During the second week of July, members of the Warwick Business School (WBS) Behavioural Science group hosted the third ‘Summer School on Medical and Ethical Decision-Making’ for the University of Warwick in Venice (the programme is available online).

Professors Zvi Safra, Tigran Melkonyan and Ivo Vlaev were in charge of organising the Summer School. Financial and other support was provided by WBS, Institute of Advanced Study (University of Warwick), NIHR CLAHRC West Midlands, and Global Research Priorities (University of Warwick). In addition to presentations by WBS Behavioural Science faculty, the programme included presentations by a number of distinguished speakers, including Professors Gerd Gigerenzer from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, John Fox from the University of Oxford, and Moshe Leshno from Tel Aviv University. Thirty six junior researchers, physicians, and health care professionals from the leading institutions in the United Kingdom and abroad participated in the School.

The event offered an exciting programme that covered a broad range of topics, including various theories of medical decision-making; understanding of health statistics; stochastic dominance and clinical guidelines; using behavioural change and decision theory to nudge doctors and patients; and over- and under-treatment of patients. Besides the lectures, the School included group projects that resulted in a number of practical suggestions and research projects of how to improve efficiency of NHS and medical decision-making. According to all parties involved in the programme, the Summer School was a huge success. In addition to acquiring practical knowledge and skills, the participants learned about a number of promising developments and directions at the forefront of medical decision-making. The School also provided a great opportunity to exchange ideas and to network face-to-face with young researchers and practitioners from around the world.

-- Ivo Vlaev, Professor of Behavioural Science, WBS