Behavioral Science Design Lead

The Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) is a hub for research, training and innovation headquartered at the University of California, Berkeley. We generate insights that decision-makers can use to improve policies, programs, and people’s lives. Our best-in-class academic network includes nearly 200 faculty, 80 scholars from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)—primarily from East and West Africa—and hundreds of graduate students from diverse academic disciplines who produce rigorous evidence about what works to expand education, health, and economic opportunities for people living in poverty.

Our business model involves curating policy-relevant research agendas in collaboration with development leaders, overseeing competitive grant-making to answer critical questions, investing in research capacity, and strategically connecting research and ideas to inform decision-making by governments, NGOs, and the private sector.

CEGA values diversity and seeks to include people from under-represented groups on our team. Read our values statement.

Budgeting and Saving Portfolio Background

The BSDL will help adapt interventions that use evidence-backed and low-cost tools (the “planning intervention”) to help households budget and plan for the year ahead, effectively leveraging insights from psychology and behavioral science to address the challenge of effective consumption smoothing. By incorporating these tools into existing programs, like cash transfers and agricultural extension trainings, that serve vulnerable households, the team aims to boost households’ ability to meet their own personal savings goals.

This work is informed by this team’s previous research on seasonal hunger, a common problem in Sub‑Saharan Africa. Farmers often harvest their crops once per year, but then run out of food in the months before the next harvest—a period known as “the hungry season.” Over the past two years, the research team developed a simple, low-cost planning intervention based on principles from psychology to help farmers better smooth their maize consumption.

An initial randomized control trial (RCT) with 850 households in Zambia found large effects: treated households entered the hungry season with one month more of food in savings, and had 10% higher harvest revenue due to increased farm investments. This successful intervention is now being adapted and tested at scale with One Acre Fund in Malawi. Previous projects have been funded by the Weiss Asset Management Foundation, USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures, the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J‑PAL), the UC Davis Feed the Future Innovation Lab Markets, Risk and Resilience Program, US National Science Foundation and the Center for Effective Global Action.

About the Position

The BSDL will work under the guidance of Professor Supreet Kaur and other team researchers, as well as locally-based implementation partners, like Give Directly and One Acre Fund. This work is part of CEGA’s Psychology and Economics of Poverty Initiative, which explores the psychological consequences of poverty and downstream impacts on health, economics outcomes and child development. Expected start date between June 15 and July 30, 2025.

Initial commitment is for three months with possibility of extension (ideally for at least one year).

The BSDL should be capable of, and excited about, designing, adapting and piloting field-based behavioral interventions, with excellent organizational and people management skills. They should have a deep interest in the psychology of poverty, a solid understanding of behavioral science design principles, and field experience designing/implementing projects in low- and middle-income countries.
This role will work in close collaboration with the CEGA research team, and will have team support for back-end management of project components.

The BSDL will be tasked with adapting, implementing and evaluating new versions of the planning intervention tailored to new contexts and use-cases. The role will include four main components: