BR-UK: Behavioural Research UK Leadership Hub

Understanding human behaviour and how it shapes organisations, communities and societies is needed to address global challenges such as the environmental, economic and health crises that we face now and in the future. Currently, behavioural research is not well coordinated in the UK. It also doesn't always ask the right research questions, involve people with the best skills, make good use of existing data, take advantage of innovative research methods or produce findings that can be used to make positive changes. The Behavioural Research UK Leadership Hub (BR-UK) will change this.

BR-UK brings together a team from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that includes experienced researchers from many different backgrounds and partners from government, the wider public sector, charities and businesses. We will work with communities to better understand behaviour and conduct research to improve lives and livelihoods.

BR-UK will deliver a detailed work programme for the first 18 months. At the same time, we will expand our initial plans for the longer term to be reviewed by the funder, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

In the first 18 months, we will:

- Carry out a scoping study to look at needs, priorities and opportunities for behavioural research and set up a national network of researchers and research users
- Determine how behavioural research can be more sustainable to make the best use of available funding
- Identify (with our international advisory board) under-used global evidence as well as methods and theories to improve behavioural research excellence
- Conduct 'demonstration projects' to show how the team can work together to use existing data and speed up the application of models and frameworks to provide rapid results. Topics include how behavioural advice was used during the Covid-19 pandemic, how we address some current issues like speeding on our roads, how to combine large amounts of data more efficiently and how well public support for different policies to help tackle climate change can be transferred between countries
- Set up & test a responsive-mode consultancy service where organisations can ask questions about how behavioural research could help them with their policies or practices, and be matched to team members with relevant expertise.

Looking ahead, BR-UK will organise our work around four Work Packages (WPs) and Themes (T). Work Packages are about HOW we will do things, and our Themes are about WHAT we will focus on. These are: WP1: Capability Building; WP2: Data and Technology; WP3: Methods and Evidence Synthesis; WP4: Engagement and Involvement; T1: Environment and Sustainability; T2: Health and Wellbeing; T3: Resilient Communities: and T4: Organisations, Markets and the Economy. We will conduct new studies across WPs and Themes. Examples of research questions to illustrate the range are: how to better use mobile phone technologies to engage people long-term to stop smoking or reduce their alcohol consumption; how to help regulators and the police keep children safer online and tackle internet crime; how to help people and organisations shift to transport that is better for the environment; how best to work with local and national governments to better understand the needs of their local communities when making policy decisions.

As a Leadership 'Hub', BR-UK will work with other parts of the programme ('spokes' including a centre to train students and early career researchers as they develop. We will be flexible, and reserve part of the funding that could lead to new studies when sudden events like a new threat, emergency or event occur. We are well positioned to carry out rapid reviews of existing research to help governments and organisations know what behavioural evidence exists to inform decisions, and to identify evidence gaps. We will be ready to adapt and bring in new members with skills and experience that are most needed as BR-UK evolves.