Bespoke Workshops
Workshops and seminars tailored to fit your needs. Please email Pia (p.horbacki@ucl.ac.uk) to get the ball rolling.
a UCL Behavioural Insights Hub course - other training / workshops.
The course was fantastic - really engaging, energetic and packed with useful and real life insights. Our whole team took a lot from it and will benefit in day to day and work life. The facilitators were exceptional, super knowledgeable and friendly. I’d highly recommend!
Why bespoke?
Our bespoke option offers you the flexibility to design a seminar or workshop to fit the needs and skills of your team, as well as the option to have multiple team members participate at the same time.
What will my bespoke workshop include?
It’s completely up to you! Whether it’s an introduction to behavioural science, or something geared towards the specific challenges your organisation is currently facing, we can design a seminar or workshop to fit your needs. You can pull modules from our off-the-shelf workshops or ask us to prepare new content. Our team has a strong breadth and depth of expertise in behavioural science. Bespoke options can also include sandbox sessions, where we work with members of your team to tackle your organisational challenges.
Need some ideas about what you can include? Below are some examples of topics we offer.
Commission a workshop
Let us know which workshop you’re interested in, or if you’d like a bespoke option, and we’ll be in touch.
Register interestTopics we offer
Listed are some examples of topics we can offer.
Introduction to Behavioural Science
We can introduce you to some of the foundational concepts in behavioural science, and how understanding the psychological basis of decision making can be put to good use in business settings. We can cover concepts such as rationality, transitivity in choices, and whether people have introspective insight into the reason they behave the way they do. We can show how relying on people to explain their behaviour or preferences can sometimes lead us astray, and we can illustrate how simple experimental tools can be used to better isolate the motives underpinning decisions and behaviour.
Heuristics & Biases
We can show how the way information is presented can influence how people behave in different settings (i.e. framing effects) , and illustrate the power of salient anchor points in price setting and value estimation. We can introduce some classic heuristics or shortcuts to decision-making and how they sometimes can lead to people acting “irrationally”.
Decisions Under Risk & Uncertainty
We can introduce the most well-known model describing how people make decisions under risk and uncertainty (Prospect Theory), drawing out lessons for understanding our own decision making (e.g., how an aversion to losses pervades much of our decision making). We can introduce a process model (Decision by Sampling), explaining how humans make decisions in line with Prospect Theory, with considerable implications for marketing. We can show how information can be gleaned from the way the information is presented, as well as what is presented. Such an understanding is important when applying behavioural science insights.
Causal Thinking
Decision making is often underpinned by our causal beliefs. Many of the crucial questions in organisational settings require us to estimate the effects of our actions. For example, we want to know whether paying for advertising will increase page clicks and revenue; or how different hiring decisions might affect team performance. We might also want to reflect on decisions or actions we have taken and to estimate how things might have been different if we had acted differently, or if the market conditions (for example) had been different. To address these kinds of questions we need causal models, which allow us to predict the consequences of interventions and to explore what-ifs and counterfactuals. We can show you how to harness your natural propensity for causal thinking and also how to avoid some of the common pitfalls in establishing and exploiting causal relations.
Social Heuristics
Most of the behaviours we are interested in observing or influencing occur within a social setting and are thus amenable to be influenced by the social environment. We can show you how people’s decisions, preferences and actions are affected by other people or by information about how other people behave. We can explore the powerful influence of groups and social identity, illustrating how connection to others can affect our most basic evaluations of what we like and how we act.
Neuromarketing
You can’t learn everything you need to know about consumers simply by asking them. We can highlight the potential (and the pitfalls) of using neuroscience to get a better handle on why people behave as they do and how consumers feel about your products. We can show you how neuroscience is changing market research, as well as arming you with the tools to spot neuro-hype and implausible claims.
Social Relationships
Discover the rules of relationships and why brands, as well as people, have to follow them. After introducing you to some of the basic findings in the cooperation science field, we can show when people are likely to behave cooperatively and why this is often beneficial. We don’t have dedicated cognitive machinery for evaluating brands and, instead, we often co-opt the heuristics we use to interact with other people when we are deciding whether and how to interact with brands. This means that successful brands also have to abide by the same social rules as humans. We can show which brands do this well - and when and why they fail.
Decisions in Teams
Good decision making in teams begins with gathering the honest and considered opinions of team members, especially those who disagree with the majority. There are many reasons why team members may not wish to voice dissenting opinions, and in this session we will discuss what constitutes good and bad team cultures. Cultural change takes time, and in the shorter term we will consider a range of techniques for eliciting opinions from your team to minimize the impact of issues such as Groupthink. We can also consider how these moments can be used to improve that culture and help your team members feel safer voicing dissenting opinions in future.
Mental Models and Team Culture
We first look at how the human mind builds impressions e.g. of other people, or situations, and the ways in which this can go wrong, or lead to confirmation bias. We then look at the importance of other people for challenging our own thinking and uncovering faulty assumptions, and how to best gather honest and considered opinions from your team and improve your team culture, while avoiding falling into groupthink.
Bespoke courses can be delivered online or in person (including at your own offices, if you prefer).
We work flexibly with you to design a course that fits your needs. This can be anything from a lunchtime seminar, to a short workshop, to a course spanning several weeks. At the outset, you will meet with a member of our team to discuss your requirements. We will then work up a proposal and send to you for feedback. Once you are happy with the content and scheduling, we will deliver the course.
It's up to you - we've had as few as 4 people and as many as 60 taking part in our bespoke behavioural science workshops.
With all our bespoke courses, you'll have access to reading materials and slide decks, via our online learning platform Podia. With our longer workshops (anything from a few hours to a few weeks), we also include several interactive elements which allow you to put the skills we are teaching into practice.
Pricing varies, depending on the length of the course, number of attendees and whether the course is delivered online or in-person.
Want to know more?
If you’re interested in in a bespoke behavioural science seminar or workshop, we’d love to talk to you about what we can offer. Please email Changing Minds to get the ball rolling.
Testimonials
- “The course materials are closely aligned with our research and projects, making them highly relevant… has sparked new ideas for project design and implementation.” Lu Lu, WRI
- “…loved the session on building relationships. The three pillars of all human interaction: reciprocity, generosity and authenticity. It is helping me better understand the world around me.” George, marketing
- “For people working in different areas, I believe the course teaches many interesting techniques that can really improve projects that aim to have an impact on people’s behavior.” Ariadne Samios
A Behavioural Science extended course for World Resources Institute (2025)
Lu Lu, China Sustainable Transition Centre, WRI: "Thank you for offering such a valuable and inspiring course on behavioral science. The course materials are closely aligned with our research and projects, making them highly relevant. Additionally, the content has prompted me to reflect deeply on my past project experiences and has sparked new ideas for project design and implementation. I truly appreciate the effort of the entire team! I look forward to the possibility of collaborating on future projects with the team."
Anne Mason, WRI: "Thank you...it's been a real treat to take this course. Stephen, Alicia, Nichola, Dave and Costi are inspiring thinkers and great teachers. I'll be incorporating what I've learned immediately!"
A Behavioural Science extended course for Coventry Building Society:
Beeci G, CBS: "I found this really insightful and enjoyable. It really has transformed the way I think and I’ll use it every day...Really liked how applied the information was and the great interactions with the team...Honestly all I would’ve wanted was more time!!"
Annie Pratt, CBS Innovation Lead, Capabilities: The behavioural science course delivered by changing minds was fantastic - really engaging, energetic and packed with useful and real life insights. Our whole team took a lot from it and will benefit in day to day and work life. The facilitators were exceptional, super knowledgeable and friendly. I’d highly recommend!
Jack, CBS: "The course of sessions gave me plenty of insights, theories and practices that can be applied both in my personal and work life"
Behavioural Science extended course: World Resources Institute:
Arya, National Climate Action, WRI: "The Changing Minds course helped me see that my actions can affect not only those I directly engage with but also have additional impacts on the connecting systems at large…Explanations of key concepts was very clear and concise, and interactive approach was helpful...The Changing Minds course has opened my eyes to the different ways that stimuli affect my every day decisions. I have learned to be more conscious of the causal mechanisms in my routine as well as in my work."
Ananya Chakraborty, Climate Resilience Practice, WRI: "I enjoyed the Changing Minds course immensely and have learnt several concepts which can be implemented in my research with private sector, governments and communities.”
Ariadne Samios, Active Mobility Coordinator, WRI Brazil: "Enjoyed learning the different strategies to apply for changing behaviours. It was very interesting to learn because of the social impact projects I have been working on WRI...This course is an opportunity to open your mind to new knowledge. For people working in different areas, I believe the course teaches many interesting techniques that can really improve projects that aim to have an impact on people's behavior."
Paula Santos, Urban Mobility Manager, WRI Brazil: Enjoyed "coaching sessions where I was able to apply lessons learned in a case related to my daily work."
Former attendee, WRI: "I like the dynamics of the course, varying from explanations to discussions in groups - it fits the complexity of the content for a lay group. The Professors are very didactic."
Former attendee, WRI: "This course allows you to understand how our behaviors can shape our understanding of the world, but specially how to use them to drive changes to accelerate transitions in the context of sustainable development."
Former attendee, WRI: "Good sessions with the UCL team, who are patient and knowledgeable about BSA [Behavioural Science applications]."
Former attendee, WRI: "A complete curriculum has been prepared and each lesson is accompanied by reference materials to help students better understand the content of the lesson. It is helpful for the project design and implementation."
Former attendee, WRI: "To better understand the behavioral theory is beneficial for your project inception, design and implementation."
Mental Models and Team Culture workshop: UCL Department:
Former attendee, UCL: "I loved the practical elements at the end, it was so interesting and I think a lot of managers took something away"
Former attendee, UCL: "Stephen [Dewitt] made the session interesting and engaging and I kept my full concentration during the whole session."
Behavioural Science extended course: global marketing company:
George: "Really enjoyed it - loved the session on building relationships. The three pillars of all human interaction: reciprocity, generosity and authenticity. It is helping me better understand the world around me."
Previous workshops
Our team have delivered a range of bespoke workshops and seminars, of varying lengths, in person and online. Below are a few examples:
An 60-minute seminar delivered remotely to a global management consultancy at their company away day. We covered the power of incentives, group decision-making and the diversity paradox. The seminar was attended by around 60 international employees.
A course of 12 hours over 4 sessions, delivered in-person to a global technology company. We covered basic behavioural science, heuristics & biases, risk & uncertainty, causal thinking, social heuristics, neuromarketing, social relationships, and decisions in teams. Attended by 25 London-based employees.
In-person seminar on the psychology of charitable giving delivered to a UK-based charity at their team away day. 20+ attendees.
One-day workshop delivered to a global online social platform for giving, where we delivered content on the psychology of charitable giving and then designed specific interventions that the organisation could use to increase donations. 20+ attendees.
Lunch & Learn online session on EDI in the workplace. Research has consistently shown that diverse organisations are more profitable and efficient. However, current approaches to diversity in organisations often back-fire. The session outlined a novel approach to alleviating biases in the workplace that have had positive impact on diversity in educational settings. The workshop also delved into the relationship between diversity and organisational culture more broadly.40+ attendees.
A 3 hour workshop delivered in person. This looked at how the human mind builds impressions e.g. of other people, or situations, and the ways in which this can go wrong, or lead to confirmation bias. It then moves to the importance of other people for challenging our own thinking and uncovering faulty assumptions, and how to best gather honest and considered opinions from your team and improve your team culture, while avoiding falling into groupthink.
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