Behavioral scientist. Co‑founder of Pidgy and Alkmist.
Mathias researches how people decide at work and builds that research into Pidgy, the inbox AI assistant for professionals. He speaks in Dutch and English.
On stage about email and meetings
As featured in
About Mathias
Mathias Celis is a behavioral scientist with a PhD from Ghent University, where he is still affiliated. His research covers decision-making, nudging, cognitive load and psychosocial risk at work.
He is also a founder. In 2019 he co-founded Ad Astra Industries with Toto De Brant. They bootstrapped it to a team of 13 and a multinational acquired it in 2024. The same year they started Alkmist, now used by 8,000+ professionals in 62 countries. Pidgy followed in 2026.
Before any of that he was part of the Belgian national acrobatic gymnastics team and became vice world champion. More of his writing and research is on Mathias Celis's personal website.
Behavior, more than technology, shapes the future of work.
In numbers
Talks and podcast topics
These are the talks he gives most often. He is glad to speak on other subjects too: tell him what your audience needs and he will build the talk around it.
Email moves the cost of a request from the sender to the receiver. Mathias shows what attention residue does to a working day and what the data says about coordination loss.
Best for business podcasts, HR and operations events
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People are biased and take the path of least effort. Mathias explains how to design AI assistants around that, with Pidgy's sender screener as the worked example.
Best for tech and product conferences
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How collaboration between organisations breaks down, and what it takes to fix it.
Best for professional services, future-of-work stages
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What research in audit and accountancy shows, including the State of the Audit findings.
Best for HR, wellbeing, accountancy bodies
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Nudging in practice: a sit-stand desk study at the office, and nudges at festivals and in public space.
Best for public sector, health, facility events
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Bootstrapping a startup, the 2024 acquisition, and building two companies in parallel.
Best for startup events, founder podcasts
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Choice overload and status quo bias, and what they mean for anyone rolling out new tools.
Best for innovation and digital transformation events
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His research and his companies cover decision-making, AI, wellbeing at work and entrepreneurship. Bring your theme and he will shape a talk for your audience.
Best for events with their own theme or brief
Suggest a subject →Watch and listen
Radio interview on Joe FMMonday 5 October 2026 · 5 min 23
Research
15‑35%
of audit time goes to coordination. One of the findings in the report.
Research by Alkmist and Ghent University, co-written by Mathias. 150 audit professionals and 100+ business leaders surveyed across Benelux, Spain and Italy.
Read the researchIn the press
And many more: 150+ press appearances since 2020.
Work with us
Pidgy, the inbox AI assistant for professionals. It turns email and meeting notes into tracked actions, shows who you are waiting on and who is waiting on you, and drafts replies in your own style in Gmail or Outlook.
Try PidgyA behavioral scientist looks at how your team uses email and where the work gets stuck.
See the inbox auditWorkload diagnostics, behavioral research, in-company workshops and tailored deployments for larger organisations.
Discuss a projectBooking
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