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, 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.
	Colin West, Post-Doc Researcher Colin is a Behavioral Scientist at BEAR. He conducts research on economic decision-making and psychological wellbeing in the workplace. In particular, Colin's research program investigates how people respond to unexpected shortfalls and windfalls of time and money. Colin has also worked as a consultant and researcher applying behavioral science in business and policy settings. Colin worked at BEworks (a behavioral economics consulting firm in Toronto), the Busara Center for Behavioral Economics (a behavioral science consulting and research organization in Nairobi), and Irrational Labs (a behavioral science consulting firm in San Francisco focused on the technology sector). In addition, Colin has worked with numerous fintech companies applying insights and methods from behavioral science. Colin holds a PhD in Management (Behavioral Decision Making) from UCLA, Anderson School of Management and an undergraduate degree from Harvard 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.