
Behavioural Insights for Business and Policy
An Online Certificate Programme in Applied Behavioural Science
22 November 2025 - 17 January 2026
8 Week | Cohort Based | Online Programme
Programme Fee: ₹84,999/- (*Few limited seats available on discounted fees)
Last few days left
8 weeks Online
Interactive Classes
1:2o Faculty to Student Ratio
Final Capstone Project
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Programme Overview and Experience
Grounded in theory and evidence while focused on application, the 8-week programme takes you from the core ideas of behavioural science to real-world application. Learn from globally recognised behavioural scientists and practitioners—Dr. Pavan Mamidi and Pooja Haldea—who established India’s first Behavioural Science Lab within the Indian government. Together with Dr. Shagata Mukherjee and other accomplished guest experts, gain insights into nudges, experiments, storytelling, ethnography, social norms, and more.
Translate behavioural insights into solutions for consumer journeys, development programmes, and workplace challenges. Along the way, practise storytelling for influence, build better habits, and collaborate on a live capstone project. You’ll leave with a practical toolkit and a peer network to drive meaningful change.


Dr. Pavan Mamidi
CSBC | Visiting Faculty (Practice), LSE | PhD, University of Oxford
Dr. Pavan Mamidi is a senior advisor in policy and applied Behavioural science, with a passion for demystifying complex ideas for management and policy students. As Director of CSBC, he collaborates with NITI Aayog and led the creation of India's first Nudge Unit, along with Behavioural Insights Units in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
His work spans development issues in education, health, nutrition, and gender. Pavan holds a PhD from Oxford, an LL.M. from Harvard, and a Mathematics degree from Osmania University.
Additionally, Pavan takes immense pride in cooking rural Telangana food, and believes that the green chili is good for the soul, and builds character.

Director, CSBC
Ph. D. University of Oxford
Pavan is an empirically informed senior advisor in the policy space, and a dedicated teacher, who believes in democratising education, and demystifying complex ideas, and communicating them effectively to management and policy students. Substantively, he pursues two streams of professional work and scholarship - law/policy, and applied behaviour science.
He currently serves as the Director of the Centre for Social and Behaviour Change at Ashoka University, and also works closely with Niti Aayog. He has led the initiative to set up India’s first Nudge Unit, the Behavioral Insights Unit of India, which is an embedded team out of Niti. He has also helped set up a Behavioral Insights Units for the states of Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. His main work focuses on development related issues in education, health, nutrition, and gender.
Additionally, Pavan takes immense pride in cooking rural Telangana food, and believes that the green chilly is good for the soul, and builds character! He has a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from the University of Oxford, a Masters (LL.M.) from Harvard Law School, and a highly subsidised and inexpensive Bachelor's in Mathematics from the finest public institution in the world - Osmania University!


Co-founder - CSBC at Ashoka University
IIM Bangalore
Pooja Haldea is a Senior Advisor at the Centre for Social and Behaviour Change, Ashoka University. Pooja is an expert in applied behavioural science, especially in public health, nutrition, data privacy and financial inclusion. She advises both social and private sector organisations on how to use behavioural science for greater impact.
She helped set up the Centre and led the Centre’s effort to put in place the first Behaviour Insights Unit (Nudge Unit) within the Indian government. She leads the Centre's work on financial inclusion and data privacy. Pooja combines her social sector experience with deep private sector expertise.
Pooja has worked for over a decade for McKinsey & Co. across India and Europe. She then set up and ran the India office for BrainJuicer (now System 1), a global consulting firm. Pooja has an MBA from IIM Bangalore and a Bachelor’s in Mathematics from St. Stephen’s College in Delhi.

Senior Advisor, CSBC
Pooja Haldea is a Senior Advisor at the Centre for Social and Behavioural Change, Ashoka University. Pooja is an expert in the area of applied behavioural science, especially in public health, nutrition, data privacy and financial inclusion. She advises both social sector as well as private sector organisations on how to use behavioural science for greater impact. She helped set up the Centre and led the Centre’s effort to put in place the first Behavioural Insights Unit (Nudge Unit) within the Indian government. She leads the Centre’s work on financial inclusion and data privacy.
Pooja combines her social sector experience with deep private sector expertise. Pooja has worked for over a decade for McKinsey & Co. across India and Europe, where she was a Junior Partner in the Marketing and Sales practice. She then set up and ran the India office for BrainJuicer (now System 1), a global consulting firm widely acknowledged to be a thought leader in behavioural science-based research and marketing. At Brainjuicer, she led over 150 projects in India.
Pooja has an MBA from IIM Bangalore and a Bachelor’s in Mathematics from St. Stephen’s College in Delhi.


Shagata Mukherjee
Deputy Director, CSBC | Academic Lead, Behavioural Insights Unit of India, NITI Aayog
Dr Shagata Mukherjee is the Lead - Behavioural Insights Unit of India, NITI Aayog, and a Deputy Director at the Centre for Social and Behavioural Change at Ashoka University.
Prior to this position, Shagata was an Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics. He was also a Visiting Fellow at the Mumbai School of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Mumbai and an Affiliated Faculty at the Centre for Experimental Social Sciences (CESS) Nuffield -FLAME.
He is the recipient of the Vernon L. Smith Young Talent Award in Experimental Finance for his research on gender and microfinance and is a co-founder of the Mumbai Behavioural Network.

Deputy Director, CSBC
Ph.D Georgia State University
Shagata Mukherjee is the Lead - Behavioural Insights Unit of India, NITI Aayog, and a Deputy Director at the Centre for Social and Behavioural Change at Ashoka University.
Prior to this position, Shagata was an Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics. He was also a Visiting Fellow at the Mumbai School of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Mumbai and an Affiliated Faculty at the Centre for Experimental Social Sciences (CESS) Nuffield -FLAME.
He is the recipient of the Vernon L. Smith Young Talent Award in Experimental Finance for his research on gender and microfinance and is a co-founder of the Mumbai Behavioural Network.


Founder, Workverse, Nimaya Foundation and Adopt One
Samyak Chakrabarty is a Forbes-listed entrepreneur and founder of Workverse - a simulated workplace environment to train and assess graduates in 21st-century soft skills like creative problem-solving, critical thinking, emotional intelligence and storytelling.
He began his entrepreneurial journey at 16 as a student through Model United Nations initiatives. As a passion project, he is also building a movement, Adopt India, to encourage and enable millennials to consider adoption as a family planning alternative.
His impactful projects include India’s largest 1-1 life-and-career mentoring program, ‘the Green Batti Project’, and ‘Operation Black Dot,’ a voter awareness campaign. He was instrumental in building the country's leading youth marketing and communications agency as the Chief Youth Marketer at DDB Mudra Group, for which he also won the Young Emvie of the Year presented by the Advertising Agencies Association of India Samyak has done his schooling from Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, New Delhi post, where he pursued a Bachelor of Mass Media from Jai Hind College.

Founder, Workverse, Nimaya Foundation and Adopt One
Samyak Chakrabarty is a Forbes-listed entrepreneur and founder of Workverse - a simulated workplace environment to train and assess graduates in 21st-century soft skills like creative problem-solving, critical thinking, emotional intelligence and storytelling. He began his entrepreneurial journey at 16, with students through Model United Nations initiatives.
As a passion project, he is also building a movement, Adopt India, to encourage and enable millennials to consider adoption as a family planning alternative.


Dr. Pavan Mamidi
CSBC | Visiting Faculty (Practice), LSE | PhD, University of Oxford
Dr. Pavan Mamidi is a senior advisor in policy and applied Behavioural science, with a passion for demystifying complex ideas for management and policy students. As Director of CSBC, he collaborates with NITI Aayog and led the creation of India's first Nudge Unit, along with Behavioural Insights Units in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
His work spans development issues in education, health, nutrition, and gender. Pavan holds a PhD from Oxford, an LL.M. from Harvard, and a Mathematics degree from Osmania University.
Additionally, Pavan takes immense pride in cooking rural Telangana food, and believes that the green chili is good for the soul, and builds character.


Co-founder - CSBC at Ashoka University
Pooja Haldea is a Senior Advisor at the Centre for Social and Behaviour Change, Ashoka University. Pooja is an expert in applied behavioural science, especially in public health, nutrition, data privacy and financial inclusion. She advises both social and private sector organisations on how to use behavioural science for greater impact.
She helped set up the Centre and led the Centre’s effort to put in place the first Behaviour Insights Unit (Nudge Unit) within the Indian government. She leads the Centre's work on financial inclusion and data privacy. Pooja combines her social sector experience with deep private sector expertise.
Pooja has worked for over a decade for McKinsey & Co. across India and Europe. She then set up and ran the India office for BrainJuicer (now System 1), a global consulting firm. Pooja has an MBA from IIM Bangalore and a Bachelor’s in Mathematics from St. Stephen’s College in Delhi.


Shagata Mukherjee
Deputy Director, CSBC | Academic Lead, Behavioural Insights Unit of India, NITI Aayog
Dr Shagata Mukherjee is the Lead - Behavioural Insights Unit of India, NITI Aayog, and a Deputy Director at the Centre for Social and Behavioural Change at Ashoka University.
Prior to this position, Shagata was an Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics. He was also a Visiting Fellow at the Mumbai School of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Mumbai and an Affiliated Faculty at the Centre for Experimental Social Sciences (CESS) Nuffield -FLAME.
He is the recipient of the Vernon L. Smith Young Talent Award in Experimental Finance for his research on gender and microfinance and is a co-founder of the Mumbai Behavioural Network.


Founder, Workverse, Nimaya Foundation and Adopt One
Samyak Chakrabarty is a Forbes-listed entrepreneur and founder of Workverse - a simulated workplace environment to train and assess graduates in 21st-century soft skills like creative problem-solving, critical thinking, emotional intelligence and storytelling.
He began his entrepreneurial journey at 16 as a student through Model United Nations initiatives. As a passion project, he is also building a movement, Adopt India, to encourage and enable millennials to consider adoption as a family planning alternative.
His impactful projects include India’s largest 1-1 life-and-career mentoring program, ‘the Green Batti Project’, and ‘Operation Black Dot,’ a voter awareness campaign. He was instrumental in building the country's leading youth marketing and communications agency as the Chief Youth Marketer at DDB Mudra Group, for which he also won the Young Emvie of the Year presented by the Advertising Agencies Association of India Samyak has done his schooling from Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, New Delhi post, where he pursued a Bachelor of Mass Media from Jai Hind College.

Dr. Sanna Balsari-Palsule
Visiting Faculty, Ashoka University
PhD University of Cambridge

Dr. Sanna Balsari-Palsule
Associate Professor (Visiting Faculty), Ashoka University | Adjunct Faculty, Golden Gate University | PhD, University of Cambridge
Sanna is a behavioural scientist, lecturer and coach. For the past ten years, she has worked at the intersection of academia and applied science, drawing on insights from social psychology, behavioural economics and neuroscience to make self-improvement relevant, accessible and joyful.
Sanna has rich experience in both the private and public sector, designing and delivering training programmes and workshops on behaviour change, including the BBC and United Nations.
She has published a science-based board game ‘Who are you?’ and a trilogy of personality books with Hachette UK. Her research has been featured in the World Economic Forum, The Atlantic, The Wire, amongst others. She is a columnist for Fast Company and Psychology Today.
She completed her PhD from the University of Cambridge and has taught at the Judge Business School, Cambridge and is adjunct faculty at Ashoka University and Golden Gate University.

Senior Research Fellow, CSBC
Ph. D. University of Cambridge
Sanna is a behavioural scientist, lecturer and coach. For the past ten years, she has worked at the intersection of academia and applied science, drawing on insights from social psychology, behavioural economics and neuroscience to make self-improvement relevant, accessible and joyful.
Sanna has rich experience in both the private and public sector, designing and delivering training programmes and workshops on behaviour change, including the BBC and United Nations.
She has published a science-based board game ‘Who are you?’ and a trilogy of personality books with Hachette UK. Her research has been featured in the World Economic Forum, The Atlantic, The Wire, amongst others. She is a columnist for Fast Company and Psychology Today.
She completed her PhD from the University of Cambridge and has taught at the Judge Business School, Cambridge and is adjunct faculty at Ashoka University and Golden Gate University.

Director, CSBC
Ph. D. University of Oxford
Pavan is an empirically informed senior advisor in the policy space, and a dedicated teacher, who believes in democratising education, and demystifying complex ideas, and communicating them effectively to management and policy students. Substantively, he pursues two streams of professional work and scholarship - law/policy, and applied behaviour science.
He currently serves as the Director of the Centre for Social and Behaviour Change at Ashoka University, and also works closely with Niti Aayog. He has led the initiative to set up India’s first Nudge Unit, the Behavioral Insights Unit of India, which is an embedded team out of Niti. He has also helped set up a Behavioral Insights Units for the states of Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. His main work focuses on development related issues in education, health, nutrition, and gender.
Additionally, Pavan takes immense pride in cooking rural Telangana food, and believes that the green chilly is good for the soul, and builds character!
He has a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from the University of Oxford, a Masters (LL.M.) from Harvard Law School, and a highly subsidised and inexpensive Bachelor's in Mathematics from the finest public institution in the world - Osmania University!

Director, CSBC
Ph. D. University of Oxford
Pavan is an empirically informed senior advisor in the policy space, and a dedicated teacher, who believes in democratising education, and demystifying complex ideas, and communicating them effectively to management and policy students. Substantively, he pursues two streams of professional work and scholarship - law/policy, and applied behaviour science.
He currently serves as the Director of the Centre for Social and Behaviour Change at Ashoka University, and also works closely with Niti Aayog. He has led the initiative to set up India’s first Nudge Unit, the Behavioral Insights Unit of India, which is an embedded team out of Niti. He has also helped set up a Behavioral Insights Units for the states of Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. His main work focuses on development related issues in education, health, nutrition, and gender.
Additionally, Pavan takes immense pride in cooking rural Telangana food, and believes that the green chilly is good for the soul, and builds character!
He has a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from the University of Oxford, a Masters (LL.M.) from Harvard Law School, and a highly subsidised and inexpensive Bachelor's in Mathematics from the finest public institution in the world - Osmania University!

Director, CSBC
Ph. D. University of Oxford
Pavan is an empirically informed senior advisor in the policy space, and a dedicated teacher, who believes in democratising education, and demystifying complex ideas, and communicating them effectively to management and policy students. Substantively, he pursues two streams of professional work and scholarship - law/policy, and applied behaviour science.
He currently serves as the Director of the Centre for Social and Behaviour Change at Ashoka University, and also works closely with Niti Aayog. He has led the initiative to set up India’s first Nudge Unit, the Behavioral Insights Unit of India, which is an embedded team out of Niti. He has also helped set up a Behavioral Insights Units for the states of Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. His main work focuses on development related issues in education, health, nutrition, and gender.
Additionally, Pavan takes immense pride in cooking rural Telangana food, and believes that the green chilly is good for the soul, and builds character!
He has a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from the University of Oxford, a Masters (LL.M.) from Harvard Law School, and a highly subsidised and inexpensive Bachelor's in Mathematics from the finest public institution in the world - Osmania University!

Director, CSBC
Ph. D. University of Oxford
Pavan is an empirically informed senior advisor in the policy space, and a dedicated teacher, who believes in democratising education, and demystifying complex ideas, and communicating them effectively to management and policy students. Substantively, he pursues two streams of professional work and scholarship - law/policy, and applied behaviour science.
He currently serves as the Director of the Centre for Social and Behaviour Change at Ashoka University, and also works closely with Niti Aayog. He has led the initiative to set up India’s first Nudge Unit, the Behavioral Insights Unit of India, which is an embedded team out of Niti. He has also helped set up a Behavioral Insights Units for the states of Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. His main work focuses on development related issues in education, health, nutrition, and gender.
Additionally, Pavan takes immense pride in cooking rural Telangana food, and believes that the green chilly is good for the soul, and builds character!
He has a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from the University of Oxford, a Masters (LL.M.) from Harvard Law School, and a highly subsidised and inexpensive Bachelor's in Mathematics from the finest public institution in the world - Osmania University!

Dr. Sanna Balsari-Palsule
Visiting Faculty, Ashoka University
PhD University of Cambridge

Dr. Sanna Balsari-Palsule
Associate Professor (Visiting Faculty), Ashoka University | Adjunct Faculty, Golden Gate University | PhD, University of Cambridge
Sanna is a behavioural scientist, lecturer and coach. For the past ten years, she has worked at the intersection of academia and applied science, drawing on insights from social psychology, behavioural economics and neuroscience to make self-improvement relevant, accessible and joyful.
Sanna has rich experience in both the private and public sector, designing and delivering training programmes and workshops on behaviour change, including the BBC and United Nations.
She has published a science-based board game ‘Who are you?’ and a trilogy of personality books with Hachette UK. Her research has been featured in the World Economic Forum, The Atlantic, The Wire, amongst others. She is a columnist for Fast Company and Psychology Today.
She completed her PhD from the University of Cambridge and has taught at the Judge Business School, Cambridge and is adjunct faculty at Ashoka University and Golden Gate University.

Director, CSBC
Ph. D. University of Oxford
Pavan is an empirically informed senior advisor in the policy space, and a dedicated teacher, who believes in democratising education, and demystifying complex ideas, and communicating them effectively to management and policy students. Substantively, he pursues two streams of professional work and scholarship - law/policy, and applied behaviour science.
He currently serves as the Director of the Centre for Social and Behaviour Change at Ashoka University, and also works closely with Niti Aayog. He has led the initiative to set up India’s first Nudge Unit, the Behavioral Insights Unit of India, which is an embedded team out of Niti. He has also helped set up a Behavioral Insights Units for the states of Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. His main work focuses on development related issues in education, health, nutrition, and gender.
Additionally, Pavan takes immense pride in cooking rural Telangana food, and believes that the green chilly is good for the soul, and builds character!
He has a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from the University of Oxford, a Masters (LL.M.) from Harvard Law School, and a highly subsidised and inexpensive Bachelor's in Mathematics from the finest public institution in the world - Osmania University!

Director, CSBC
Ph. D. University of Oxford
Pavan is an empirically informed senior advisor in the policy space, and a dedicated teacher, who believes in democratising education, and demystifying complex ideas, and communicating them effectively to management and policy students. Substantively, he pursues two streams of professional work and scholarship - law/policy, and applied behaviour science.
He currently serves as the Director of the Centre for Social and Behaviour Change at Ashoka University, and also works closely with Niti Aayog. He has led the initiative to set up India’s first Nudge Unit, the Behavioral Insights Unit of India, which is an embedded team out of Niti. He has also helped set up a Behavioral Insights Units for the states of Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. His main work focuses on development related issues in education, health, nutrition, and gender.
Additionally, Pavan takes immense pride in cooking rural Telangana food, and believes that the green chilly is good for the soul, and builds character!
He has a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from the University of Oxford, a Masters (LL.M.) from Harvard Law School, and a highly subsidised and inexpensive Bachelor's in Mathematics from the finest public institution in the world - Osmania University!

Director, CSBC
Ph. D. University of Oxford
Pavan is an empirically informed senior advisor in the policy space, and a dedicated teacher, who believes in democratising education, and demystifying complex ideas, and communicating them effectively to management and policy students. Substantively, he pursues two streams of professional work and scholarship - law/policy, and applied behaviour science.
He currently serves as the Director of the Centre for Social and Behaviour Change at Ashoka University, and also works closely with Niti Aayog. He has led the initiative to set up India’s first Nudge Unit, the Behavioral Insights Unit of India, which is an embedded team out of Niti. He has also helped set up a Behavioral Insights Units for the states of Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. His main work focuses on development related issues in education, health, nutrition, and gender.
Additionally, Pavan takes immense pride in cooking rural Telangana food, and believes that the green chilly is good for the soul, and builds character!
He has a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from the University of Oxford, a Masters (LL.M.) from Harvard Law School, and a highly subsidised and inexpensive Bachelor's in Mathematics from the finest public institution in the world - Osmania University!

Director, CSBC
Ph. D. University of Oxford
Pavan is an empirically informed senior advisor in the policy space, and a dedicated teacher, who believes in democratising education, and demystifying complex ideas, and communicating them effectively to management and policy students. Substantively, he pursues two streams of professional work and scholarship - law/policy, and applied behaviour science.
He currently serves as the Director of the Centre for Social and Behaviour Change at Ashoka University, and also works closely with Niti Aayog. He has led the initiative to set up India’s first Nudge Unit, the Behavioral Insights Unit of India, which is an embedded team out of Niti. He has also helped set up a Behavioral Insights Units for the states of Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. His main work focuses on development related issues in education, health, nutrition, and gender.
Additionally, Pavan takes immense pride in cooking rural Telangana food, and believes that the green chilly is good for the soul, and builds character!
He has a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from the University of Oxford, a Masters (LL.M.) from Harvard Law School, and a highly subsidised and inexpensive Bachelor's in Mathematics from the finest public institution in the world - Osmania University!

Director, CSBC
Ph. D. University of Oxford
Pavan is an empirically informed senior advisor in the policy space, and a dedicated teacher, who believes in democratising education, and demystifying complex ideas, and communicating them effectively to management and policy students. Substantively, he pursues two streams of professional work and scholarship - law/policy, and applied behaviour science.
He currently serves as the Director of the Centre for Social and Behaviour Change at Ashoka University, and also works closely with Niti Aayog. He has led the initiative to set up India’s first Nudge Unit, the Behavioral Insights Unit of India, which is an embedded team out of Niti. He has also helped set up a Behavioral Insights Units for the states of Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. His main work focuses on development related issues in education, health, nutrition, and gender.
Additionally, Pavan takes immense pride in cooking rural Telangana food, and believes that the green chilly is good for the soul, and builds character!
He has a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from the University of Oxford, a Masters (LL.M.) from Harvard Law School, and a highly subsidised and inexpensive Bachelor's in Mathematics from the finest public institution in the world - Osmania University!

Director, CSBC
Ph. D. University of Oxford
Pavan is an empirically informed senior advisor in the policy space, and a dedicated teacher, who believes in democratising education, and demystifying complex ideas, and communicating them effectively to management and policy students. Substantively, he pursues two streams of professional work and scholarship - law/policy, and applied behaviour science.
He currently serves as the Director of the Centre for Social and Behaviour Change at Ashoka University, and also works closely with Niti Aayog. He has led the initiative to set up India’s first Nudge Unit, the Behavioral Insights Unit of India, which is an embedded team out of Niti. He has also helped set up a Behavioral Insights Units for the states of Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. His main work focuses on development related issues in education, health, nutrition, and gender.
Additionally, Pavan takes immense pride in cooking rural Telangana food, and believes that the green chilly is good for the soul, and builds character!
He has a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from the University of Oxford, a Masters (LL.M.) from Harvard Law School, and a highly subsidised and inexpensive Bachelor's in Mathematics from the finest public institution in the world - Osmania University!
Want to know more?
Our team will be happy to answer any questions you might have or help you with the enrollment process.
22 Nov 2025 - 17 Jan 2026
programme fee: ₹84,999/-
(*Few limited seats available on special discounted fees)
Last few days left.
Group Discounts available, please indicate details in the application form.
*Contact the admission team (details below)
This course is for you if you are a …
This course is for you if you are a leader, manager, or change-maker looking to use behavioural science to solve concrete problems.
Understand the first principles of behavioural science so you can design strategies for markets, policies, and products that convert awareness into action, sustain adoption, and scale impact by starting from human behaviour, not assumptions, while learning alongside peers from business and policy, exchanging insights across worlds.
Sales and Marketing Leader
Struggling to convert prospects into loyal, long-term customers?
Strategic Communications
Finding it difficult to move audiences from awareness to meaningful action?
Digital / Product Leader
Facing adoption plateaus and looking for fresh levers to drive uptake?
Public Programmes and Policy Specialist
Frustrated with reports that generate data but fail to change real decisions?

Register your interest
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Hear From Our Alumni

I particularly enjoyed the pre-reading material and links for reference... This has been a great introduction to the behavioural science domain and I am looking forward to immersing myself more and gaining more in depth knowledge.
As a CX leader, I joined to decode customer behavior scientifically. The program reshaped how I perceive decisions and people—enabling more empathetic, data-driven leadership. Faculty like Prof. Pavan Mamidi and Dr. Shagata Mukherjee brought behavioral science alive through engaging, real-world insights. It’s a transformative experience for anyone designing journeys or driving change


It was an excellent experience overall. The professors and teaching staff really helped to ease matters and simplify concepts. I hope to be able to implement learning going forward.
Hear From Our Alumni
I particularly enjoyed the pre-reading material and links for reference... This has been a great introduction to the behavioural science domain and I am looking forward to immersing myself more and gaining more in depth knowledge.

As a CX leader, I joined to decode customer behavior scientifically. The program reshaped how I perceive decisions and people—enabling more empathetic, data-driven leadership. Faculty like Prof. Pavan Mamidi and Dr. Shagata Mukherjee brought behavioral science alive through engaging, real-world insights. It’s a .transformative experience for anyone designing journeys or driving change

It was an excellent experience overall. The professors and teaching staff really helped to ease matters and simplify concepts. I hope to be able to implement learning going forward.

Frequently Asked Questions
The programme blends the convenience of online interactive sessions on Zoom with the opportunity for in-person gatherings to deepen connections.
For leaders interested in understanding human behaviour to solve problems and drive change at work; whether in sales and marketing, strategic communications or digital innovation, across the private and public sector.
No prior experience is required. The course is designed for learners from diverse backgrounds.
Yes, participants who complete the programme successfully will receive a certificate of completion from Ashoka University.
The programme fee is ₹84,999 (inclusive of all taxes and duties).
Few limited seats available on special discounted fees. Contact the admissions team at courses@x.ashoka.edu.in or call us on +91 7497099940 | Whatsapp +91 9996038749. Group applicants are eligible for special discounts (group members can mention in the application form).
Yes, the flexible online format is designed to fit into the schedule of working professionals. Class recordings will be available.
You can apply by filling in the application form (Link Here).
For any questions, reach out to courses@x.ashoka.edu.in or call us on +91 7497099940 | Whatsapp +91 9996038749

Pooja Haldea
Senior Advisor, CSBC
PhD, University of Oxford
Pooja Haldea is a Senior Advisor at the Centre for Social and Behavioural Change, Ashoka University. Pooja is an expert in the area of applied behavioural science, especially in public health, nutrition, data privacy and financial inclusion. She advises both social sector as well as private sector organisations on how to use behavioural science for greater impact. She helped set up the Centre and led the Centre’s effort to put in place the first Behavioural Insights Unit (Nudge Unit) within the Indian government. She leads the Centre’s work on financial inclusion and data privacy.
Pooja combines her social sector experience with deep private sector expertise. Pooja has worked for over a decade for McKinsey & Co. across India and Europe, where she was a Junior Partner in the Marketing and Sales practice. She then set up and ran the India office for BrainJuicer (now System 1), a global consulting firm widely acknowledged to be a thought leader in behavioural science-based research and marketing. At Brainjuicer, she led over 150 projects in India.
Pooja has an MBA from IIM Bangalore and a Bachelor’s in Mathematics from St. Stephen’s College in Delhi.


We have received your interest for Ashoka University’s ‘India@75’ programme! Our team will connect with you shortly with further application process. To read programme prospectus, click here. Look forward to seeing you in our classroom!

Dr. Rudrangshu Mukherjee
Chancellor, Professor of History, Ashoka University
D. Phil. Oxford University
Upcoming Soon

Dr. Madhavi Menon
Professor of English, Ashoka University
Director, Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexuality
Director of the Ph. D. Programme in English
Ph. D. Tufts University
Upcoming Soon

Dr. Rita Kothari
Professor of English, Ashoka University
Director, MA in English Programme
PhD, Gujarat University
Upcoming Soon

Dr. Sunil Khilnani
Professor of Politics and History, Ashoka University
Ph.D. Cambridge University
Upcoming Soon
Our team will review your application and contact you for next steps. Please remember to check your email/WhatsApp messages for updates.
We look forward to seeing you at Horizons this summer!
There are no live courses. We will share relevant information on upcoming courses when they are announced.

Diksha Radhakrishnan
Deputy Director, CSBC
Diksha Radhakrishnan is the Deputy Director at the Centre for Social & Behavioural Change, leading the Centre’s Behavioural Design & Impact Lab.
Previously, she served as CSBC’s Founding Lead for the establishment of the Behavioural Insights Unit at NITI Aayog, where she led the delivery of multiple high-stakes behaviourally-driven projects for the Government, including a communication campaign to promote mask-wearing, SBCC component for PM’s rural transformation initiative in Varanasi and generation of evidence-driven solutions for improving nutritional practices in rural communities (complementary feeding and IFA supplementation).
Diksha has extensive experience in the domain of applied behavioural research, at-scale program design, and operating in the public health landscape.
She has previously worked at Evidence Action Kenya, responsible for identifying, designing and scaling evidence-based solutions with government partners, across countries in East Africa and South Asia. She also served as a Research & Training Manager at J-PAL South Asia on multiple public health evaluations, working closely with senior academics and with high-ranking bureaucrats from state governments of Haryana, Tamil Nadu, and Bihar. She holds an MSc. in Development Studies from the School of Oriental & African Studies, the University of London and a B.A. in Political Science from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University.

Dr. Sanna Balsari-Palsule
Asst. Professor, Ashoka University
PhD, University of Cambridge
Dr. Sanna Balsari-Palsule is behavioural scientist and Associate Professor at Ashoka University. Prior to this, Sanna held teaching positions at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. Sanna’s research interests include the dynamics of behavioural change. Her work has been published by peer-reviewed journals and covered in multiple media outlets including the BBC, and New York Magazine. She is a columnist for Psychology Today, Fast Company and Inc. She delivers regular training and workshops on the application of behavioural science to enable human flourishing. She is also a co-founder of a personality-based assessment tool, and the author of a set of personality notebooks. Sanna received her PhD from the University of Cambridge and her MPhil also from the University of Cambridge.

Dr. Pavan Mamidi
Director, CSBC
PhD, University of Oxford
Dr. Pavan Mamidi is the director of the Centre for Social and Behavioural Change (CSBC) at Ashoka University, a preeminent research and practice center that applies behavioral economics and other behavioral sciences to improve living standards for low-income and marginalized members of society. Prior to this, Pavan served as director of the Centre for Experimental Social Sciences (CESS Nuffield-Flame), where he founded Oxford University’s behavioral/experimental lab in collaboration with FLAME University in Pune. The lab is dedicated to research on human decision-making. An alumnus of Harvard Law School and the University of Oxford, Pavan Mamidi has previously worked with the Solicitor-General of India in the Supreme Court. He has taught at several leading institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Management, Ahmedabad and Bangalore, and the University of Michigan Law School.

Pooja Haldea
Senior Advisor, CSBC
Pooja Haldea is a Senior Advisor at the Centre for Social and Behavioural Change, Ashoka University. Pooja is an expert in the area of applied behavioural science, especially in public health, nutrition, data privacy and financial inclusion. She advises both social sector as well as private sector organisations on how to use behavioural science for greater impact. She helped set up the Centre and led the Centre’s effort to put in place the first Behavioural Insights Unit (Nudge Unit) within the Indian government. She leads the Centre’s work on financial inclusion and data privacy.
Pooja combines her social sector experience with deep private sector expertise. Pooja has worked for over a decade for McKinsey & Co. across India and Europe, where she was a Junior Partner in the Marketing and Sales practice. She then set up and ran the India office for BrainJuicer (now System 1), a global consulting firm widely acknowledged to be a thought leader in behavioural science-based research and marketing. At Brainjuicer, she led over 150 projects in India.
Pooja has an MBA from IIM Bangalore and a Bachelor’s in Mathematics from St. Stephen’s College in Delhi.

Sneha Shashidhara
Senior Research Consultant, CSBC
Sneha Shashidhara is a senior research consultant at the Centre for Social and Behavioural Change, with a teaching position at the Psychology Department of Ashoka University. She is a cognitive neuroscientist by training working as a researcher studying mechanisms of the brain underlying higher-order cognition and decision making, with an interest in the interaction between cognition and social psychology. A Gates-Cambridge scholar, she did her PhD, studying the multiple demand network in the brain, at the University of Cambridge. This network is active in different demands, be it language, memory, math etc and handles many types of task difficulty. Prior to that, she did her Master’s in Neuroscience at International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS), Goettingen, Germany.

Purnima Mehrotra
Leads Measurement & Learning Vertical, CSBC
Purnima Mehrotra leads Measurement & Learning across various projects at the CSBC. She is also the lead on capacity-building programs in behavioural change for professionals and government personnel. She draws on her background in development communication, advertising, communication pedagogy, capacity building and evaluation research to fulfil her mandate at CSBC.
Currently, she is working with several partners in the entertainment-education domain to systematize concept testing, monitoring and feedback loops, impact evaluation, documentation and dissemination, such that content creation becomes evidence-driven with clear behavioural indicators as benchmarks of assessment. She is also working in partnership with key academic partners on developing a multi-disciplinary curriculum in behavioural change. Previously, Purnima was with UNICEF in the Communication for Development division, where she worked on the development and evaluation of a social and behavioural change communication strategy for maternal, infant and young child nutrition. Before UNICEF, Purnima was a Senior Researcher at the Population Council, where she led multi-year projects on evaluating a community mobilisation effort to improve RMNCH behaviours among most marginalized women and assessing the programmatic success of government schemes-related incentive payments directly to beneficiaries. Purnima has also taught graduate and undergraduate courses in communication and research methodology at the University of Kentucky and the University of Connecticut. She obtained her PhD in Communication from the University of Kentucky, USA and a post-graduate diploma in marketing communication from MICA, Ahmedabad.

Sharon Barnhardt
Director-Research, CSBC
Sharon Barnhardt is the Director – Research at the Centre for Social and Behavioural Change at Ashoka University. She is an applied development economist and behavioural scientist who uses experiments to study policy-relevant topics in India. Her behavioural research focuses on sanitation and malnutrition.
Sharon is also active in Executive Education for the policy sector, having taught Behavioural Economics at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration and program evaluation with J-PAL South Asia and CLEAR.
She is a Faculty Affiliate at the Jameel Abdul Latif Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA, Bonn). Her experience includes positions at the Centre for Experimental Social Sciences (Nuffield College’s lab in India), the Indian Institute of Management – Ahmedabad, IFMR Business School (at Krea University), the World Bank, and J.P. Morgan.
Sharon’s academic record comprises a Ph.D. from Harvard University, an M.P.A. from Princeton University, and a Bachelor’s from NYU.

Gautam Patel
Lead, State BIUs & Deputy Director, CSBC
Gautam Patel has worked with governments for many years, most recently with J-PAL South Asia, where he led partnerships with several state governments for evidence to be used to inform policy and to support scale-ups in government systems. Prior to joining J-PAL South Asia, Gautam worked for four years in the Chief Minister’s Office in Gujarat, and before that, in the Chief Minister’s Office in Rajasthan. Before settling in India, he worked for the government in the UK for education reform for 14-19-year-olds in Oxfordshire and at a youth club as a trained youth worker in the evenings. Gautam graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2007 with a Master’s of Development Management and a concentration in India’s development, history, and politics. He also holds a Master’s in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry from Oxford University (2003). Gautam enjoys running, origami, volunteering in the local community to support children to learn, and perhaps most of all playing to learn with his daughter.

Arindam Chakrabarti
Arindam Chakrabarti is an internationally-renowned scholar in Indian Philosophy, Aesthetics, Philosophy of Art, Buddhism, and Philosophy of Language. He is Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Ashoka University and Lenney Distinguished Professor of Comparative Philosophy of Mind at University of Hawaii Manoa.
He is the author or editor of 12 books in English, Bengali and Sanskrit and more than 100 research papers. Besides that, he has published ‘Denying Existence’ on the logic of singular negative existentials (Synthese Library Series in 1997), edited the Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Indian Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art (2016), and published seven collections of philosophical essays in Bangla, including “Thoughts on Food and Clothing” (2014) and “E Tonu Bhoriyaa: Philosophy of the Body and Illness”. He authored the first Sanskrit monograph on contemporary Western Epistemology in 2005. In 2019, the old Sanskrit College University of Kolkata awarded him the highest traditional title of “Mahamahopadhyaya”.
He earned his BA from Presidency College, Calcutta and his MA from Calcutta University and his D.Phil from Oxford. Apart from the University of Hawaii, Manoa, he has held academic positions at the University of Delhi, University College London and Stonybrook University.

Tridip Suhrud
Tridip Suhrud is a scholar, writer and translator who works on the intellectual and cultural history of modern Gujarat and the Gandhian intellectual tradition. As the director and chief editor of the Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust (2012-2017), he was responsible for creating the world’s largest digital archive on Gandhi- the Gandhi Heritage Portal. His books include the critical edition of Hind Swaraj, Narayan Desai’s four-volume biography of Gandhi, My Life is My Message, and the four-volume epic Gujarati novel, Sarasvatichandra. His recent works include a critical edition of Gandhi’s autobiography My Experiments with Truth in two languages; Gujarati and English and The Diary of Manu Gandhi (1943-44) and a compilation The Power of Non-Violent Resistance.
He is working on an eight-volume compendium of testimonies of indigo cultivators of Champaran and the second part of The Diary of Manu Gandhi (1946-1948). He is professor and Provost of CEPT University, and Director of Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad and serves as Chairman of the Governing Council of MICA.

Dr. Shagata Mukherjee
Lead, NITI Aayog Behavioural Insights Unit
PhD, Georgia State University
Dr. Shagata Mukherjee is the Lead – NITI Aayog Behavioural Insights Unit (BIU) and a Deputy Director at the Centre for Social and Behavioural Change at Ashoka University. Prior to this position, Shagata was an Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics. He was also a Visiting Fellow at the Mumbai School of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Mumbai and an Affiliated Faculty at the Centre for Experimental Social Sciences (CESS) Nuffield -FLAME. He is the recipient of the Vernon L. Smith Young Talent Award in Experimental Finance for his research on gender and microfinance and is a co-founder of the Mumbai Behavioural Network. Shagata holds a PhD in Behavioural and Experimental Economics from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University, a Master’s degree in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University and a B.Sc. in Economics from Presidency College.

Professor of English, Ashoka University
Director, Centre for Studies in Gender & Sexuality
Director of the PhD Programme in English
Ph.D. Tufts University
Madhavi Menon is an eminent theorist and scholar of gender, sexuality, politics, and identity.
She joined Ashoka University in 2013 as one of its founding faculty members. She went on to establish the university’s Centre for Gender & Sexuality Studies (CSGS), which is the first of its kind in India. Previously, she was a professor at Ithaca College and American University.
Most prominently known for her work on queer theory and Shakespeare, she has also edited the collection Shakesqueer and written three books on Shakespeare and sexuality. She is also most recently the author of Infinite Varieties: A History of Desire in India and Law of Desire: Rulings on Sex & Sexuality in India.
In addition to being Director of CSGS, she is the Director of the Ph.D. programme in English and Professor of English at Ashoka University.
