SHORT FORM BIO Dr. Diane Pelly, Assistant Professor of Behavioural Science, Department of Sociology, TCD I am currently an Assistant Professor of Behavioural Science, based in the Department of Sociology, Trinity College Dublin. For the past 2.5 years I have been teaching an 8-week Applied Behavioural Science Continuing Professional Development (CPD) module which I designed from scratch and which targets working professionals from the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. The module provides a unique overview of the key concepts in Behavioural Science and how they can be applied to influence decision making and to change behaviour in the realm of public policy, human resource management (recruitment, employee well-being and engagement, employee retention, incentive design), branding, advertising, marketing, product design. The module has proved to be extremely successful. It is currently running at full capacity and has garnered extremely positive reviews from former students. I constantly update the content to reflect the latest research and methods in Behavioural Science which I am regularly exposed to through my professional network and membership of the Global Association of Behavioural Scientists (GAABS), the Irish Behavioural Science and Policy Network and the UCD Behavioural Science and Public Policy Group. I was awarded a PhD in Behavioural Economics in 2022. I was supervised by Professor Liam Delaney, Head of the Behavioural Science Unit at the London School of Economics (LSE) and Professor Orla Doyle (Deputy Head of the School of Economics, UCD). My external examiner was Professor Nick Powdthavee, an acknowledged world expert in subjective well-being. The title of my thesis was "Worker well-being: antecedents, measurement and consequences". The central theme was worker well-being - how to measure it; how to use it to predict economically important behaviours (e.g., quits; absenteeism etc.) and how to potentially improve it using targeted interventions. I use several methods in my research including primary surveys, longitudinal panel data and randomised controlled trial (RCT) field experiments. My research interests include applied behavioural science; behaviour change; work practices and worker well-being; employee engagement and retention; WFH /homeworking; happiness, mental and physical health and all things well-being-related. As part of my thesis research I successfully partnered with a large Irish public sector organisation on a well-being RCT and I am keen to explore potential collaborations with other organisations in the private, public or not-for-profit sectors. I also hold a 1st class hon BSc Psychology from The Open University and a 1st class hon BComm International (German) from UCD, as well as a 1st class hons MPhil in Finance and Economics from the University of Cambridge. My research interests are informed by my experiences of working in the corporate sector. Prior to my academic career, I worked in the private financial sector (Citigroup; Zurich Insurance Group) for 20 years in London, Dublin and the US. I have extensive experience of working at manager and board level in the areas of corporate finance, project finance, Mergers & Acquisitions, debt restructuring and investor relations. My contact details are as follows: pellyd@tcd.ie; diane@geelon.com
