The Centre for Behavioural Sciences (CBS) at IIHMR University is a multidisciplinary research and innovation centre that applies Behavioural Insights (BI) and Human-Centred Design (HCD) to address public health and social development challenges.
Established in partnership with UNICEF and HCL Foundation, the Centre collaborates with governments, development partners, academic institutions, civil society organisations, and communities to understand behavioural challenges, generate actionable evidence, co-create innovative solutions, and support their implementation at scale.
CBS bridges the gap between research and practice by integrating behavioural science, implementation research, and participatory approaches. The Centre develops evidence-informed, context-specific, and scalable solutions that strengthen programmes, improve service delivery, and enable positive and sustained behaviour change.
To become a centre of excellence in behavioural sciences, research and education. We aim to contribute to the development of pioneering evidence, and innovative solutions for effective strategies that significantly advance Sustainable Development and promote a more equitable world.
The mission of the Centre of Behaviour Sciences is to enhance social and sustainable development through solutions based on evidence, research, critical thinking and experiential learning. We achieve this by promoting cutting-edge behavioural science research into policy, communications, and programming interventions to solve problems of societal importance. We are committed to cultivating an interdisciplinary community of practitioners and learners on one hand and fostering enduring relationships with the community on the other for a substantial positive impact on society.
Many public health and social development programmes are supported by strong technical solutions but achieve limited impact because they do not adequately consider how people make decisions, interact with services, and respond to their environment context.
Behavioural Science provides practical approaches to understand these decision-making processes and identify drivers, barriers, and opportunities that influence behaviour. By integrating Behavioural Insights, Human-Centred Design, and implementation research, CBS develops evidence-informed, people-centred, context-specific, feasible, and scalable solutions to address public health and social development challenges.
At CBS, we follow a structured Evidence-to-Action Framework that integrates Behavioural Insights, Human-Centred Design, and implementation research to develop practical, context-specific and scalable solutions for complex public health and social development challenges.
Understand and define the problem through evidence synthesis, literature review, stakeholder consultation, and contextual analysis.
Explore people's lived experiences, needs, aspirations, and decision-making processes through participatory and human-centred research.
Identify the behavioural drivers, barriers, and opportunities for change using behavioural science frameworks and implementation research approaches.
Co-design, prototype, validate, pilot, and evaluate innovative behavioural interventions in collaboration with users and stakeholders.
Generate evidence, strengthen implementation systems, and support governments and partners in integrating effective interventions into existing programmes and systems.
Professor - IIHMR University
Head – Centre for Behavioural Sciences
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Program Manager – Centre for Behavioural Sciences
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