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Laurel Austin, Ph.D., uses behavioural and decision science methods to study individual decision making under risk and uncertainty. She is currently studying digital first health care, specifically use of digital triage tools during the pandemic and the sudden shift to virtual medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Funded by SSHRC, she is also currently studying youth and young adult mental models and decisions related to vaping. This work has focused on how the pandemic impacted vaping decisons and behaviours, and on youth mental models of nicotine use, addiction, and cessation. She has published research on medical decision making, insurance decisions and behaviour, electric workers' safety decisons, computer supported group decision making, and adolescent risk decisions.
Laurel teaches courses on decision making, risk management in organizations, and building business resilience at the HBA, MSc, MBA, and executive levels. Before joining Ivey she was an Associate Professor of Strategic Decision Making and Risk Management at the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark. She earned her PhD in Management and Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University, and an MSE in Industrial and Operations Engineering at University of Michigan.