Advanced Modules in Behaviour Change

The modular structure of these courses allows participants to develop specialist knowledge and skills in behaviour change according to their areas of interest.

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In-person advanced modules

For 2026 we are pleased to offer a new module on co-design that will take place in-person, in London.

Co-designing for Behaviour Change - In-person in London, Thursday 12 November 2026

Designing interventions combining creative, iterative and experiential co-design methods with behaviour theory and the linear processes of the Behaviour Change Wheel can be a challenge – yet doing so has great potential for creating innovative solutions. In this module, participants will explore the practice of co-designing interventions and be guided by a framework for using the Behaviour Change Wheel with co-design approaches to ensure a participatory process for end users. This in-person practical session will give participants hands-on experience of using different co-design tools to explore lived experience and generate practical intervention design insights from co-design workshops. Book now.

Early Bird Rates until 31 July | Standard Rates apply from 1 August

(1) Low, middle-income countries*: £230 (early bird), £290 (standard)

(2) Universities, Third Sector, Small Enterprises & Start-Ups (1-49 employees): £360 (early bird), £450 (standard)

(3) Public Sector & Medium Companies (50-249 employees): £450 (early bird), £550 (standard)

(4) Large Companies (250+ employees): £700 (early bird), £860 (standard)

*The LMIC rate is only available to participants who are based or work in an OECD-identified Low and Middle Income Country - if you are unsure about this, please consult this list on the Wellcome website.

If your organisation is already a UCL customer, we can invoice your organisation upon receiving a Purchase Order. Please include the participant’s name, email address, correct registration fee rate, and invoice contact information in your purchase order, and email it to behaviourchange@ucl.ac.uk.

For all modules except for the BCTO:

Early bird rate (until 31 July) | Standard rate (from 1 August)

(1) Low, middle-income countries*: £200(early bird) £260 (standard)

(2) Universities, Third Sector, Small Enterprises & Start-Ups :(1-49 employees) £330 (early bird), £420 (standard)

(3) Public Sector & Medium Companies (50-249 employees): £420 (early bird), £520 (standard)

(4) Large Companies (250+ employees): £670 (early bird),£830 (standard)

For BCTO module only:

Early bird rate (until 31 July) | Standard rate (from 1 August)

(1) Students & LMIC £200 (Early bird), £250 (standard)

(2) Standard rate £320 (Early bird), £400 (standard)

If your organisation is already a UCL customer, we can invoice your organisation upon receiving a Purchase Order. Please include the participant’s name, email address, correct registration fee rate, and invoice contact information in your purchase order, and email it to behaviourchange@ucl.ac.uk.

Influencing Decision-Making and Motivation - Tuesday 13 October 2026 

Decision-making and motivation are key drivers of human behaviour. We make decisions all the time, from the everyday (What shall I eat for breakfast?) to the momentous (Shall I take my country to war?). Robert West, a founder of the PRIME Theory of motivation and the COM-B model of behaviour will provide participants with a new framework for understanding decision-making and guide participants step-by-step on a tour of human motivation and how it can be influenced through education, persuasion, reward, punishment, imitation, rules, environmental cues, emotional support and by training habits and self-regulation skills. The module will be interactive and include plenty of time for discussion. It will use real-world examples of decisions, and provide a toolkit for analysing these and wider motivations with a view to influencing them. Book now. 

Achieving Behaviour Change through Communications - Thursday 15 October 2026

Communications campaigns (‘comms’) play a key role in behaviour change, whether it be through TV, social media, emails, radio, leaflets, articles, videos, podcasts, art, chatbots, conversations or other channels. Robert West, a founder of the PRIME Theory of motivation and the COM-B model of behaviour, will show you how to plan a comms campaign using the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation-Behaviour (COM-B) framework to decide what to target and what behaviour change techniques are best suited to this kind of intervention. Participants will learn how to bridge the gap between the choice of behaviour change techniques and generation of specific ‘messaging’ using the creative process and whether and how AI can help with this. Book now.

Principles and Practice of Behavioural Systems Mapping - Tuesday 20 October 2026

A key task in developing behaviour change interventions is to answer the question of who and what should we focus our intervention on in order to achieve our goal. Behaviours form parts of interacting systems that evolve over time, and the choice of behavioural and population targets can usefully be informed by modelling the causal influences in those systems: a process that can be described as behavioural systems mapping. This module takes participants through the principles of systems thinking, how they can be applied to behavioural systems through methods of behavioural systems mapping, and how to analyse and interpret behavioural systems maps. It equips participants with the knowledge and skills required to begin to create and use behavioural systems maps using freely available software. The module is interactive and includes practical sessions in which participants can work together to familiarise themselves with both the principles and practice of creating behavioural systems maps. Book now.

Using Artificial Intelligence to improve Behavioural Research - Thursday 22 October 2026

This module, led by Prof Susan Michie and Prof Robert West, will guide participants in the use of AI in their research. It will take participants through the range of AI tools that are available and the strengths and limitations in their use in different parts of the research process. It will then focus on how AI can be used, along with the ‘Behaviour Change Intervention Ontology’ (BCIO) to develop and characterise behaviour change interventions. The BCIO provides a highly structured and systematic way to describe features that can be used to assist AI in providing comprehensive and accurate responses to queries and predict outcomes of novel behavioural interventions. The module will provide participants with a tool to help with this and include a practical exercise in using the tool. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion. Book now.

Improving Methods for Selecting and Specifying Behaviour Change Techniques: Applying the Behaviour Change Techniques Ontology (BCTO) - 4 & 5 November 2026 (12:30-16:30)

Developing effective behaviour change interventions requires selecting appropriate behaviour change techniques (BCTs), the smallest active intervention components. The BCT Taxonomy v1 has been widely used to specify and define BCTs in interventions. Participants will be introduced to the Behaviour Change Techniques Ontology (BCTO), an updated method of specifying and describing BCTs. Building on the widely used BCT Taxonomy v1, this ontology provides a more comprehensive and precise tool for selecting, specifying and synthesising BCTs. The session will provide guidance to apply the BCTO and its online tools to research and practice, transitioning from taxonomy to ontology. This guidance will include how to use the ontology to select, precisely describe and synthesise information about BCTs. The session will also explore the potential of ontologies for interdisciplinary communication and advanced data analysis. This module will be led by our Senior Research Fellow Dr Paulina Schenk and members of the APRICOT project team. Book now.

AI in Qualitative Research - Methods, Critical Evaluation, and Behaviour Change Applications - 17 November 2026

This advanced module introduces participants to AI-supported approaches for analysing qualitative data, with a focus on psychology and behaviour change research. We will explore the practical use of Machine-Assisted Topic Analysis (MATA) and compare it to other methods of text analysis, including topic modelling, deep learning techniques, and Generative AI.

Participants will take part in a hands-on exercise comparing human and AI-generated analyses. We will critically reflect on both the opportunities and ethical risks of using AI in qualitative research, including issues such as bias and hallucination. This module is aimed at researchers looking to build their capacity in AI-supported qualitative analysis. The module will be led by Dr Paulina Bondaronek (Senior Research Fellow, UCL). Book now.


Cancellation Policy

Delegates are entitled to a full refund, providing they request a cancellation within 7 days of booking. After 7 days of the booking, and up to 15 days before the event, delegates can request to cancel the booking and will be entitled to a refund of 80% of the total booking price. If there are 14 days or less to the event delegates can cancel their bookings but are not entitled to a refund. Please note that delegates booking within 14 days or less of the event can still cancel, but unlike point 1 where they would be entitled to a full refund, delegates will not be entitled to a refund.