Top of the Blue Mountains. Large mountains with lush green trees, and a blue haze over the mountains in the horizon

Hecticness of Leave

I’m on leave. The day before I went on leave, everybody wanted everything from me, because I was going on leave, even though I’m only away for three business days. In order to go on leave, I had to deal with a request for a “quick trial,” providing advice on null results, and managing staff remotely.

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Drawing of people sitting in a restaurant

Assessing the Viability of an Applied Research Project

Today I reflect on an important meeting for one of our projects. We’ve had a lot of setbacks because we don’t have useful data sources or infrastructure to enable us to run a proper randomised control trial. I discuss one example of how we assess the viability of our projects, and what this activity looks like in the context of a typical day as an applied researcher.

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A textured wall with a poster drawing of a person behind a grid

Services for Vulnerable People

I presented on our project seeking to improve services for vulnerable people who are at risk of recidivism. The questions from the audience were interesting, from specifics about our methods, to how we can encourage conservative organisations to go through the cultural change required to adopt our recommendations.⠀

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People seen walking, from the back, in Sydney

How to improve justice programs

Reducing reoffending is a state priority in New South Wales. New sentencing reforms will increase referrals to behaviour change programs or other support services for people who are at high-risk of reoffending. Yet non-mandatory programs can often have low participation rates, particularly when programs are new.  

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A group of white peole stand and look at a poster they've made

Emergency decision-making

Flood-related fatalities have been an ongoing problem in Australia since the early 1900s. This post reflects how our team worked through this behavioural issue, and brainstormed problems, during a recent masterclass we ran with NSW State Emergency Service (NSW SES).

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A young man is using a saw while an older man works in the background

Education and training

Our new research shows apprentices who cancel their employment contracts do so because they often feel they are subjected to tough working conditions for little pay (undertaking menial, repetitive tasks and long hours), receiving little guidance about their progress on the job. How can behavioural science help?

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