What are behavioural insights?
Behavioural insights draws on research into human behaviour and decision making based on psychology, economics, and social sciences. It recognises that people’s behaviour can change moment to moment, that we don't always do what we plan to do, and that surprising things can affect our decisions.
The aim of behavioural insights is to develop a better understanding of what drives people’s actions and choices, so that we can reduce barriers to change and design better services, communications, and policies for Victorians.
How do we work?
We use a range of research methods and tools to help areas of government understand their users, identify problems, and develop innovative solutions. We are available to work with all Victorian government departments and agencies. We also collaborate with other behavioural insights units in Australia and overseas.
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We work on projects with a clear behavioural challenge by:
- defining the target behaviour and audience
- conducting primary research to understand the behavioural challenge
- designing and testing behaviourally informed solutions
- analysing and reporting outcomes from trials, and the policy implications
- advising on taking solutions to scale.
We also provide responsive, high-quality, and behaviourally informed policy, communications, and implementation advice to improve a range of products across government.
We aim to build behavioural insights capability across the VPS so that all staff have an appreciation of the importance of behaviourally-informed policies and services and can apply the core concepts of behavioural insights to their work.
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We use the following in our work:
- rapid evidence scans/literature reviews
- behaviourally-focused reviews of communications, forms or other products
- targeted process audits to identify behavioural problems or frictions
- interviews and workshops with teams to break down problems or develop solutions
- behaviour mapping and user journey mapping
- qualitative and quantitative research
- solutions workshops
- randomised controlled trials and other methods of evaluation.
Work with us
If you work within the Victorian Public Service and have a behaviour change project or would like to use more behavioural insights in your work, feel free to get in contact with us at behavioural.insights@dpc.vic.gov.au.
Download our report: Applying Behavioural Insights in Victoria
Applying Behavioural Insights in Victoria: an update
Join the team
If you are currently employed with the Victorian Public Service, you can sign up for job alerts for the BIU through the Jobs and Skills or through the Innovation Network’s Behavioural Insights Group.
For those external to the VPS, all jobs open to non-VPS applicants are advertised at
Otherwise, feel free to send us an email at behavioural.insights@dpc.vic.gov.au and we can alert you when a new role is advertised.
Want to learn more?
For those working in the VPS, we regularly publish research articles and reports about work we do on the Behavioural Insights in the Innovation Network page, as well as host workshops and share insights in our discussion group.
If you are not in the VPS, feel free to email us to ask about past projects, collaborations, or job opportunities at behavioural.insights@dpc.vic.gov.au.
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Contact email: behavioural.insights@dpc.vic.gov.au
If you are unable to read any of the content of this page, you can contact the content owners for an Accessible version.
Contact email: behavioural.insights@dpc.vic.gov.au
Reviewed 28 April 2023