Launch of the Flagship Capacity Building Behavioural Insights Academy (BI Academy) - its Role in Enhancing Institutional Cooperation and Multilateralism

The Behavioural Insights Academy (BI Academy), the flagship training programme of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) International Hub on Behavioural Insights to Counter-Terrorism (BI Hub), was officially launched during the Third United Nations Counter-Terrorism Week at the United Nations Headquarters. The event gathered a diverse audience from Member States, UN Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact entities, academia and civil society.

The BI Academy represents a significant outcome of the ongoing partnership between the State of Qatar, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, and UNOCT. The training programme is the first of its kind to feature capacity-building in behavioural insights tailored for the international community of practice in preventing and countering violent extremism (PCVE). It aims to equip senior-level personnel with the necessary theoretical knowledge and practical skills to integrate behavioural insight approaches into their PCVE-interventions from their inception to implementation and measuring their impact.

During the event, Mr. Vladimir Voronkov, Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism, and H.E. Sheikha Alya Ahmed Saif Al Thani, Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations, emphasized the importance of leveraging behavioural science and technology in addressing the evolving challenges of countering terrorism. 

Representatives from the Search for Common Ground and the Berghof Foundation shared their firsthand experiences with the BI Academy, showcasing how they successfully implemented behavioural insights in building resilience to radicalization and countering violent extremism.
The event contributed to promoting innovative, data-driven approaches to capacity-building and collaboration among diverse counter-terrorism actors. It also fostered multi-stakeholder dialogue, and identified good practices in countering terrorism and preventing violent extremism.