Community Ideas Factory: Creative Behavioural Insights

The Community Ideas Factory: Creative Behavioural Insights (CIF-CBI) is a community-college partnership exploring the application of Behavioural Insights and Creative Design within the charitable sector of the Halton Region. The CIF-CBI is made possible by the College-Community Social Innovation Fund (CCSIF) of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

The CIF-CBI is directed by Dr. Michael J. McNamara (Sheridan College) and Dr. Nathaniel Barr (Sheridan College). Research collaborators include Dr. Joel Lopata (Sheridan College), Ethan Meyers (Ph.D. Student, University of Waterloo), Tony Tarantini (Sheridan College), and Marco Cibola (Sheridan College).

Community partners on the grant include the Oakville Community Foundation, The United Way Hamilton-Halton, Food for Life Canada, The Halton Environmental Network, and YMCA Oakville. Work with these partners is aimed at tackling some of the most pressing challenges facing non-profits in the region through the development of creative solutions grounded in the science of human behaviour and decision making. The research team is a mixture of social scientists and artists, and the projects will feature a unique hybrid of science and art/design. BEworks, a behavioural science firm, serves as an industry partner contributing insights, and the artistic and design talent at Sheridan will help bring behavioural insights to life in creative ways.