Dr Fernanda Mata

Research Fellow

Psychologist, finance specialist, innovator

Fernanda is a Research Fellow in the Health & Social Portfolio, where she applies behavioural science to financial wellbeing, social inclusion and sustainable finance.

Since joining BehaviourWorks Australia (BWA) in 2019, Fernanda has contributed to projects with a range of partners across industry and the community sector.

Her research focuses on:

Improving quality of life by strengthening financial wellbeing and building confidence in retirement
Increasing social inclusion by supporting individuals and groups to fully participate in society
Advancing sustainable finance by enabling inclusive transitions to a low carbon, resilient economy

To address these challenges, she is interested in developing and testing behavioural interventions that respond to the different needs of audience segments, to generate evidence that can guide the design of policies and relevant initiatives.

Fernanda holds a PhD in Psychology from Monash University, where she explored the cognitive and neural mechanisms of different types of decision-making, including decision making under uncertainty and effort-based choices. Before joining BWA, she worked as a Research Consultant in the market research sector, applying behavioural insights to consumer behaviour and decision-making.