MAUREEN JACOVELLA, PROJECT MANAGER, POLICY, RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS, DEPARTMENT OF THE PREMIER, WESTERN CAPE GOVERNMENT, SOUTH AFRICA

Maureen Jacovella was born in Paris, where she pursued a career in Economics and Management, with two Masters Degrees. Her first Masters is in “Sustainable Development Project Management focus in the Southern Countries” and the second one in “International Affairs and Development” and her thesis was focused on “Policies and Strategies addressing inequalities in education in Western Cape”. She specialised in Sustainability and her passion is in Education and Development. She was a Project Manager at the Western Cape Government: Department of the Premier, South Africa. Her work included project management and implementation in a range of areas including youth development and Behavioural Insights.

BARBARA KNOOTE, RESEARCH ASSISTANT, POLICY, RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS, DEPARTMENT OF THE PREMIER, WESTERN CAPE GOVERNMENT, SOUTH AFRICA

Barbara Knoote is an intern from the Netherlands that worked as a Research Assistant for the Western Cape Government: Department of the Premier. Her interest in human behaviour started early in high school, which led her to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience. She then decided to proceed with a Master’s degree in Applied ethics. Now, she is interested in the ethics of Behavioural Insights in public policy. She developed a BI toolkit for governments in low resource environments. A previous project for the WCG included the Nudgeathon SA 2019. This was South Africa’s first behavioural insights hackathon where behavioural scientists, policy experts, learners, principals and design thinkers came together to tackle the problem of violence in schools. She was especially involved in the research that preceded the Nudgeathon. After her internship at the Western Cape Government, she’s pursuing a career in ethics of public policy.

KATIE CHEN, RESEARCH ASSISTANT, POLICY, RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS, DEPARTMENT OF THE PREMIER, WESTERN CAPE GOVERNMENT, SOUTH AFRICA

Katie Chen is a Visiting Researcher from Canada. In her time with the Western Cape Government, she worked on various components of the 2019-2024 Provincial Strategy Plan and a BI4Gov interview series on behavioural insights in developing countries. Hailing from an academic background in psychology and business, Katie has a strong passion for behavioural science and its potential for good, especially in resource-constrained societies. She brings expertise from her time with BEAR, the behavioural economics research centre at the University of Toronto. Katie has previously advised the Canadian federal government on nudging for electric vehicle adoption and published whitepapers with professor Dilip Soman, the Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Science and Economics. Katie is currently a management consultant based in Toronto and hopes to someday return to Cape Town, a place that has captured her heart.

EMILY SHEVLANE, RESEARCH ASSISTANT, POLICY, RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS, DEPARTMENT OF THE PREMIER, WESTERN CAPE GOVERNMENT, SOUTH AFRICA

Emily Shevlane is from England and worked as a Research Assistant for the Western Cape Government. After completing her Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and Spanish she sought out a career that would utilise her degree whilst also improving public welfare. This led her to an account management role in healthcare communications. Eager to make a greater impact on lives, she became interested in the power of applying behavioural insights to improve the effectiveness of policy. Taking a step into this arena, Emily joined the Policy, Research and Analysis team and supported policy development, as well as carrying out research in the BI4Gov team. This included carrying out interviews with leading BI practitioners globally to inform a blog series on the challenges of applying behavioural insights in developing contexts, coupled with practical tips on how to overcome such stumbling blocks. She also managed the BI4Gov communications and social media.