Dr. Robert Murphy

Robert is a health and behavioural economist dedicated to improving organisational and individual outcomes. He has more than 25 years of experience of designing and leading applied research. In the Department of Health Robert is the behavioural research lead, undertaking and designing research on behaviour change priorities. He is Ireland’s WHO national focal point for Behavioural and Cultural Insights (BCI). He designed a multipronged service to support more effective use of research evidence in the Department of Health and co-founded the national Better Letter Initiative (BLI) to improve patient engagement. Prior to this Robert was the Head of Research in the Children Acts Advisory Board where he led a significant programme of research of over two-years. Before joining the public sector Robert was a leading economic consultant – lead on 50 applied research projects – and recently worked as a Senior Consultant to the WHO on BCI. Robert has a BA in Economics from Trinity College Dublin, a MSc in Economics from University of Bristol, and a PhD from the Behavioural Science Centre, University Stirling. Robert has published in leading international journals in economics and psychology such as Social Science & Medicine, Value in Health and Health Psychology.