Awards
GAABS Book Award
Awarded annually to a book that makes an outstanding contribution to the field of applied behavioural science.
Eligibility
Published within the last 2 years.
Written in English (translations considered if accessible to GAABS reviewers).
Authored or co-authored by a scholar, practitioner, or team working in, or closely aligned to, applied behavioural science.
Criteria
Scientific and Professional Integrity – The book demonstrates accuracy, transparency, and alignment with GAABS Purpose and Code of Ethics & Professional Conduct.
Contribution to Knowledge – Advances understanding of behavioural science theory, methods, or application.
Practical Relevance – Shows clear implications for application to practice, policy, or societal challenges.
Clarity and Accessibility – Communicates behavioural science effectively to its intended audience (academic, practitioner, or public).
Innovation – Introduces novel insights, frameworks, or approaches.
Impact – Demonstrable influence on practice, debate, or the broader behavioural science community.
To submit your nomination, click the button below!
GAABS Podcast Award
Awarded annually to a podcast that exemplifies excellence in communicating and applying behavioural science to a broad audience.
Eligibility
Active podcast with at least 3 published episodes in the last 12 months, or 6 published episodes in the last 24 months.
Produced in English (or with reliable English translation/transcription).
Independent or institutional productions are both eligible.
Criteria
Accuracy – Presents behavioural science knowledge and principles responsibly, avoiding exaggeration or misinformation.
Engagement and Accessibility – Makes behavioural science engaging, relatable, applicable and understandable to a wide audience.
Relevance to Practice – Clearly connects behavioural science insights to real-world problems, policy, or professional practice.
Ethical Responsibility – Upholds the spirit of the GAABS Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, particularly in avoiding misuse of behavioural insights.
Innovation in Communication – Uses creative formats, storytelling, or production styles that enhance understanding.
Reach and Impact – Demonstrates influence through audience size, diversity, or evidence of impact in practice or public debate.
To submit your nomination, click the button below!
Selection Process (applies to both awards)
Nominations may be made by GAABS members.
Members may nominate up to three books and up to three podcasts.
Submissions are reviewed and evaluated against the published criteria, then shortlisted by the GAABS Board and Awards Committee.
The shortlist will be shared with the GAABS membership to vote for their preferred option.
Members are eligible for one book vote and one podcast vote.
Winners are announced annually and featured on the GAABS website, newsletter, and social channels.
GAABS Awards 2025:
Winners of Book and Podcast Award voted for by GAABS Members
What Works, What Doesn't (and When)
Using seventeen cases where researchers applied behavioral interventions in the field, this book identifies not only what works but also what does not work (and why).
How well do behavioral science interventions translate and scale in the real world? Consider a practitioner who is looking to create behavior change through an intervention – perhaps it involves getting people to conserve energy, increase compliance with a medication regime, reduce misinformation, or improve tax collection. The behavioral science practitioner will typically draw inspiration from a previous study or intervention to translate into their own intervention.
Dilip Soman
Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Science and Economics and has served as a Director of the Behavioural Economics in Action Research Centre at Rotman [BEAR], as well as the India Innovation Institute at the University of Toronto.
He was the project director for Behaviourally Informed Organizations, a large international research consortium of academics and government, industry and not-for-profit organizations interested in understanding how behavioural science can best be embedded in organizations. His research is in the area of behavioural science and its applications to financial and personal wellbeing, marketing and policy. He is the author of The Last Mile [University of Toronto Press] and Managing Customer Value [World Scientific], as well as the editor / co-editor of Innovating for the Global South, The Behaviorally Informed Organization, Behavioral Science in the Wild, Cash Transfers for Inclusive Societies, and What Works, What Doesn’t (and When).
He has served as a policy advisor to the Impact Canada initiative in the Privy Council Office, Government of Canada and so several other government departments in Canada and overseas. Dilip has degrees in engineering and management, worked in sales and advertising, consulted for several organizations, and taught at The University of Colorado, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and now at the University of Toronto. His course “BE101x: Behavioural Economics in Action” on edX has had about 300,000 registrations over the years.
Choiceology Podcast
Can we learn to make smarter choices? Listen in as host Katy Milkman--behavioral scientist, Wharton professor, and author of How to Change--shares stories of high-stakes decisions and what research reveals they can teach us. Choiceology, an original podcast from Charles Schwab, explores the lessons of behavioral economics to help you improve your judgment and change for good.
Katy Milkman
The James G. Dinan Professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, host of Charles Schwab’s popular behavioral economics podcast Choiceology, and the former president of the international Society for Judgment and Decision Making.
She is also the co-founder and co-director of the Behavior Change for Good Initiative, a research center with the mission of advancing the science of lasting behavior change.
Over the course of her career, Katy has worked with or advised dozens of organizations on how to spur positive change, including Google, the White House, Walmart and the U.S. Department of Defense. She has published over 70 papers in leading academic journals such as Nature, The Journal of Finance, and The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and is the author of the international bestselling book How to Change: The Science of Getting From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, which was named one of the eight best books for healthy living in 2021 by the New York Times. Selected as one of the world’s top 50 management thinkers by Thinkers50 and a Top 10 innovator shaping the future of health by Fortune Magazine, Katy is an award-winning teacher and researcher who writes frequently about behavioral science for major media outlets such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN and The Economist. She earned her PhD from Harvard University and her undergraduate degree from Princeton University.
GAABS Member Awards 2025:
Winners & Highly Commended Entrants
Rut Atayde, BBVA - Overall Winner 2025
2025: Life Insurance Framing and Persuasion
A Behavioral Approach to Reference-Dependent Preferences and Strategic Disclosure
Alex Verhaar - Student Award Winner 2025
Informing Patients About Climate Impact: A Discrete Choice Experiment on Treatment Preferences
Nitish Upadhyaya - Overall Member Award 2025
Nominated by the FORGOOD organization for pioneering work in providing a behavioural lens to compliance and training and for being an ambassador for the field
Julien Lancha - Highly Commended for Overall Award 2025
Personalized Behavioral Interventions for Water Conservation: A Machine Learning-Enabled Case Study of Leak Detection and Consumption Reduction
Sophie Shaw - Highly Commended for Student Award 2025
How do Stakes Influence the Impact of the Einstellung Effect
GAABS Awards:
Past Winners & Highly Commended Entrants
Find out more about our past winners and highly commended entrants: read their entries and hear from them about how they developed their work, and what makes it important to them.
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Adam Gottlich: Overall Winner 2024 & 2023
2024: Helping Customers Make Better Financial Decisions Through Choice Architecture
2023: How Nudge Messaging Can Improve Product Take-Up: A Case Study on Funeral Insurance in South Africa
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Shalia Naidoo: Overall Winner 2024 & 2023
2024: Helping Customers Make Better Financial Decisions Through Choice Architecture
2023: How Nudge Messaging Can Improve Product Take-Up: A Case Study on Funeral Insurance in South Africa
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elaboratum (Philipp Spreer) and behamics (Thilo Pfrang): Overall Winner 2023
The Psychology of Returns: With Green Nudging towards more Sustainability in E-Commerce
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BBVA Mexico: Highly Commended 2024
Improvements in the Negotiation of Early Credit Card Delinquencies in Collection Telephone Calls at BBVA
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Akira Panday: Highly Commended 2024
Applying Behavioural Science Techniques to Improve Employee and Client Outcomes: A Case Study on Deceased Estates
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Dr Mohammed Al Hajji: Highly Commended 2023
Increasing the utilization of well-baby screening in primary health care centers using two nudging techniques: Randomized controlled trials
