As CEO of So-Mo-Co Ltd, Nicola has pioneered the application of behavioural insight psychology to the design and delivery of behaviour change campaigns across the UK.

She is an acknowledged thought leader in innovative road safety behavioural change methodologies and has addressed national conferences. Her work has featured on Good Morning Britain, Radio 4, Wright Stuff and the One Show.

She is also the north west facilitator for the Cabinet Office and has delivered people-centred approaches to designing services and solutions for organisations ranging from the Department for International Trade, local authorities, hospital trusts and national charities.

Presentation: Raising awareness of the problem won’t solve it - so here’s a nudge in the right direction
Liverpool is actively working to bring down one of the highest adult pedestrian casualties rates in the UK. There is no obvious explanation as to why figures are so high or, until now, any consensus view as to the most effective ways to address this.

This presentation demonstrates how ‘nudge’ theory (a concept underpinned by behavioural science and neuroscience) is being used to tackle this issue.

The project is ground breaking, both in terms of the depth of analysis undertaken and the fact that the Merseyside Road Safety Partnership has favoured a behavioural science approach to solution design over more traditional approaches.

The research demonstrates that adult pedestrians are much more aware of the different road dangers than they are given credit for - and yet they still choose to adopt unsafe behaviours. If we accept this to be the case, then we have to question the long-term usefulness of interventions which are solely based on education, engagement/awareness raising and enforcement.