Introduction

We are delighted to welcome you to this landmark joint conference, co-hosted by Behavioural Research UK (BR-UK) and the Centre for National Training and Research Excellence in Understanding Behaviour (Centre-UB). BR-UK and Centre-UB are funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to facilitate and build national capability for behavioural research (NCBR) in the UK.

Behavioural research is crucial for informing policy and practice in areas not limited to but including public health, climate change and sustainability, economic well-being, education, crime and justice, social welfare, governance and digital technology including artificial intelligence. Making advances in these areas, and improving the ways we conduct behavioural research, will depend on large-scale collaboration across disciplinary and sector boundaries, as well as developing more effective links between basic research, applied research, policy and practice.  

The Building Capability in Behavioural Research 2026 Conference will convene an interdisciplinary community of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers for a dynamic programme of discussion, exchange, and collaboration to build new networks and strengthen existing ones. The conference will include interactive sessions, keynote talks, and networking forums.

This conference will:

• Stimulate and support cross-sector collaboration across topics in behavioural research (government, academia, business, public and voluntary sector).
• Increase behavioural research capability through sharing knowledge.
• Strengthen and build the behavioural research community.

As part for the Building Capability in Behavioural Research 2026 Conference, we will be hosting a debate on a topic related to human behaviour. 

We are inviting suggestions for topics for this debate. The topic should stimulate a discussion around human behaviour and be interesting for a broad audience of specialists and non-specialists in that topic area. We are looking for a topic on which many sides can be considered. It can be around a new issue, or it can be something that remains to be resolved. It can relate to how we apply behavioural research in practice, how we interpret behavioural research findings, or what the future of human behavioural research should look like.

To submit your suggestions for the debate, please complete this brief form, including information about the topic or question to be debated, why this topic is relevant, and what can be learned from this debate. All submissions will be rated by a panel. 

Please submit your responses by 27th November 2025.