MSI Programs: BehaviourWorks Australia

behaviourworks

Who we are

BehaviourWorks Australia is a joint venture between the Monash Sustainability Institute, EPA Victoria and The Shannon Company. We are a collaboration that brings together interdisciplinary researchers from Monash University with best practice experts in government and business who share an interest in behaviour change research and environmental sustainability.

Our Mission

To be an internationally-recognised behaviour change research centre for environmental sustainability.

Why BehaviourWorks Australia was formed

Many of the environmental challenges that society faces today are rooted in human behaviour. Opportunities to influence human behaviour must therefore be at the forefront of efforts to adapt to or to limit the impacts of these challenges.

At BehaviourWorks Australia, we recognise that behaviour is often a product of multiple interacting factors. That is why we combine the expertise of a host of behaviour change disciplines and practices to understand behaviour and effect change. With researchers and practitioners continually learning about ways to influence human behaviour, at BehaviourWorks Australia these learnings can be shared or combined in the search for the best mix of strategies to promote measureable and lasting change.

How BehaviourWorks Australia operates

BehaviourWorks Australia works collaboratively to build understanding and develop applied approaches to influence the everyday decisions that are integral to living in a sustainable world. Our core activities involve:

Collating learnings from a range of behaviour change disciplines and practices to extend our understanding of the decision-making processes of individuals, communities, businesses and government.
Developing collaborative relationships with a host of industry and institutional partners to pursue behaviour change research.
Leveraging external research funding and establish interdisciplinary research teams and networks that address key behaviour change challenges.
Contributing to sustainable behaviour change policy and campaigns both in private and public practice by developing and testing a range of interventions formed by the collective knowledge of psychologists, economists, marketers, policy makers, regulators and educators.
Disseminating and apply research findings that promote individual and organisational uptake and build the capacity of our partners.
Hosting and collaborating with leading behaviour change professionals.

During the course of conducting these activities, BehaviourWorks Australia will develop, apply and evaluate an adaptive behaviour change approach that effectively integrates theory and practice, and is suitable for private and government application. The approach will improve the capacity of our partners to design, implement, monitor and evaluate behaviour change programs with reference to the learnings that are continually generated from our core activities. As a result, BehaviourWorks Australia and its partners will be recognised among practitioners and the scholarly community in the delivery of best practice behaviour programs and outcomes.