Unlocking Behavioural Insights for Impactful Public Policy Communication

Developing practical skills for engaging citizens and driving measurable change

08 Sep 2026 To 11 Sep 2026

(4 Days)

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

(Singapore Time)

About The Programme

Become a Change-Maker For Your Organisation

From health and wellbeing to energy saving, changing people’s behaviours is key to achieving many critical policy objectives. Communication-based behavioural interventions are a vital tool for governments and organizations, often being faster and less controversial to implement than legal or fiscal changes, and attracting higher levels of public support.

At this course, you’ll learn how to use communication as a policy tool that creates large-scale behavioural shifts. Through a combination of theory and practical exercises, you’ll leave the course ready to harness the power of communication to achieve your policy goals.

Delivered in partnership with WPP, the world’s leading creative transformation company which has advised governments in over 70 countries on impactful communication strategies.
Combines the academic excellence of LKY’s teaching with global practitioners’ real-life experience and case studies.
Includes a Live Challenge Project in which you apply your learning to a real-world scenario and receive feedback from industry experts.

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Programme Focus

The course will cover both conceptual and practical knowledge, provide global perspectives on communication and effective public policy:

New behavioural approaches to public policy and comms
Research and testing
Moral reasoning
Using data
Creating a strategy
Creative development
Media buying

Who Should Attend

Senior government officials responsible for developing and implementing public policy
Mid- to senior-level government communicators seeking to enhance their strategic communication skills

What You'll Learn

How to leverage psychology, behavioural science and effective messaging to shape public opinion and change behaviour
How to craft compelling stories that build public trust and engagement
How to craft a strategy, using technology and digital media, that amplifies your message and connects with your target audience

LIVE CHALLENGE

Learn to drive change! During the week, the Live Challenge empowers you to tackle a real-world policy issue and create a campaign for positive impact as part of a team. Choose your mission: Boost family resilience to mental health issues, Ignite reskilling among middle-aged workers, or Equip citizens to combat climate change. When you apply, you can select your preferred challenge. Develop your campaign and present it to a jury of LKY and WPP experts. Apply now and take on the challenge!

Ready To Make
An Impact?

Application Deadline: 7 August 2026

APPLY NOW

Programme Dates

Sessions will be held from 9 am to 5 pm (Singapore Time) on 8 to 11 September 2026.

Programme Fees

S$6,300 + prevailing GST if applicable

S$5,040 + prevailing GST if applicable (Early Bird till 10 Jul 2026 & for LKY School Degree Programme/Executive Education Programme Alumni)

Group discount: For every 3 participants from the same organisation, the 4th participant attends for free.

*Only one promotion can be applied and EE will choose the higher of the discount of the three (Alumni or 4^th person free).
*Fee is inclusive of lunch, refreshments and learning support materials.

Contact

Executive Education Department
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
National University of Singapore
469C Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 259772

Tel: (65) 6516 6458
Email: lkysppoe@nus.edu.sg

Our Speakers

LAURE VAN HAUWAERT, Executive Director, EU Institutions, WPP Government & Public Sector Practice

Laure heads the EU Institutions team in WPP’s Government and Public Sector Practice. Leader of a team of specialist communications agencies, her role is to bring WPP’s best thinking, talent and experience to the EU public sector, by building on solid academic and social research to inform the development of effective strategies for citizen engagement, EU-wide integrated campaigns and policy communications, and behaviour change campaigns. She leads agency teams in the development of effective solutions to the major challenge of communicating the European project to over 500 million citizens in 27 different countries and 24 languages. Laure is a member of the WPP Faculty team teaching integrated communications at the Blavatnik School of Government (Oxford). She organises regular inspiration sessions and discussions about best practice in communications for clients and colleagues. Prior to this role, she was Institutional Communications Director at Ogilvy Brussels for 3 years, where she oversaw business development & senior client management for institutional clients. She led several campaigns for the European Commission and the European Parliament.

SEAN HOWARD, Global CEO, WPP Government & Public Sector Practice

As CEO of the WPP Government & Public Sector Practice, Sean focuses on WPP’s growth efforts to deliver our company’s best talent and thought leaderships to governments for their growing communications, technology, experience and commerce needs. Sean works with some of our largest government clients and strategic partners and supports the Government Practice regional hub leaders and agencies in Australia, Singapore, the Middle East, the EU, UK, Canada and the U.S. Sean has been with WPP agencies since 2005, first joining Wunderman Thompson to help build the Seattle-based integrated Team Microsoft and lead the pitch to become T-Mobile’s agency of record. In 2012, he became Managing Director of Y&R New York, where he successfully led the pitch for the U.S Navy’s advertising and recruiting business. Sean continues to oversee the Navy contract in his dual role as the WPP Executive Lead on the U.S Navy.

BRETT NOLAN, Executive Director AUNZ, WPP Government and Public Sector Practice

Brett leads WPP’s Government & Public Sector Practice for Australia and New Zealand. He advises government and other public sector communicators on how they can meet their communications and policy objectives. Principally, that means working with WPP’s agencies and clients to pull together the right teams and resources, while delivering value for money outcomes. Brett’s experience is predominantly in client-side marketing and governance, with a particular focus on procurement. He is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply for Australia and New Zealand. Before joining WPP, he was the Head of Procurement for Tourism Australia and held several senior roles with the Australian Government Department of Finance. That latter is responsible for central oversight of the Australian Government’s advertising from operational and governance perspectives. Brett lives in Sydney with his family but works with clients and agencies across Australia and New Zealand.

MARK PENDER, Executive Director USA and Canada, WPP Government and Public Sector Practice

Mark leads WPP’s Government & Public Sector Practice for the United States and Canada. He advises government and public sector communicators on global best practice, innovation, capability building, and strategies to achieve best outcomes in procurement objectives. He works across WPP’s companies and its partners to develop systems and teams that most effectively deliver on government communications and policy objectives. Drawing on WPP’s global evidence base of program outcomes from over 70 countries, he is uniquely positioned to build high achieving teams to meet today’s integrated communications needs. A frequent speaker on government communications, he has taught on WPP’s executive education faculty at Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University. Before joining WPP, he held senior communications roles with the Government of Canada and has worked in the private and not-for-profit sectors. Mark is based in Washington DC but works throughout the United States and Canada.

PHILIPPA CLAYRE, Executive Director, UK & MENA, WPP Government & Public Sector

Philippa leads WPP’s Government & Public Sector Practice for the UK and MENA. She advises government communicators and public sector clients in strategy, innovation, global best practice, capability building and procurement objectives. She joins from WPP’s MENA hub where she successfully led the Government Practice Hub for over 5 years, contributing to the network’s growth with public sector clients across numerous sectors. In her role as executive director for the UK Hub, Philippa will continue to draw on WPP specialist agencies to build bespoke solutions that support policy goals for UK government clients, driving global best practice, thought leadership and innovation for effective engagement with citizens across multiple public sector campaigns, platforms and experiences. Working with WPP companies to deliver the most flexible, efficient and quality controlled end-to-end business solution for public sector challenges, her hands-on role has built effective partnerships that deliver on policy goals through the lens of integrated communications. Philippa is the co-author of a number of reports in the region, including Preparing for the post truth world, and Triggering change through behavioral insights.

Associate Professor Leong Ching, Vice Provost (Student Life) & Acting Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at NUS

Leong Ching's work lies in making sense of apparently irrational environmental behavior, whether in refusal to use recycled water, underinvesting in water utilities, or decision making in building dams and managing rivers. She uses narratives, perceptions and stories to understand collective public behavior as well as environmental identities. Her field research is focused on water institutions and governance in Asia. Leong Ching has graduate degrees in philosophy, information technology and journalism. Before joining the university, she had a career in television and newspaper journalism.

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