“What kind of humans do we want to be?”

RSPCA Wilberforce Lecture 2023: ‘Contagious Empathy: harnessing kindness to close the behaviour gap between what we say and do for animals‘

We are delighted to have attended an inspiring lecture by Professor David Halpern CBE hosted by the RSPCA at Carlton House in London last night.

David is President and Founding Director of the Behavioural Insights Team and former Chief Analyst at the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit. His published work on behavioural insights and wellbeing includes “Inside the Nudge Unit: How Small Changes Can Make a Big Difference.”

In his keynote speech, David drew from a rich array of contemporary insights from behavioural science and empirical evidence to explore how we both humanise and dehumanise animals.

One of the main questions David raised in a wide-ranging address, is whether empathy and cruelty are contagious and if kindness can be a catalyst for positive change for animals.

Panel Host, BBC journalist Victoria Derbyshire facilitated some excellent contributions from the panel and an engaged audience that was left to contemplate two key questions:

What kind of humans do we want to be? And how we can shape a world where animals are regarded not as “they” but “we”?

We look forward to reflecting on this ourselves as we continue our work with the RSPCA’s Philanthropy team.