Final Student Welcome

My sixth and final time as Department head today welcoming new students to LSE Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science There has been psychology in LSE since at least 1964, and just under 10 years ago, staff in the previous Department of Social Psychology joined with colleagues from Social Policy working on behavioural science, including the flagship Executive MSc in Behavioural Science, to form the new Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, initially headed by Professor Cathy Campbell and then Professor Paul Dolan. Throughout the decade since it was founded, with dedicated work from dozens of people in a wide range of roles, it has added a new and now thriving undergraduate programme in psychological and behavioural science, and a Masters in Behavioural Science now in its sixth year with alumni placed in hundreds of organisations where behavioural science is researched and applied, to add to existing renowned programmes in Social and Cultural Psychology, Organisational Psychology, Psychology of Economic Life (now Societal and Environmental Psychology), and Social and Public Communication, as well as a PhD programme that currently works with approximately 40 PhD researchers. Faculty and staff numbers have grown significantly during the period to reflect the wider scope and depth of the teaching programmes and research areas. Alongside research staff, graduate teaching assistants, visiting staff, and a wide network of collaborations and supports across and outside the university, it is an exciting and generative environment with major research programmes on well-being, political polarisation, organisational culture, climate change, health, conflict, and several others evolving alongside a thriving seminar and events culture. A growing alumni group engage continuously across many activities including seminars, policy simulations, career talks, and many others. We are also proud that it continues to be an eclectic Department reflecting several traditions across social and organisational psychology and emerging interdisciplinary behavioural science streams. The tensions and dialectic between these streams is often a source of genuine insight and progress, as well as spirited disagreement. Many of the main challenges of the 21st century have deep psychological and behavioural foundations. Understanding political polarisation, the human processes of climate change, engagement with AI, conflict, the future of work and organisations, and many others require a generation of people with the ability to understand and work on how complex psychological and behavioural features of humans engage with rapidly evolving social, technological, and physical environments. We are proud to welcome this year's incoming students to an environment where hundreds of scholars, researchers, professional staff, and students work continuously on these topics within the wider environment of LSE, one of the world's leading social science institutions.