Social and Behavioural Science for Emergencies (SBSE) Steering Group
Strengthening the use of social and behavioural science evidence for emergency preparedness and response across government.
Who we are
The SBSE Steering Group was formed in 2022 with the following aims:
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To provide strategic coordination of social and behavioural science inputs to cross-government emergency preparedness and response.
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To identify cross-cutting social and behavioural evidence and data gaps for emergency preparedness.
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To strengthen social and behavioural science capabilities and awareness across government and build relationships with key external funding and research organisations.
This group is separate from, but complementary to, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, including the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours (SPI-B) subgroup.
Unlike SAGE, the SBSE Steering Group is an internal-to-government, active, standing committee. SAGE and its sub-groups may call on SBSE or its individual members during a SAGE activation to provide social and behavioural science advice.
Membership
The SBSE Steering Group is made up of departmental Chief Scientific Advisers with social and behavioural science expertise, government resilience leads and civil servants with specialist expertise. Membership also includes representatives from the devolved governments to help ensure appropriate join-up with their science systems.
The SBSE Steering Group is currently chaired by Professor Sarah Sharples (Chief Scientific Adviser, Department for Transport) and deputy chaired by Professor Richard Amlôt (Deputy Director, Behavioural Science and Insights, UK Health Security Agency). The secretariat for this group is provided by the Government Office for Science.
There is a working group formed of representatives from government departments, agencies and professions with expertise relevant to social and behavioural science for emergencies. This group works in tandem with the steering group to coordinate and produce outputs. It is currently co-chaired by Dr Carrie Heitmeyer (Head of Social Science, Government Office for Science) and Professor Tushna Vandrevala (Professor of Health Psychology, Kingston University).