5 Big Questions: DR CHARLOTTE RAE

Can science prove the benefits of a 4-day week?

Do science and creativity ever truly work in harmony?

And do we take our brains for granted?

In this week’s 5 Big Questions interview we talk to neuroscientist and biological psychologist, DR CHARLOTTE RAE

• Twitter: @NeuroRae

Known for:

• Lecturer in Psychology & Cognitive Neuroscience – University of Sussex (UK)
• Chair, Sustainability & Environmental Action Group – Organisation for Human Brain Mapping
• Former Research Fellow – Brighton & Sussex Medical School

The 5 Big Questions:

1. 1. How do you measure the impact of what you do?
   2. How should people/businesses be preparing for the future?
   3. How do we build the workforce we need for that future?
   4. How do you use creativity to solve problems?
   5. How do you collaborate?

Key quotes:

“Measuring impact is a challenge. In my field we build up a picture of how the brain works quite gradually, experiment by experiment.”

“It’s not a one-dimensional output that businesses are looking for, when we consider alternative ways of working.”

“The four day working week has these potential difference flavours and different benefits, for different scenarios. It’s very flexible in its implementation.”

“Fundamentally, all human behaviour is generated by that one kilo or so of material inside your skull.” 

“The human brain is exquisitely placed to adapt and change our behaviour for new situations. That’s how we’ve become the dominant primate on Planet Earth.”

“Our brain needs to be operating in what I would call a ‘goldilocks zone’, a happy biological state where things are in balance. The brain is a human organ, it’s a piece of our physiology, it’s not a machine.”

Useful links:

• Dr Charlotte Rae University of Sussex profile 
• Four day working week — Iceland study (BBC news) 

• Andrew Barnes // 4DayWeek.com

• Andrew Barnes’ TEDx Auckland talk

• Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce blog post on the Sussex 4 day week study

• University of Sussex School of Psychology // sussex.ac.uk/schools/psychology/

• Neuroscience (Wikipedia) // wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroscience

• The ‘Goldilocks Zone’ (in space science, Wikipedia) // wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumstellar_habitable_zone

• MRI scanning (Wikipedia) // wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_resonance_imaging

This episode was recorded in January 2022

Interviewer: Richard Freeman for always possible

Editor: CJ Thorpe-Tracey for Lo Fi Arts