David Halpern

David Halpern is the President Emeritus and Founding Director of the Behavioural Insights Team, widely known as the original 10 Downing Street “Nudge Unit.” David led the team from its inception in 2010. He is now the Director of the Downing Battcock Institute at Cambridge. Previously, David was the Founding Director of the Institute for Government and between 2001 and 2007 was the Chief Analyst at the UK Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit. He has served four UK Prime Ministers and served for a decade as the UK’s first National What Works Adviser. Before entering government, David was a Prize Research Fellow at Nuffield College Oxford and tenured at Cambridge University. He has held Visiting Professorships at Harvard, Kings College London, Imperial, and the National University of Singapore. He has written several books and papers on behavioral insights and well-being, including Social Capital, The Hidden Wealth of Nations, and Inside the Nudge Unit.