The Science of Change
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
PROGRAM OUTLINE
A week connecting behavioral science and intervention design
The winter school combines foundational teaching with sustained work on real climate-action challenges. Participants move between lectures, guided discussions, and facilitated group work, applying each day’s learning to an intervention proposal that develops across the week.
Teaching is organized around three levels: individual processes, social processes, and institutional processes. The final two days focus on bringing these levels together through intervention design, implementation planning, and presentations.
The Teaching Track
Expert-led sessions introduce behavioral science relevant to climate action and examine how it can inform practice. Topics include: Cognition, emotion, risk perception, and motivation; Values, moral obligation, and personal norms; Social and political identity; Social influence and concern for future generations; Institutional signals and organizational contexts; Political cooperation and public support; Combining intervention components across levels. Guided discussions give participants space to question the evidence, consider its limitations, and explore its relevance to different settings.
The Behavioral Challenge Labs
Applicants submit a climate-action challenge they encounter in their own work or community. Five submitted challenges will be selected for the labs, with each assigned to a group of four participants combining research and practice perspectives. Groups work on the same challenge throughout the week, supported by facilitators and a cumulative intervention-design workbook.
Each team will:
- Define a specific target behavior, population, and setting.
- Identify individual, social, and institutional barriers.
- Map relevant stakeholders and their roles.
- Select intervention components and explain how they work together.
- Develop an implementation and evaluation plan.
- Examine feasibility, equity considerations, and possible unintended effects.
The week at a glance
What you will learn
Day 1 · Understanding individual behavior
Explore the cognitive, emotional, and motivational processes that shape climate action, including attention, risk perception, values, and personal norms.
In the labs, groups define their target behavior and identify the individual-level barriers that may prevent it.
Group milestone: A clearly defined challenge and an initial behavioral diagnosis.
Day 2 · Understanding social influence
Examine how identity, social relationships, norms, and concern for others shape climate action. Discuss the conditions under which social influence can motivate change or generate resistance.
In the labs, groups identify relevant social dynamics, potential messengers, allies, and sources of opposition.
Group milestone: A social-level diagnosis and stakeholder map.
Day 3 · Understanding institutional contexts
Investigate how organizational practices, policies, infrastructure, and political signals enable or constrain behavior.
In the labs, groups examine institutional barriers and connect their findings across all three levels.
Group milestone: An integrated explanation of the challenge and an initial intervention design.
Day 4 · Designing for implementation
Consider how intervention components can reinforce one another, where they may conflict, and what is required to put them into practice.
Groups refine their proposals through facilitated design work and peer feedback, specifying delivery, stakeholder responsibilities, resources, and evaluation.
Group milestone: A complete draft intervention proposal and presentation.
Day 5 · Behavioral Science for Climate Action Forum
Teams present their proposals to fellow participants, lecturers, facilitators, and invited stakeholders. Presentations address the behavioral challenge, proposed intervention, implementation pathway, evaluation approach, and principal constraints.
The week concludes with a collective discussion of what helps (and what prevents) behavioral science from translating into real-world impact.
Group milestone: A revised intervention proposal informed by expert and peer feedback.
Beyond the week
The school is designed to support continued collaboration. Planned follow-up activities include team check-ins and an invitation to contribute to a co-authored perspective piece on translating behavioral science into real-world impact.
PHASE 01
Foundational Theory
By the end of the school, participants should be able to:
- Define a climate-action challenge in specific behavioral terms.
- Diagnose barriers at individual, social, and institutional levels.
- Identify behavioral interventions suited to those barriers.
PHASE 02
Deep Dive Inquiry
- Combine intervention components into a coherent design.
- Plan stakeholder engagement, implementation, and evaluation.
PHASE 03
Labs & Implementation
- Hands-on application of theories to real-world challenges alongside leading academic practitioners.
- Communicate an intervention proposal to an audience involved in putting it into practice.