fiber optics, financial services, nanotechnology and most recently, the field emerging at the nexus of gender and finance. She recently authored “Gender Equality as an Innovation Challenge” (2017) in the Rotman Management Magazine, “The Risky Rhetoric of Female Risk Aversion” (2016) in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, “Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality” in the Rotman Management Magazine (2015), and “The Rise of Gender Capitalism,” in the Stanford Social Innovation Review (2014). Her current work focuses on applying an innovation lens to understanding the challenges for achieving gender equality.

Date: September 17, 2019 12PM ET
Topic: Designing for Equality: 5 myths and 5 solutions
Description: In this webinar, Joyce He and Sarah Kaplan of the University of Toronto’s Institute for Gender and the Economy use insights from scholarly research to shed light on how to achieve gender equality. They bust 5 common myths and discuss 5 potential solutions for organizations.