Nudge Unit’s Head of Data delves into behavioural insights at CiC19

Crimson is delighted to disclose that the Head of Data Science at The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), aka Nudge Unit, will be addressing attendees at Crimson’s Innovation Conference 2019 (CiC19).

James Lawrence, who has headed BIT’s data science team for almost two and a half years, will be speaking on the topic: ‘Text mining: Unlocking the commercial value of text data’, in which he will be describing how data science can be a hugely beneficial tool not only for the public sector but also for commercial organisations.

He will also be outlining how Natural Language Processing and text mining is transforming social care services in the UK. What’s more, he will be explaining how these techniques can optimise predictive analytics, reveal new insights, and inform strategic decision-making in businesses.

BIT is a social purpose company that is jointly owned by the UK Government, Nesta (the innovation charity), and its employees. It started life inside 10 Downing Street as the world’s first government institution dedicated to the application of behavioural sciences. Its core focus is to elevate the performance of public services by improving the outcomes for users. BIT was nicknamed the ‘Nudge Unit’ as its employees use some aspects of nudge theory, which is a combination of behavioural economics and psychology used to create positive reinforcement. 

The Crimson Innovation Conference takes place on 9 April 2019, at Vox Conference Centre in Birmingham. If you would like to find out more about the other speakers at this event, click here.

James has managed and delivered data science projects in policing, children’s social care, road safety, and targeting government inspections. Before joining BIT, James worked as a statistical consultant for RSA Insurance UK, applying machine learning techniques to predict customer behaviour. He has also conducted and published statistical ecology research into the population dynamics of North American wildlife, using statistical simulation techniques. James holds a MMath and BA from the University of Cambridge.

Crimson is an IT consultancy, an IT solutions provider, an IT recruitment agency, and a Microsoft Gold Partner operating across the UK.