Failing Well: Generating New Ideas with Sendhil Mullainathan

Professor Sendhil Mullainathan is the Peter de Florez Professor at MIT where he splits his time between the Economics and the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science departments. His current research is at the intersection of algorithms and people, with a central focus on launching The Bike Shop @ MIT. This is a new research centre which works towards more human-centered AI through scalable bicycles for the mind, and innovative new gears for machine learning algorithms.

Professor Mullainathan enjoys writing, having co-authored Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much (2013) as well as having written regularly for the New York Times.

He is active in the application of research insights. He helped co-found a non-profit to apply behavioral science (ideas42); co-founded a center to promote the use of randomized control trials in development (the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab), and co-founded Dandelion Health, a company that provides the healthcare data needed to build breakthrough medical AI.

In Trinity Term 2026, Professor Mullainathan was appointed the Sanjaya Lall Visiting Professor of Business and Development in the Department of Economics and St John's College. This professorship was created by Oxford University in 2011 to honour the memory of the pioneering development economist and St John's alumnus, Professor Sanjaya Lall (1940-2005; PPE, 1960). Previous holders of the chair include Professor Rohini Pande and Professor Daron Acemoğlu.

Professor Mullainathan's lecture on 'Failing Well' is free to attend and open to members of the public. We ask that you reserve tickets in advance via Eventbrite.