Interview with Eliana Polemeni
- Merle van den Akker
- 2 hours ago
- 7 min read
Behavioural Science is a rapidly expanding field and everyday new research is being developed in academia, tested and implemented by practitioners in financial organisations, development agencies, government ‘nudge’ units and more. This interview is part of a series interviewing prominent people in the field. And in today's interview the answers are provided by Eliana Polemeni.
Eliana is currently a Director in the Behavioral Science Center at Ipsos, where she applies a behavioral science lens to market research. Previously, she was a Principal Researcher in the Behavioral Science Department at the Booth School of Business. She received her PhD in Management and Organizations from the Kellogg School of Management. Her dissertation focused on beliefs about fulfillment at work, and how those beliefs can be miscalibrated.
Who or what got you into behavioural science?
I’ve been interested in psychology for a long time. During my undergraduate degree, I worked in a number of psychology labs and became really fascinated by how people make decisions and how much behaviour is shaped by the environment. After undergrad, I worked in marketing research for about three years, which was a big turning point for me. I enjoyed the work, but it also made me realise that I wanted to understand the research behind it more deeply and develop the skills to conduct that kind of research myself.
That’s what pushed me toward a PhD. I did my doctorate in management and organisations, which focused heavily on organisational behaviour—how people make decisions and behave within organisational structures. Even though it sat in a business school, my training was very close to social psychology. I worked with social psychologists, read social psychology journals, and later did a postdoc at the University of Chicago, again working closely with faculty who had social psychology backgrounds.
After my PhD, I moved into applied behavioural science in industry. I now work as a behavioural scientist at Ipsos, where I take behavioural research and apply it to real-world contexts, particularly in marketing. Looking back, the path feels quite coherent: academic training in psychology and decision-making, followed by a move into applied work where that research can actually be used.
What is the accomplishment you are proudest of as a behavioural scientist? And what would you still like to achieve?
What I’m most proud of so far is being able to bring my specific academic expertise into an applied setting in a meaningful way. I work in a team of behavioural scientists, most of whom have PhDs in different areas of psychology—marketing, social psychology, cognitive psychology—and I’m the only one with a management and organisations background. That means each of us brings something slightly different to the table, almost acting as a representative for the area we trained in.
For me, it’s been really rewarding to take theories and concepts that I spent years learning during my PhD and see how they can be used in applied contexts. It feels good to be a subject-matter expert in that particular domain and to see how it complements the expertise of others on the team. I value that diversity of perspectives a lot, and I think it leads to better work overall.
Looking ahead, what I still want to achieve is to keep behavioural science central to whatever I do. As my career develops, I’d love to see more opportunities for behavioural scientists to work not just in industry, but also in policy and social impact spaces, particularly around sustainability. The landscape is changing quickly, so it’s hard to be very specific, but my hope is that behavioural science continues to expand into areas where it can have meaningful, long-term impact.
With all your experience, what skills would you say are needed to be a behavioural scientist? Are there any recommendations you would make?
One of the biggest advantages of having a PhD is the training in how to conduct and critically evaluate research. There really aren’t many other contexts where you spend such a long, intensive period learning how to ask good questions, design studies, and think carefully about bias and measurement. Even though I don’t run experiments in the same way I did in academia, those skills carry over directly into my current role.
I spend a lot of time working with surveys and qualitative research now, and the ability to think critically about question wording, structure, and interpretation is crucial. A PhD also trains you to recognise limitations in data and to avoid overclaiming, which is incredibly important in applied settings. Beyond technical skills, communication is key—being able to translate complex theories into insights that are clear, actionable, and relevant to a non-academic audience is what ultimately makes behavioural science useful in industry.
How do you think behavioural science will develop (in the next 10 years)?
I’m optimistic about the future of behavioural science, particularly in applied contexts, but I don’t think it’s going to be a straightforward trajectory. My hope is that behavioural science becomes more embedded across industry, government, and policy, rather than existing only in specialised teams. Ideally, behavioural thinking becomes part of how decisions are made more generally, not something that’s consulted only when there’s extra budget or time.
I’m especially interested in the potential for behavioural science to contribute to social impact areas, like sustainability and environmental behaviour. A lot of the relevant research already exists in the academic literature, but it hasn’t always been translated into actionable interventions. I think there’s a big opportunity there to connect micro-level behaviour change with larger structural and economic forces.
That said, there are limits. Behavioural science isn’t a solution to everything, and many societal problems are driven by geopolitical, economic, and structural factors that go well beyond individual behaviour. The challenge for the field will be to integrate behavioural insights responsibly—adding value without overstating what behavioural science can realistically achieve.
What are the greatest challenges being faced by behavioural science, right now?
One major challenge is that behavioural science is still often perceived as a luxury rather than a necessity. In many organisations, it’s brought in only if there’s extra budget, and behavioural scientists have to spend a lot of time justifying their value. That means constantly explaining why behavioural insight improves decision-making, even though decisions are often made without it.
Another challenge is scale. Behavioural science is a highly specialised field, and there simply aren’t that many people with deep training. The perception that a PhD is only useful for academia can also act as a bottleneck, discouraging people from entering the field. Over time, as more applied career paths become visible, that may change—but for now, it limits how embedded behavioural science can realistically become.
What advice would you give to young behavioural scientists or those looking to progress into the field?
For the kind of role I have, I do think a PhD is extremely helpful, and I would encourage people who are interested in applied behavioural science to consider it seriously. It gives you flexibility to move between behavioural science, UX research, and related roles that combine psychology and research.
That said, it’s not the only path. There are now some master’s programmes in behavioural science, and people can also enter the field through adjacent roles. It’s just harder without a PhD and often requires more time and experience. My advice would be to be realistic about what kind of role you want and to choose a path that gives you the skills and credibility needed to get there.
What is your biggest frustration with the field as it stands?
One of my biggest frustrations is how much psychological richness can be lost when theories are distilled too narrowly. In academia, there’s sometimes a tendency to reduce theories to explain very specific phenomena, which can strip away their broader relevance. In applied behavioural science, I’d love to see more effort put into understanding which types of interventions work across different domains, rather than endlessly narrowing theories. There’s still so much we don’t know about human behaviour, and I’m more excited by work that tries to explain and impact a wider range of behaviours.
If you weren’t a behavioural scientist, what would you be doing?
I think I probably would have ended up in psychology in some form regardless. At one point, I seriously considered becoming a clinical psychologist. If I hadn’t gone down that path, I could also imagine myself as a lawyer. There’s something similar in the way you analyse complex information, look for gaps, and build arguments. At the core, I’ve always been interested in understanding people and how they think, so I suspect that would have shown up in my career one way or another.
How do you apply behavioural science in your personal life?
I do try to apply behavioural science in my own life, though not always perfectly. My dissertation focused on motivation, and that’s something I actively think about when making decisions for myself or interacting with others. I try to be more intentional about how choices are framed, both for myself and for people around me.
For example, I’m very aware of things like choice overload, so if I’m trying to help someone make a decision, I’ll deliberately limit the number of options I present. It’s less about manipulating people and more about shaping the environment in a way that makes decisions easier. That said, a lot of behavioural science works best when it’s subtle, and once you start consciously overthinking it, some of that power can be lost.
Which other behavioural scientists would you love to read an interview by?
Someone who was very influential for me when I was considering leaving academia is Matt Wallaert. He was incredibly generous with his time and very open about what it means to be a behavioural scientist in industry. I think people like him play an important role in the field because there isn’t a clear script for how to do behavioural science outside academia, and having mentors who are willing to share their experiences makes a big difference.
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions Eliana!
As I said before, this interview is part of a larger series which can also be found here on the blog. Make sure you don't miss any of those, nor any of the upcoming interviews!
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