By Leonhard Lades, Malte Dold, Kate Laffan, Paul Lohmann, Andriy Ivchenko, and Manu Savani
From 10–12 September 2025, behavioural public policy scholars, practitioners, and policymakers from around the world gathered at King’s College London for the fourth International Behavioural Public Policy Conference (IBPPC), hosted by the School for Government within the Policy Institute and organised by Sanchayan Banerjee and his team. It was a great success! It marked the largest IBPPA’s Conference to date, bringing together around 300 participants (more than 50% practitioners) including 180 presenters.
The program was rich, diverse and well received: 40 standard sessions, 8 policy-focused sessions, 13 thematic sessions, 1 grand panel, and 4 fantastic keynotes by Gerd Gigerenzer, Linda Steg, Peter John, and Bobby Duffy.
Picture taken after the IBPPC Awards Ceremony on September 11, 2025.
What does the conference tell us about the state of Behavioural Public Policy? We took a closer look at the programme to find out. We find 8 major themes that capture not only the scope of the conversations but also the direction in which the field is heading.
#1 Sustainable Behaviours and Climate Action
This was a highly prominent theme where behavioural science was applied to environmental challenges, including:
- Behavioural insights to change farmer behaviour (e.g. water management, uptake of agricultural support packages, and information avoidance).
- Household energy use, including public acceptance of green policies and wind farms; and nudges and boosts to reduce electricity consumption or engage with residential energy renovations were also discussed.
- Pro-environmental consumer choices, such as the effect of eco-labels on online clothing purchases, and the role of green license plates in the adoption of electric vehicles.
#2 Food Consumption and Dietary Transition
Numerous sessions focused specifically on applying behavioural science to encourage healthier and more sustainable food consumption, tackling issues from food waste to reducing meat in diets:
- Some research explored the trade-off between policy effectiveness and individual autonomy when designing interventions to reduce meat intake.
- Empirical evidence on dietary behaviour interventions including meat free defaults, forced active choice, visibility nudges, true pricing labels, and traffic-light carbon labelling.
- Food waste both at the municipal and household level, including, a “nudge+ intervention” that reduced household food waste and an expert panel which aimed to define and identify “sludge” that steers consumers away from healthier options.
#3 Digital Platforms and Online Consumer Behaviour
A number of promising studies investigated how choice architecture is designed and manipulated online, and the implications for consumer welfare and protection:
- How do online choice architecture and dark patterns reveal deceptive design practices? We heard about a behavioural audit of popular social media platforms (like Facebook, TikTok, YouTube) and novel ways to measure the impact of dark patterns on consumer behaviour.
- How do consumers interact with financial products? Research looked at standardized contract terms, disclosures about late payment fees, Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) products, and SMS payment reminders.
#4 Conceptual Frameworks, Methodology, and Ethics
We saw substantial discussion dedicated to critically examining the foundations, terminology, and future direction of Behavioural Public Policy:
- The usefulness of concepts such as “nudge” and “boost”. For example, there was a call to abandon the sometimes loosely used buzzwords in the field and instead reflect more deeply on how each intervention can increase social good. ◦
- Proposals were made for systematic ways to assess the normative desirability of behavioural regulation. For example, nudges were differentiated across appealing nudges (true debiasing), problematic interventions (priming), and intermediate nudges (framing).
- Others focused on whether BPP interventions respect or enhance autonomy, especially when “making things easy”. Simplifying processes (such as tax filing) can lead to a lack of engagement, diminished understanding, and increased dependence on systems. Others argued for a right not to deliberate.
#5 Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI was discussed in at least two distinct ways: as a tool for developing BPP and as a subject of governance itself, particularly concerning fairness and citizen acceptance:
- We heard of research that compared public perception of human errors versus algorithmic errors; and how people’s views on democracy shape their support for AI in government.
- The bias that AI creates in non-WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) contexts, when models are trained predominantly on WEIRD populations.
- The links between the use of generative AI and confirmation bias was discussed in the context of health information seeking.
#6 Compliance, Governance, and Trust
Some sessions examined how BPP can secure public compliance with laws and policies, and the dynamics of trust in government and other high-risk contexts.
- Factors motivating citizens to adhere to laws without coercion. For example, the effect of injunctive norms on self-reported voluntary compliance across many contexts (taxation, health, recycling); and the effects of SMS messages to encourage non-cash payments in business-to-consumer transactions. Others argued that voluntary compliance measures informed by behavioural insights are rarely used by regulators.
- Some presentations discussed factors affecting democratic processes and policy acceptance. For example, behaviourally informed ways to increase participation in citizen assemblies were analysed. This is an example of how BPP is contributing to s-frame analyses.
#7 Health Behaviours and Public Safety
Sessions focused on leveraging behavioural insights to improve public health outcomes:
- Persuasive techniques for health screening, for example, the effect of hope, fear, and authority appeals were analysed on breast cancer screening.
- Behavioural studies on increasing uptake of vaccines.
- Special emphasis was put on the health of vulnerable groups. For example, grant schemes that effectively reach households vulnerable to energy poverty were analysed. It was also investigated whether some people are more vulnerable to “Sludge” than others.
#8 Behavioural Public Policy in Diverse Global Contexts
The conference featured sessions highlighting the application of BPP outside of Western settings, focusing on challenges specific to regions like the Middle East and the Global South.
- Several sessions had a regional focus on development. For example, a thematic session detailed the successful adoption of behavioural insights (BI) in Saudi Arabia across various sectors. Others presented research on reducing child labour in cocoa farms in Côte d’Ivoire.
- The conference also had a focus on cross-cultural and global Issues. For example, the challenges and opportunities of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) for BPP across WEIRD and non-WEIRD countries were explored.
We have touched on just a few of the stimulating research presentations. Feel free to have a look at the conference agenda and website (https://www.ibppa.org/conference) for more info, and reach out to authors of the exciting work captured there.
Looking Ahead
The breadth and depth of research presented at the 2025 IBPPC reflects a maturing field that is tackling increasingly complex challenges across diverse global contexts. With growing attendance, rich interdisciplinary exchange, and a clear commitment to both effectiveness and ethics, the conference leaves us optimistic about the future of behavioural public policy that is moving beyond traditional “nudges” to address more systemic issues.
As we look toward future conferences (including the next instalment at the University of Queensland in Brisbane between September 28th-30th 2026), we are excited to see how these themes and other themes develop and to welcome even more participants to future IBPPC gatherings.