Our use of cookies
Nudgestock.co.uk uses cookies, some are necessary for the operation of the website and some are designed to improve your experience. For more information, click here.
THURSDAY 17th SEPTEMBER 2026
Ready to sort out your trust issues?
Check out this year's agenda below.
Select your preferred timezone (times will update automatically below):
Check-in & coffee
Enjoy a morning coffee and take your seat at Nudgestock 2026.
Nudgestock begins
The world's biggest festival of Behavioural Science and creativity begins!
Rory Sutherland: Advertising's Greatest Alchemist
Sorts out your trust issues
Why do so many organisations ruin long-term trust in the pursuit of short-term value? Rory Sutherland, President Emeritus of Ogilvy and founder of its Behavioural Science capability, argues that this comes down to leaders too frequently asking what will make money before asking what people really need. In this opening talk, he’ll examine why trust can only really be built when businesses reverse that logic.
Prof Michael Muthukrishna: Cultural Evolution Expert
How trust made us human
What allowed billions of strangers to trust one another enough to build markets, cities and civilisation? Professor Michael Muthukrishna, NYU and LSE professor and author of A Theory of Everyone, studies the cultural evolution that turned human minds into a powerful “collective brain” and made trust the engine of human progress. But with global uncertainty now sky high, he’ll explore what brands and leaders can learn from overcoming trust issues in the past to build a more innovative and collaborative future.
Prof Karen Douglas: Conspiracy Theory Psychologist
Why conspiracy wins when trust fails
What happens when people stop trusting the facts? Professor Karen Douglas is one of the world’s leading experts on the psychology of conspiracy theories and why people turn to alternative explanations when trust in institutions, experts and evidence starts to break down. She’ll explore why conspiracy theories are so appealing, particularly in times of uncertainty, and what their consequences are for individuals, groups, and societies.
Dr. Eliza Filby: Global Generational Historian
Gen Z's retreat from institutional trust
Why has the trust landscape changed for Gen-Z? Historian and bestselling author Dr Eliza Filby explores the forces shaping generational friction. With each generation formed by different economic realities, societal expectations and technological contexts, Eliza will reveal to what extent Gen-Z are placing their trust in institutions and brands.
Break
Grab a coffee, network with like-minded Nudgestockers, and enjoy the sunshine (hopefully!)
Rebecca Dibb-Simkin, Claudia Nicholls-Magnielsen, Eva Augustn: A CMO special
Building brands people believe in
How do you build belief when trust is in short supply? Head marketers Rebecca Dibb-Simkin (Octopus Energy) and Claudia Nicholls-Magielsen (Cancer Research UK), alongside one final guest yet to be revealed, will draw on their exceptional sector-specific insights to discuss what it takes to create and sustain long-lasting trust. They will also look at the emerging pressures facing even the most respected brands and how that is reshaping the way they go to market.
Pablo Perez & Maxwell Minckler: Experts in 'AI mindsets'
Cultivating AI mindsets
With fewer than 1 in 5 marketers considered 'AI leaders’, how can the next generation of brand-builders find the confidence to use AI meaningfully without being led by a fear of missing out? Google researchers Pablo Perez and Maxwell Minckler are experts in cultivating 'AI mindsets’, and will demonstrate the practical building blocks that turn uncertainty into AI confidence. They'll show how trust, once established, becomes the accelerant for progress rather than a barrier.
Mark Farquhar: The High-Stakes Trust Pilot
Trust at 40,000 feet
Trust is everything when strangers place their lives in your hands - especially when you're at 40,000 feet. Mark Farquhar, Chief Training Captain at easyJet, knows exactly how trust can be earned in a second; how delicate it is, and what brands can learn from the signals that make us trust strangers even when we can't see them.
Lunch by KERB
Enjoy a delicious lunch from our curated crew of talented traders from KERB on site.
Louis Theroux: World-Renowned Documentary-Maker
When Louis meets Rory
How do you gain trust from the world’s least trusting people? Louis Theroux is one of the most daring documentary-maker of our time and has spent a career getting the world's most controversial people to open up. At Nudgestock, he’ll share the stage with Rory Sutherland to discuss the tricky art of building trust to earn candour.
Leah Brown: The Boardroom Trust Insider
Restoring trust in the boardroom
Trust doesn't simply dissolve - it breaks at the exact moment someone stops doing what they said they would do. Leah Brown, an experienced corporate lawyer, accredited mediator and TEDx speaker, works with boards and senior leaders when trust has broken; not to manage the fallout, but to repair what caused it. In her interactive session, we'll see just how broken trust can be repaired - once someone is brave enough to go first.
Glassview with Rory Sutherland: Neuroscientist to the Marketers
The Difference Between Reach and Belief
Have marketers gotten better at finding people rather than moving them? With all the targeting, optimisation and automation at our fingertips, J. Brooks, Founder and CEO of Glassview, will argue that brands have confused scale with real influence and will explore what neuroscience, when supported by cutting-edge neurotechnology, can teach us something the metrics can’t always show: how to know when you’ve really earnt the trust of a consumer.
Rob McDonald: Customer Loyalty Architect
In Avios We Trust: The Psychology of a Loyalty Super-Currency
Rob McDonald is the Chief Commercial Officer at IAG Loyalty, where he's responsible for growing Avios into a globally-trusted loyalty super-currency. In this talk, he'll share a hidden glimpse into the psychology behind Avios, and why so many people today are Avios-obsessed.
Katherine Templar-Lewis: Creative Neuroscientist
When to trust your gut
When does your instinct trump the data? Renowned human scientist Katherine Templar-Lewis studies when you should trust your learned experience, and when your instincts are lying to you. She will explore how this affects what we trust, and how we can manage our fear response and make good decisions with our gut.
Phill Agnew: Authority on Authority Bias
The illusion of trust
Why do we trust the loudest and most authoritative voices so easily? Phill Agnew, host of the UK’s #1 marketing and behavioural science podcast Nudge, will unpack the mental shortcuts behind belief; why the voice in your ears can feel more trustworthy than the facts in front of your eyes; how we can challenge our own authority bias; and the other hacks to identifying genuine credibility.
Break
Grab a coffee, network with like-minded Nudgestockers, and enjoy the sunshine (hopefully!)
Alex Edmans: Stock market seer
Can we trust financial markets?
What if the biggest threat to your investments is not the market, but yourself? Alex Edmans, Professor of Finance at London Business School and author of The Madness of Markets, will unpack the hidden clues revealing whether those who run the companies we invest in truly deserve our trust; and will show why successful investing requires us to interrogate people - including ourselves - as carefully as the numbers.
Adrianne Carter: Body Language Expert
Trust speaks before you do
Trust starts before anyone speaks. Legendary body language expert Adrianne Carter will reveal how body language shapes instant judgements of credibility, and why the signals we send non-verbally can either build trust or create intense suspicion.
Matt Hancock: Former UK Health Secretary
The nation's trust in your hands
What happens when public trust is in your hands? Matt Hancock, former Secretary of State for Health, will explore the complex relationship between trust, power, and data: what it means to hold the driving seat at a defining moment, and why learning to trust data is the foundation of how we will manage our own health over the coming decade.
Closing remarks
Rory rounds off this years' Nudgestock festival with his closing remarks.