Understanding human behaviour to influence system change

Behavioural change approaches are an important, and often very cost effective, part of the mix of solutions to many sustainability and other public policy issues, such as water conservation, energy efficiency and immunisation. Considerable opportunities exist in this space, as comparatively little time and effort is usually invested in understanding the drivers of individual behaviour and designing solutions that target these drivers.

With a mix of theoretical and practical work, this unit will enable you to understand individual behaviour in a way that identifies opportunities for change. It will take you through a process of unpacking public policy challenges and identifying real-life behavioural solutions. This involves prioritising behaviours and target audiences and understanding drivers of behaviour and potential solutions. You will also learn to to design, test and evaluate behaviour change interventions.