The Behavioural Research UK Leadership Hub (BR-UK)

Building national capability for behavioural research through The Behavioural Research UK Leadership Hub (BR-UK), co-led by The UCL Centre for Behaviour Change and the University of Edinburgh.

Behavioural Research UK logo

2 October 2024

Key facts

Full title: The Behavioural Research UK Leadership Hub (BR-UK)

Funder: UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) via the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

Total amount awarded: £10 million

Start date: 2023

Duration: 5 years

Project Partners: Cardiff University, Government Office for Science, TRL, Queen’s University Belfast, University College London, University of Edinburgh, University of Manchester, University of Oxford, University of Sheffield, University of St Andrews, Scottish Government, Welsh Government, Public Health Wales, UK Health Security Agency, Zinc

CBC researchers: Professor Susan Michie (Co-Director), Dr Lucy Porter, Dr Jo Davan-Wetton, Dr Kitty Saunders, Lisa Zhang

BR-UK’s Vision

To improve behavioural research and make it more innovative and impactful by achieving:

  • Integration and co-ordination
  • Inclusiveness and collaboration
  • Embeddedness across the UK

Building capability

Dr Jo Davan Wetton is co-leading work on building capability in behavioural research. A scoping study is being conducted to identify:

  • current behavioural research activity and capability
  • scientific and stakeholder needs and priorities
  • areas for potential advancement across all four UK nations. 

The team has launched a map of UK behavioural research organisations which you can view on the BR-UK website, as well as a scoping review of recent strategies for advancing behavioural and social research from national and devolved governments and research funders.

The translation of behavioural science to policy

This project will explore the barriers to the translation of behavioural science advice to UK Government during the COVID-19 pandemic. The project is being led by Professor Susan Michie and Dr Lucy Porter.
During 2020-22, there was a perceived misalignment between the behavioural and social science advice provided to the UK Government, and the COVID-19-related policy decisions subsequently made. The research questions that will be addressed are:

  • How and where was advice by the Scientific Pandemic Insights group on Behaviour (SPI-B) communicated between the Scientific Advisory Group in Emergencies (SAGE) and Government?  
  • How and to what extent was SPI-B advice received, engaged with and acted upon?
  • What were the barriers and enablers influencing the communication and use of advice? 

Linking with the Government Office for Science

We were delighted to welcome Dr Kitty Saunders to the CBC in July 2024, to work as a Senior Policy Fellow with BR-UK at UCL and seconded to the Government Office for Science. The aim of this role is to bridge the gap between BR-UK and government policy makers, supporting cross-sector collaborations and increasing the impact of behavioural research both in academia and policy. 

Find out more