“GAABS has a member base of excellent and inspiring behavioural practitioners. The Awards are the platform they deserve to showcase their high quality behavioural science applications.”
Background
The Global Association of Applied Behavioural Scientists (GAABS) exists to safeguard and maintain the quality and standards of its applied behavioural scientist members. GAABS also represents the interests of its current and future members and serves as an organisational platform to promote our member’s insights and applications.
Our Annual Awards Programme has been designed to help achieve these aims by recognising examples of high quality applied behavioural science and highlighting the wealth of skills and creativity that exists within our membership community.
The Awards
There are six categories of award each year.
Overall Winner: The prize will be awarded to the entry that the judges feel exemplifies the best use of applied behavioural science. Entries should address a specific behavioural issue, demonstrate an understanding of the wider context, identify how intervention(s) were conceived and tested.
Entries that offer a broad real-world application, align with the GAABS’ ethical framework and result in verifiable results and impact will likely fare well in this category.
This award is open to individual and organisational members.
Best Null Event: Not an oxymoron! This award recognises the value of knowing what doesn’t work as much as what does. The prize will be awarded to the entry that represents an excellent example of applied behavioural science (using the same criteria for the overall winner category) where a useful learning emerges despite demonstrating a zero effect. Entries that offer fellow GAABS members and practitioners a valuable means of learning and that serve to help peers to potentially avoid ineffective and inefficient behaviourally informed approaches are encouraged to enter this category.
Student Award: The student prize will be awarded to the student entry that the judges feel exemplifies the best use of applied behavioural science. Entries should address a specific behavioural issue, demonstrate an understanding of the wider context, identify how intervention(s) were conceived and tested.
The judges are seeking evidence of broad real-world application, and entries that align with GAABS’ ethical framework. For the student awards, the judges also allow entries which are more research focused by nature. Allowances will be made for the likelihood that data collection opportunities could be limited for student projects.
The award is open to student members.
Individual Member Award: Awarded to the GAABS member who, in the opinion of the Chair and Executive Team, has contributed most value to GAABS and the wider Behavioural Science community. The award, therefore, will not be an applied project but rather a reflection of impact and meaningful contribution of a Behavioural Science individual. This could be via a local GAABS chapter, the encouragement and collaboration across the GAABS of network or something else.
This award is open to individual members.
Best BeSci Book Award: voted for by GAABS members from a shortlist of the best books released in the past year.
Best BeSci Podcast Award: voted for by GAABS members from a shortlist of the best podcasts aired in the past year.
Important dates
Dates for the 2025 GAABS Awards coming soon!
Entry Criteria
Entries will be accepted for applied work carried out in the previous two years in recognition that some applied field work and experiments can often take >12 months to complete.
Entrants must be made by a GAABS member (either individual or organisational).
Entrants from collaborations / partnerships between individual GAABS members are encouraged. In the case of collaborations at least 50% of the entrants must fulfil GAABS criteria for membership.
Entrants that are collaborations between GAABS members and a commercial, public sector or not-for-profit organisation are also welcomed. So, too, is work conducted by a GAABS member for a client.
In the case of work carried out on behalf of a client, it is important that all entries are accompanied with verifiable permission from the organisation concerned that they are happy for the work to be entered.
Where entries feature material owned by an end client or external supplier or any other copyright holder, permission must also be submitted with the entry.
GAABS members are permitted to submit a maximum of TWO entries.
GAABS Executive Board Members and Advisory Board Members are not eligible to apply.
Entry requirements
Entries entry must take the form of (a) a maximum 2500-word paper, (b) a case study, or (c) a presentation.
A 250 – 300 word executive summary of the work (including the key (null) results) should also accompany each entry.
Submissions should be sent as as a PDF email attachment to members@gaabs.org along with the following information:
Email subject: GAABS Awards Entry
Email body:
Name of entrant(s)
Award category
Title of entry
If submitting more than one entry, each entry should be submitted in a separate email.
Paper copies will not be accepted for entry.
Any images or supporting graphs and visuals used to support / illustrate the entry can be included in an appendix or attached as separate files. A maximum of 3 per entry.
Each entry must be submitted by a current GAABS member who is in good standing.
Only one entry will be accepted for each project or initiative. If you wish to enter a project that includes a multiplicity of separate interventions to address different outcomes within the same project these should be submitted individually.
Entries that include several interventions to address a single outcome and that are tested against each other at the same time will be regarded as a single entry.
Should your entry contain sensitive or private information this should clearly be stated on your entry in RED BOLD TEXT. Please highlight information that is not in the public domain to ensure that sensitive information is not published.
GAABS is not liable for issues related to entry requirements. An email confirming a successful upload of an entry will be sent to all submissions.
The closing date for entries for the 2025 Awards will be announced in due course.
Entrants assign GAABS the right to feature entries and winners on the GAABS website, social media channels and for general promotional purposes.
AWARDS TROPHIES
Entries shortlisted will be notified in advance.
Awards will be given to the winner and up to 2 x highly commended entries per category
Winners will receive a custom-made GAABS trophy
Highly Commended entries (max 2 per category) will receive a smaller trophy plaque
All winners and highly commended entries will be entitled to display their winner status and use it as ‘creds’ on their websites and business materials