Paul Dolan

Paul is a professor of Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and a pioneer in measuring happiness through research-backed techniques. Helping leaders create uplifting workplaces where employees can thrive, his groundbreaking work designing the personal wellbeing survey for the UK’s Office for National Statistics is still used today.

Creator of LSE’s Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, Paul’s research passion comes from his interest in investigating how characteristics such as social class and belief systems are recognised or diminished in different environments.

Author of “Happiness by Design” and “Happy Ever After,” his MINDSPACE checklist, created for the UK government’s Behavioural Insights Team, helps both public and private organisations nudge consumer, employee and employer behaviour. Paul’s most recent work on creating “tolerance by design” is intended to overcome what he calls “beliefism” – discrimination against those with different beliefs – and is the topic of his next book, scheduled for a May 2025 release.

Paul was named one of the 100 most influential academics globally and has worked with a number of government bodies and Fortune 500 companies on how to embed behavioural science and the science of happiness into organisations. Paul’s 120-odd academic papers have been cited over 33,000 times.