Virtual Seminar: “Behavioural Change and Pandemics”

Organized by Herbert Simon Society in collaboration with Behavioural Insights Bicocca, University of Milan, Bicocca and CIT- Cognitive Insights Team

Program

6:00 p.m. Introduction
RICCARDO VIALE (Herbert Simon Society and Behavioral Insights Bicocca University)

6:20 p.m. Pandemic Risk Management
HERSH SHEFRIN (Santa Clara University)

6:40 p.m. Using Behavioural Science to Inform the Emergency Response in Ireland
PETE LUNN (ESRI, Dublin)

7.00 p.m. Pragmatic Crisis Management
SHABNAM MOUSAVI (Johns Hopkins University, Washington)

7:20 p.m. Communication for Public Health Emergencies
LAURA MACCHI (Behavioral Insights Bicocca University)

7:40 p.m. Discussion

8:00 p.m. End of the Seminar

The COVID-19 pandemic represents a massive, global health crisis. Because the crisis requires large-scale behavior change and poses significant psychological burdens on individuals, insights from the social and behavioural sciences are critical for optimizing pandemic response. In particular social and cultural factors, risk perception, science communication, moral decision-making, leadership, and stress and coping are relevant to pandemics. This interdisciplinary virtual seminar points to several ways in which research can be immediately applied to optimize response to this pandemic, but also points to several important gaps that researchers should move quickly to fill in the coming weeks and months.