NUDGESTOCK 2026 AGENDA

Ready to sort out your trust issues?

Check out this year's agenda below:

Registration opens

Enjoy a morning coffee and take your seat at Nudgestock 2026.

Welcome to Nudgestock

The world's biggest festival of Behavioural Science and creativity begins!

Rory Sutherland

Sorts out your trust issues

Rory Sutherland is the Vice Chairman of Ogilvy, where he has worked since 1988. This attractively vague job title has allowed him to form a behavioural science practice within the agency, dedicated to uncovering the hidden business and social possibilities which emerge when you apply creative minds to the latest thinking in psychology and behavioural science. 

Michael Muthukrishna

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.

Karen Douglas

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

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!)

Mark Farquhar

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.

Pablo Perez & Maxwell Minckler

Why marketers still wont trust AI

Less than 1 in 5 marketers are considered to be ‘AI leaders’. Many feel the pressure to adopt it, but find it hard to trust it and are overwhelmed at how quickly their competitors are adopting it. Google researchers Pablo Perez and Maxwell Minckler, experts in fostering ‘AI mindsets’, will demonstrate the tangible building blocks towards AI confidence and unpack why the fear of getting it wrong is unfairly hindering progress.

Lunch

Enjoy a delicious lunch from our curated crew of talented traders on site.

Louis Theroux

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.

Katherine Templar-Lewis

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.

Rob McDonald

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.

Leah Brown

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.

Break

Grab a coffee, network with like-minded Nudgestockers, and enjoy the sunshine (hopefully!)

Adrianne Carter

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.

Phill Agnew

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.

Matt Hancock

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.