Dr. Jiaying Zhao (she/her/hers) is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at UBC, Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Sustainability, and UBC Sauder Distinguished Scholar.

Dr. Zhao is a faculty affiliate of the Stone Centre for Wealth and Inequality at the Vancouver School of Economics and of the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Zhao is also an invited researcher at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at MIT. She is a member of Canada’s Financial Literacy Research Sub-Committee, Research Advisory Group of the OECD’s International Network on Financial Education, and a public profile expert with the UNESCO Inclusive Policy Lab.

Dr. Zhao’s research aims to use psychological principles to design behavioural solutions to address financial and environmental sustainability challenges. Specifically, she examines how resource scarcity impacts human cognition and behaviour; what interventions are effective at alleviating the cognitive burdens in the poor; how to encourage recycling and composting behaviour; and how to promote public actions on climate change.

Visit Dr. Zhao’s lab website for a complete list of publications.

• King Charles III Coronation Medal (2025)
• UBC Killam Research Prize (2020)
• Canada Research Chair (2014)