Plenary Speakers

  • Plenary Speakers

Economic inequality: Consequences for social, political and consumer behaviour

Prof. Jolanda Jetten – University of Queensland – Social Psychology

After being awarded my PhD in 1997 from the University of Amsterdam, I took up a postdoctoral fellowship position at the University of Queensland funded by UQ, the Dutch Research Council (NWO), and the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (KNAW), 1998-2001. I moved to Britain in 2001 and spend nearly 6 years at the University in Exeter. In 2007, I joined the University of Queensland again as a Research Fellow. After this, I was employed as an ARC Future Fellow (2012-2016), UQ Development Fellow (2017-2019), and I was recently awarded an ARC Laureate Fellowship (2019-2023).

 

COVID Policy:  Science or Religion?

Prof. Gigi Foster – University of New South Wales – Economics

Gigi Foster is a Professor with the School of Economics at the University of New South Wales, having joined UNSW in 2009 after six years at the University of South Australia.  Formally educated at Yale University (BA in Ethics, Politics, and Economics) and the University of Maryland (PhD in Economics), she works in diverse fields including education, social influence, corruption, lab experiments, time use, behavioural economics, and Australian policy.  Her research contributions regularly inform public debates and appear in both specialised and cross-disciplinary outlets (e.g., Quantitative Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of Population Economics, Journal of Economic Psychology, Human Relations).  Her teaching, featuring strategic innovation and integration with research, was awarded a 2017 Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT) Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning.  Named 2019 Young Economist of the Year by the Economic Society of Australia, Professor Foster has filled numerous roles of service to the profession and engages heavily on economic matters with the Australian community.  As one of Australia’s leading economics communicators, her regular media appearances include co-hosting The Economists, a national economics talk-radio program and podcast series premiered in 2018, with Peter Martin AM on ABC Radio National.

 

Social Marketing and Behavioural Economics: The BEST of both worlds

Prof. Rebekah Russell-Bennett – QUT & BEST Centre – Social Marketing

Rebekah is a professor in marketing and co-director of the Centre for Behavioural Economics, Society and Technology (BEST). She has an international reputation for research and industry relevance in the field of Social Marketing (using commercial marketing to address social problems such as alcohol consumption,  chronic disease, water usage, electricity use, public transport and diet).  Rebekah uses theories and frameworks from services marketing and social marketing to co-create innovative services and products that support people in their life, protect the planet and enable organisational success. Rebekah has attracted more than $20m in funding from the ARC, industry and government organisations which is evidence of the high impact of her research. She has supervised 43 research students to completion and is known internationally for her active mentorship of students through the creation of opportunities.

 

Behaviour insights in action: practical applications of behavioural economics and why it is important in public policy

Natasha Doherty – Accenture

Natasha is a Managing Director within the Strategy Practice in Accenture. She has approx. 20 years experience in program and policy evaluation including health, and community services industry. Natasha works with government and non-profit clients to inform evidenced based practices and policy to enhance quality of life for Australians. Natasha has worked on a variety of evaluations at a national state and local level, with particular focus in the areas of acute health services, primary health, mental health, innovation and redesign programs, and funding model assessments. Natasha has worked in the design of innovative outcomes based funding models including payment by outcomes and impact investing. Her interests and passions lay in using evidence based research to inform future policy direction.

BEST Conference 2023

BEST Conference 2022

BEST Conference 2021

BEST Conference 2020

Caleb Lo Memorial Award