Jiaying Zhao

Why you should listen

Jiaying Zhao (known as "JZ") has pioneered behavioral interventions to encourage climate action, recycling, composting and biodiversity conservation. An early immigrant from Hangzhou, China, she ventured to Dublin, Ireland, to pursue her BA and MA in cognitive science and completed her PhD in cognitive psychology at Princeton University. She currently serves as an associate professor and Canada Research Chair at the University of British Columbia, working in the department of psychology and the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability.

Zhao is a Killam Research Prize recipient and a faculty affiliate at the Center for Effective Global Action at University of California, Berkeley. She has advised a dozen government organizations, including the Privy Council Office, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Financial Consumer Agency of Canada and Policy Horizons Canada.