Nurturing The Next Generation of Behavioural Scientists

If Applied Behavioural Science is going to go mainstream, then I think we need to have a rethink on the way we are nurturing our global talent capability model.

Broadly, most behavioural scientists see the UK, US & Canadian universities as a steppingstone into their careers, securing MSc's and potentially a PhD.

In fact, for most professional behavioural scientists that seek to be accredited, the MSc is the most achievable bar that has been set by our emergent industry bodies.

If applied behavioural science is indeed going to grow in India, China, Africa, Latin America, I believe we need to further democratise and make accessible the knowledge transfer and critically make it more affordable.

I know it's not easy but here are a number of initiatives that organisations can take to help accelerate the change.

1.Become a Visa Licence Sponsor organisation. Recruit from the emergent markets and work with candidates to offer roles, without the onus being on the individual. This is often someone who is often just starting out in their career and may not know how to navigate how to

' have the right to work in the < insert country > '.

2. Offer Graduates the opportunity to work part time in your organisation. Whilst studying, new employees can fund their MSc as they go, as well as getting paid by your firm along the way.

3. Give Conversion MSc students a chance. They may have worked for a number of years in another role raising funds to pay for their further education, before they found behavioural science as their work passion in life.

4. Hire Graduates who don't have an MSc in Behavioural Science. Take a leap and trust in their potential early, for your and their future. Accreditation for organisations often means 34% of your team don't require an MSc.

Longer term, we need to be working with faculties to increase the number of courses worldwide to include behavioural science and behavioural economics, making our field more accessible and affordable.

Organisations in more established countries need to work with organisations in emergent countries to help them grow capability independently.

Universities need to think about helping other universities in other markets.

Firms need to nurture applied relationships in their own market and abroad.

In the recent Businesses that Behave Summit in Bangalore, a key business owner highlighted that in our field, more than many others, we cannot afford to be elitist.

We need behavioural scientists that can connect with people in everyday life and make their lives better. To do that we need behavioural scientists from all walks of life.

Making behavioural science more affordable can only make our field more mainstream.