1 Facing up to complex issues

When we set up So-Mo in 2012, the world was facing some complex societal problems: it still is. We've got climate change, an ageing population, multiple chronic health problems, all at the meta-level. But even if we look at highways, transport and mobility, there are some big issues, such as modal shift, the future of mobility, safe systems, decarbonisation and, of course, road safety.

It was clear to us that public sector bodies and the government needed help generating new ideas and turning them into value for society, and what was really needed were new approaches and methods. Most of our client base comes from public sector bodies and we've been asked to help in areas related to things like transformation and behaviour change.

2 Understanding human needs

My background is participatory democracy, innovation theory and human-centred design. I was using my skills to help our partners understand human needs to help them develop transformation and change. But what was clear to me in 2012 was that, despite some of these new and more innovative methods, it felt like we were missing a trick. The main area that we seemed to be missing out on was some of the new insights, principles and knowledge that was emerging from related fields like behavioural science.

3 Doing data differently

I also felt that there were opportunities to do data differently. We were seeing a lot of partners using analysts, but it was really more descriptive analytics that were just telling you a bit more about the problem but weren't really allowing you to do much more.

I recruited a PhD behavioural scientist, Dr Holly Hope, and together we developed a framework called THISS that integrated these different methods into what we call behavioural design. This approach is adaptable to different types and scales of projects. We also offer training and coaching for people who want better insights into behaviours and how to change behaviour at scale.

4 Trialling changes in behaviour

Among the many projects that we’re currently evaluating is a large behavioural trial that we've been developing over the last couple of years, aimed at reducing unsafe crossings. We did all the analysis to understand the problem, followed last year by the intervention, and now we're measuring results. This work was interesting because we didn't seek to educate, inform, or persuade people to do things differently: we looked at the environment they were in, made some changes to the physical environment surrounding pedestrian crossings and ran a trial to understand the effect that's had on behaviour. The project involved two local authorities, the Road Safety Trust and various road safety partnerships, so it's been a big piece of work.

We're also currently working with Transport for West Midlands on a project that is about increasing use of seat belts amongst people from South Asian communities in the West Midlands.

5 Creating value and fresh meaning

We're hoping to produce an academic paper with UKHSA on Covid, which shows how integrating datasets like wastewater data with a behavioural lens brings more value and creates meaning out of data. And we're also in dialogue with Micromobility Partners about some topical issues such as e-scooters.

Nicola Wass was in conversation with Craig Thomas

Next Steps

Nicola Wass will be speaking on An innovative approach to stakeholder engagement at CIHT’s Emerging Professionals Conference on April 26.

By Nicola Wass, CEO of So-Mo