In this episode, I chat with Paul about his book Happiness by Design: Finding Pleasure and Purpose in Everyday Life. Using the latest cutting-edge research, Professor Paul Dolan reveals that wellbeing isn’t about how we think – it’s about what we do. By making deliberate choices that bring us both pleasure and meaning, we can redesign our lives for maximum happiness – without thinking too hard about it.

Paul is currently Professor of Behavioural Science at the LSE and Director of Executive MSc Behavioural Science.

There are two main themes to Paul’s work: 1) developing measures of happiness and subjective well-being that can be used in policy and by individuals looking to be happier; and 2)considering ways in which the lessons from the behavioural sciences can be used to understand and change individual behaviour, and to add to the evidence base in this regard. He uses a range of data and methods to address these issues and to better integrate them e.g. surveys, big data, lab studies, and field experiments.