Our team
HLI Staff
Dr Michael Plant
Founder and Director
Whilst studying for his PhD in moral philosophy at the University of Oxford, Michael realised there was a pressing need for more research on the most cost-effective, evidence-based ways to improve global happiness – he founded the Happier Lives Institute in 2019 as a result. As well as directing HLI, Michael is also a Research Fellow at Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre. Before that, he was a research assistant to Peter Singer, a researcher for the Rt Hon Sir Michael Fallon MP, and founded Hippo, a happiness-tracking app.
Get in touch: michael@happierlivesinstitute.org
Alexandra Shearn
Chief Operating Officer
Alexandra, a Law graduate from the University of Bristol, has a diverse, decade-long career spanning humanitarian operations in Africa and the Middle East. Shea has worked in internal audit for a major donor and programme management for international charities, the UN, and the UK Government. Whilst living in Senegal, Alex co-founded a small business producing and distributing environmentally sustainable coconut products. At HLI, she spearheads operational tasks, optimising organisational policies and addressing bottlenecks. Outside of work, she enjoys outdoor activities like walking her Senegalese rescue dog, riding motorbikes and surfing (badly).
Martina Dei
Marketing Manager
Martina has a background of over eight years in advertising strategy and creativity. After leaving her position to pursue a Master’s degree in Sustainable Communication, she is now focusing on using her expertise to craft and deliver content that resonates with broad audiences to advance the mission of HLI. Her top professional priority is creating meaningful change. In her free time, she leads a book club and writes short stories.
Joel McGuire
Lead Researcher
Joel’s work focuses on analysing the cost-effectiveness of different ways that charities can help people. His meta-analysis of the impact of cash transfers on subjective wellbeing and mental health (coauthored with Kaiser and Bach-Mortensen) was published in Nature Human Behaviour. Joel has a Masters in Economics and Data Science from the University of Oklahoma, graduating top of his class.
Samuel Dupret
Research Manager
Samuel researches the cost-effectiveness of different interventions in terms of subjective wellbeing. His research interests include the strengths and flaws of different research methodologies, causality, and decision-making. Samuel has a Masters in Cognitive and Decision Sciences from University College London, gaining a distinction.
Ben Stewart
Development Manager & Data Analyst
Ben assists the team in the pursuit of identifying the most cost-effective ways to deliver subjective wellbeing. He holds a First-Class Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Durham University, and a Masters in Behavioural Science from the LSE. His academic interests include the quantification of subjective wellbeing, the psychology of giving and new quantitative research methodologies. In his spare time he can be found travelling, playing the lesser-known sport of Roundnet or curled up with his cat and a book.
Trustees
Dr Caspar Kaiser
Chair
Professor Lord Richard Layard
Board Member
Prof Lord Layard joined the HLI board in 2024. He is one of the first economists to work on happiness, and his main current interest is how evidence on subjective wellbeing can lead to better public polices. He is a also a labour economist who has worked for much of his life on how to reduce unemployment and inequality. He was founder-director of LSE’s Centre for Economic Performance, and is now director of the Centre’s programme on Wellbeing.
Website: https://www.richardlayard.com/
Andrew Fisher
Board Member
Andrew is a clinical psychologist at NHS Lothian Psychological Therapies service, where he works compassionately with adult outpatients to reduce suffering and improve well-being. Before joining NHS Lothian, he worked as a clinical psychologist at a maximum security correctional centre, with children and families at a large public teaching hospital, and in private practice specialising in neurodevelopmental conditions.
Luciana Vilar
Board Member
Born in Brazil, Luciana is passionate about social justice and strived to make a positive impact in each of the seven countries she lived in. Her corporate career in consumer goods spans over three continents, from large transformation programs to setting up a corporate sustainability office. She believes mental health is the key to overcoming humanity’s challenges, and thoroughly supports its democratization.
Rhea Yadav
Board Member
Rhea bridges evidence-led philanthropy and frontline mental health delivery. She is Director of Impact and Strategy at Wysa, a digital mental health venture, where she built and leads the impact arm, bringing mental health care to underserved communities through hybrid models embedded in public health systems. She has a decade of experience in international development and strategy consulting. At Dalberg Advisors, she worked with leading foundations, donors, social enterprises and impact investors across healthcare, education, agriculture, financial inclusion and gender. She previously worked with Bain and Company across North America and EMEA. She holds an MSc in Psychological Sciences from University College London.
Brett Sedgewick
Board Member
Brett is a global development executive and strategic advisor focused on the operational complexities of scaling evidence-based programs. He previously served as Executive Vice President of Programs at Evidence Action and Director of the Deworm the World Initiative, where he led global portfolios reaching hundreds of millions. Over his 15-year career, Brett has secured $250M+ in institutional funding and directed complex operations ranging from large-scale water infrastructure to a national Ebola response in Liberia.
James Walsh
Board Member
James Walsh is an impact advisor and development economist at The Agency Fund, where he works with philanthropies and nonprofits to scale cost effective solutions through public adoption. Much of his research focuses on the social psychology of wellbeing and agency. He is a graduate of Oxford, Harvard, and Trinity College Dublin.
Academic Advisors
Dr Sam Bernecker
Psychology Researcher
Sam is a psychology researcher whose work focuses on increasing the real-world impact of academic science and developing ways to deliver mental health treatments at scale. After their PhD and postdoctoral fellowship, they worked as a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, as a research scientist in the digital mental health industry, and as a program manager at an Effective Altruism organization before returning to their first love, academia.
Prof Julian Jamison
Professor of Economics
Prof Peter Singer
Professor of Bioethics
Peter is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. He works on practical ethics, and is best known for the book Animal Liberation and his writings about global poverty.
Prof Victoria Baranov
Associate Professor
Victoria’s research explores how health, psychological factors, and norms interact with poverty and economic development. She is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Melbourne and Chief Investigator of the Gender Lab. Her work is published in leading journals such as the American Economic Review.
Sara McLennan
Visiting Researcher
Sara is a Visiting Research Fellow at the London School of Economics, working in the Centre for Economic Performance on the Wellbeing Value for Money of Government policies. Previously, she authored the UK’s Wellbeing Guidance for Appraisal and was Head of Evidence at the What Works Centre for Wellbeing.
Prof Mark Fabian
Assistant Professor
Mark is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the University of Warwick, focusing on well-being theory and measurement. His research uses a trans-disciplinary approach, integrating philosophy, politics, and economics.
Prof Crick Lund
Professor
Crick, PhD, is a Professor of Global Mental Health at King’s College London and an Honorary Professor at the University of Cape Town. His research focuses on mental health policy and social determinants of mental health in low- and middle-income countries.
Prof Frances Chen
Associate Professor
Frances is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. Her research investigates how our social lives are connected to mental and physical health. She is developing scalable, low-cost interventions to promote social connection, with the goal of positively impacting people’s health and wellbeing.
Contributors
Former volunteers and team members who have supported our work:
Kaleem Ahmid, Jide Alaga, Justus Baumann, Ethan Bialick, Joy Bittner, Lucia Coulter, Carmen Csilla Medina, Clare Donaldson, Brendan Eappen, Derek Foster, Barry Grimes, Tom Houlden, Ulf Johansson, Florian Kuhlmeier, Marcin Kowrygo, Fin Moorhouse, Nikita Patel, Teis Rasmussen, Vanessa See, Sid Sharma, Rachel Strate, Jasper Synowski, Alan Taylor, Eemaan Thind, Sonia Vallentin, Caitlin Walker, Lara Watson, Peter Brietbart, Dr Lily Yu, Dr Ryan Dwyer, Dominic Marsala, Frances Kissling, Julie Dickin, Úna Harty, Dale Whelehan, Luchuo Englebert Bain.
Summer Research Fellows, 2021 Cohort: Matt Coleman, Frank Hong, Chihiro Ito, Niall Maher, Amarins Veringa, Akash Wasil and 2022 Cohort: Thomas Beuchot, Harry Lloyd, Madhav Malhotra, Conrad Samuelsson.