Introducing the Behaviour Change Intervention Ontology

A new method for specifying behaviour change interventions in their contexts and linking across domains of knowledge, the Behaviour Change Intervention Ontology, will be introduced by Dr Alison Wright (KCL), Dr Paulina Schenk (UCL) and Ella Howes (UCL). We will ensure plenty of interaction both in the session and on a discussion board – we hope you can join us.

Speaker bios:

Alison Wright , Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer in Behaviour Change in the Institute of Pharmaceutical Science at King’s College London. She was previously a Senior Research Fellow at UCL, leading the behavioural science research team on the Human Behaviour-Change Project. She holds a PhD in Health Psychology from King’s College London, a MSc in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and a BA in Psychology from Princeton University. Alison’s research interests include ontology development, understanding the active ingredients of behaviour change interventions and applying that knowledge to design new interventions and improve existing healthcare services.

Paulina Schenk , Ph.D., is a Research Fellow in the HBCP, where she also completed her Ph.D. Paulina’s current research supports the development of a pilot ontology for mechanisms of action (MoAs; i.e. processes, mediating the influence of behaviour change techniques on behavioural outcomes) based on the behaviour change theories. ​Paulina completed a BSc (Hons) in Psychology at UCL in 2016, and earned a MSc in Risk, Economy and Society at the LSE in 2017.

Ella Howes has worked as a research assistant in translational behavioural science on the Human Behaviour-Change Project since 2020. She is particularly interested in the implementation of complex interventions. Ella has delivered training on the Behaviour Change Wheel to a number of organisations and also works as a freelance consultant in behavioural science. ​Prior to the HBCP, Ella completed an MSc in Behaviour Change at UCL.

Helpful links:

Project website

Publications

Open Science Framework

Github