The writer is chief executive of Nesta, the innovation foundation, which has acquired the Behavioural Insights Team

Behavioural scientists are best known for their “nudges”, whether it is automatically enrolling people in pensions or sending tax reminder letters informing us that most people pay their taxes on time. Ever since the creation of the UK government’s Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), the so-called nudge unit, in 2010, this narrow characterisation has obscured the breadth and depth of what real world behavioural science can deliver. But across the world, the experience of tackling Covid has shown what, properly applied, behavioural insights can do.

Alongside the vaccine rollout, we have largely controlled the virus with restrictions on behaviour, though not always the right ones. Early on in the pandemic, wearing masks was discouraged, testing was abandoned and ventilation ignored. The excessive emphasis on handwashing created a mental model of how the virus was transmitted that was subsequently hard to displace.