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About Us

Behavioural Economics in Action at Rotman (BEAR) is a centre that combines decades of research in decision-making with empirically-tested tools to facilitate behavioural change. We look at social and economic problems from a behavioural science lens and design solutions that go beyond the traditional approaches of applying incentives, penalties or provisioning information.




Our Mission

At BEAR, we conduct leading edge academic and field research, help our partners accomplish behaviour change through better touchpoints and interventions, and engage in a variety of educational and outreach activities. Our focus is on non-financial, non-regulatory (not banning) solutions that preserve freedom of choice but guide people toward better decisions. We are solving the “last mile problem” to improve societal well-being and business profitability. Core to the BEAR DNA is scientific testing, and we apply randomized controlled field and laboratory trials to deliver measurable results. We also work closely with our design studio within the newly launched Business Design Initiative as we create behaviourally informed choice environments.




Core Team



Dilip Soman

Dilip Soman, Director

Dilip is Professor of Marketing at Rotman and holds the Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Science and Economics. He is the Director of BEAR and previously served as the Director of the University’s India Innovation Institute. His research is in the area of behavioural economics and its applications to consumer wellbeing, marketing, and policy. In 2016, he was appointed to the Privy Council Office in the Canadian Federal Government as a scholar-in-residence and continues to serve as policy advisor in Impact and Innovation Unit in Ottawa. He also serves on Impact Canada and the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada’s research advisory boards. He is the author of The Last Mile: Creating Social and Economic Value from Behavioural Insights.



Yanyi Guo, Research Associate

Yanyi Guo is a Research Associate and coordinator at BEAR. Her work focuses on orchestrating resources for partners to facilitate the application of behavioural insights in business practices. Yanyi has also worked at Ogilvy (a prominent advertising agency) as an account manager, and as an ESG research analyst at BMO Global Asset Management. She holds an MBA degree from University of Toronto, as well as a BA in Advertising.

 



Cindy Luo, Research Officer

Cindy is a research officer at BEAR and project coordinator for the BI-Org Partnership Grant. She coordinates resources and facilitates collaborations with partner organizations and researchers to help deliver behaviourally informed project outcomes. Cindy also coordinates book projects and organizes events, conferences and workshops at the centre. She holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto, and Event Management Diploma at George Brown College. 

 


Jingqi Yu, Post-Doc Researcher

Jingqi is a cognitive scientist at BEAR. She is broadly interested in understanding cognitive and psychological processes in human information processing and decision-making, as well as in how these insights can be applied to information strategy and intervention development in real-world settings. Her research uses a blend of data science, computational modeling, and behavioral experiments to study how people integrate heterogeneous sources and forms of information to make inferences and decisions. Having experienced how the rise of user-generated content has reshaped the way she is interacting with others and with information, Jingqi has a strong interest in examining how electronic word-of-mouth communication influences social and economic exchanges. Jingqi holds a dual PhD in Cognitive Psychology and Cognitive Science from Indiana University, Bloomington.