Can a digital nudge clean up the streets? How Behavioural Science helped reduce littering in the UK

November 14, 2025

Littering is one of those persistent public problems that often feels unsolvable. Campaigns urging people to “do the right thing” rarely lead to lasting behaviour change, and enforcement is costly. A behaviourally-informed digital intervention is tested and shown to shift public habits more effectively. … More Can a digital nudge clean up the streets? How Behavioural Science helped reduce littering in the UK

Getting people to the door, and through it: Lessons on improving take-up of public programs

November 6, 2025

Public programs often struggle to reach the people they are meant to help. In this blog post, Christian Schimpf, Vince Hopkins, Priscilla Fisher, and Jeff Dorion explain how behaviourally-informed email messages can successfully encourage enrolment in employment services. … More Getting people to the door, and through it: Lessons on improving take-up of public programs

Promoting Our Better Angels in Public Life: Can we Nudge People Honest?

October 27, 2025

Much of public life is built on the assumption we act honestly with one another and with the state. But self-interest and wider perceptions of corruption and trust might lead to dishonest behaviour. Can we encourage more honesty through a simple nudge? … More Promoting Our Better Angels in Public Life: Can we Nudge People Honest?

IBPPC25

What did we learn at the 2025 International Behavioural Public Policy Conference?

October 22, 2025

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) … More What did we learn at the 2025 International Behavioural Public Policy Conference?

Giving Workers a Voice Boosts Productivity

October 13, 2025

What if the secret to boosting productivity isn’t stricter rules or higher pay, but something as simple as giving workers a voice? Sherry Jueyu Wu shares a field experiment from the production floors of a Chinese factory, which asked whether participatory meetings – in which workers spoke and supervisors listened – could increase productivity. The … More Giving Workers a Voice Boosts Productivity

Beyond Simplistic Narratives: The META-BI Framework for Nudges in Behavioural Public Policy

October 6, 2025

When we talk about behavioural interventions, we often need to simplify complex concepts, but this can leave critical questions unanswered. The META-BI framework provides shared terminology to foster clearer and more productive behavioural science discussions, across disciplines and with practitioners. … More Beyond Simplistic Narratives: The META-BI Framework for Nudges in Behavioural Public Policy

How Can We Personalise Nudges?

September 8, 2025

A one-size-fits-all approach to nudging can be ineffective, or even backfire. Personalising nudges is a way of recognising and acting upon known heterogeneity across and within groups of people to deliver successful behaviour change. … More How Can We Personalise Nudges?

Algorithms and Autonomy: Regulating Recommender Systems in the Age of Hyper-Nudging

September 2, 2025

Recommender systems are online algorithms that can help users, reducing complexity and search costs. But they also target and exploit behavioral biases. Recommender systems lend themselves to regulation through ‘budges’. … More Algorithms and Autonomy: Regulating Recommender Systems in the Age of Hyper-Nudging

Eat Out to Help Out, Five Years On: A Forgotten Case Study in Behavioural Design

August 26, 2025

For all the controversy, Eat Out to Help Out was a rare thing: a government incentive that was behaviourally sharp — and actually worked. Its lessons have been forgotten. That’s a waste. … More Eat Out to Help Out, Five Years On: A Forgotten Case Study in Behavioural Design

When and how behavior change can accelerate system change (and vice versa): Mapping reciprocal processes for climate change mitigation

July 23, 2025

System change and individual behavior change are often conceptualized as mutually exclusive strategies for climate change mitigation – but what if this duality is misguided? Denise de Ridder and Sander Thomaes map four pathways illustrating that system change is effective when it promotes behavior change and vice versa. … More When and how behavior change can accelerate system change (and vice versa): Mapping reciprocal processes for climate change mitigation