Richard Layard is the founder-Director of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics. He is currently co-Director of their "Community Wellbeing programme" and a leading scholar of the field.

His book "Happiness: Lessons from a new science" (2005) was translated into 20 languages. The most recent (co-authored) book "Wellbeing: Science and Policy" (2023) is a field-defining textbook. He is also a founding co-editor of the annual "World Happiness Report".

Richard Layard is a member of the Advisory Board of the Journal of Population Economics and a supporter of their "Wellbeing and Happiness Collection".