Jan-Emmanuel De Neve is the Director of the Wellbeing Research Centre and a Professor of Economics and Behavioural Science at the Saïd Business School at Oxford. The underlying theme throughout his research in behavioural economics and public policy is the study of human wellbeing. His work offers new insights on the relationship between happiness and income, productivity, firm performance, and economic growth. 

Jan is an Editor of the World Happiness Report and the co-founder of the World Wellbeing Movement, a coalition of exemplary corporations that help put wellbeing metrics at the heart of business and public policy. He is a frequent advisor to governments and businesses including Unilever, Gallup, and BetterUp and currently guides the development of the world’s largest study on wellbeing at work for the global job search site Indeed with over 17 million surveys completed so far. 

His research has been published in academic outlets such as Science, Nature, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Management Science, The Journal of Political Economy, Psychological Science, The British Medical Journal, and The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). His work was selected among ‘The Management Ideas that Mattered Most’ by Harvard Business Review and he was awarded the inaugural Ruut Veenhoven Award for his contributions to the scientific study of happiness. 

Jan co-authored the first major textbook on wellbeing science with Richard Layard in 2023 (Cambridge University Press) and his book, Why Workplace Wellbeing Matters, with George Ward, summarising their research on wellbeing in the workplace with Harvard Business Press, will be published in March 2025. 

Prior to joining Oxford, Jan was Assistant Professor in Political Economy and Behavioural Science at University College London and a Visiting Professor in Economics and Political Science at INSEAD. He is affiliated with the Centre for Economic Performance at LSE and is a faculty associate of both the Department of Economics and the Department of Politics at Oxford. 

Jan obtained his PhD from the London School of Economics and was a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard University. His research and commentary regularly feature in the media, including in The Economist, Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, and on the BBC. He is a frequent speaker at academic and non-academic conferences, including at PopTech and TED. Alongside his role at Saïd Business School, Jan is the KSI Fellow and Vice-Principal of Harris Manchester College at the University of Oxford.

An experienced Business Psychologist and leader, Ben started his career at a Thornhills, a leadership development consultancy, before moving to Greater Manchester Police as Principal Occupational Psychologist. From there, he joined Robertson Cooper as Wellbeing Solutions Consultant, becoming Head of Product Development and then Director of Business Development and Marketing. In 2010 he was appointed Managing Director, leading on proposition, growth and supporting talent development. In 2021, he led the business through its acquisition by the handl Group.

Ben’s deep understanding of organisational health and wellbeing, plus experience of working with global client organisations has been at the heart of Robertson Cooper’s value proposition for more than 15 years. In particular, he has developed and championed the idea of putting good days at work at the heart of the working culture and environment employers create for their workforces.

Wolfgang is a Partner at Mercer and leads Workplace Health Consulting for UK and Europe, advising companies on health and wellbeing strategy and proactive interventions, such as resilience programmes. He is a member of the Global Workforce Health Management Leadership Team, founded the International Health and Wellbeing Network, and currently advises a number of global and national organisations on data-driven strategy and implementation.

Before joining Mercer in 2010, he ran global Employee Assistance Programs and worked in primary and secondary care and academia. He is a member of various national and international research organisations and a regular speaker at professional conferences around the globe.

Wolfgang is a Doctor of Medicine, holds a master’s degree in Psychiatry, Philosophy and Society, and is a BACP-accredited Counsellor and Psychotherapist. He is an internationally recognised expert in the field of quality enhancement measures in workplace health and return on investment models. He serves on a number of advisory boards and is a Visiting University Professor in Applied Psychology

Julie joined global healthcare organisation Bupa in 2011, initially as Director of Learning and Development, moving on to lead the overall HR agenda for Bupa Care Homes in the UK focusing on employee engagement of 12,500 colleagues throughout. Julie then held the People Director post for the Bupa Dental Care business, consisting of 480 practices with 8,500 colleagues acquired by Bupa just over 4 years ago with an HR model transformation agenda.

Moving for the last 3 years to specialise in Wellbeing, Inclusion, Health & Safety with a global remit for Bupa’s 84,000 employees worldwide, Julie launched a global wellbeing framework and brought holistic healthcare and wellbeing to frontline healthcare workers across multiple healthcare markets for the first time in Bupa’s history, spanning Bupa Global and UK, Europe and Latin America, Arabia and Asia Pacific.

Passionate about employee experience leading to customer centricity, Julie has led significant transformation across both aspects for over 25 years.

Gillian has worked as a senior HR practitioner and OD specialist for several organisations including Swiss Re, Vodafone and BAA. Prior to her HR career, she was a management consultant with Deloitte Consulting and is also a qualified solicitor. Gillian has written various CRF reports on subjects including HR strategy, organisation design and development, leadership development, coaching and diversity.