Lucy Makinson
Head of Policy
Lucy is Head of Policy for the Behavioural Insights Team & Nesta. She leads the organisations’ Rapid Insights Team, which brings together new research and expertise from both organisations to address pressing policy challenges.
Lucy has a background in both policy and research, having previously worked as Policy Advisor to David Halpern (CEO) and as the senior research lead for BIT’s Singapore office. Outside of these roles she has led projects across policy areas including in Education, Community and Home Affairs, and acted as the research lead on several large scale evaluations.
Prior to joining BIT Lucy worked as a secondary school maths teacher, and subsequently in opinion research. She holds an undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Cambridge, and a Master’s degree in Behavioural Economics and Game Theory from the University of Amsterdam.
Publications: Sweeney, M., John, P., Sanders, M., Wright, H., & Makinson, L. (2021). Applying behavioural science to the annual electoral canvass in England: evidence from a large-scale randomised controlled trial. Electoral Studies, 70, 102277.
