The 2018/2019 NSTF-Water Research Commission Award was awarded to Prof Martine Visser of the University of Cape Town (UCT) ‘for spearheading a project with the City of Cape Town in which behavioural nudges were successfully used to conserve water during the water crisis’.

Prof Visser is Director: Environmental Policy Research Unit, Professor of Economics, School of Economics; and Research Chair: African Climate Development Initiative at UCT. The award recognises her role in a project that began with a city-wide randomised control trial in which households were motivated to save water via nudges in their monthly utility bills. As the drought worsened, this expanded into ongoing strategic collaborations with the City to aid in the design and analysis of specific crisis interventions and capacity building.

Novel outcomes from the study included findings on the longevity of nudges, differences in effect depending on the household’s profile (low/high-income) and a fresh approach to academic–government collaborations in tackling societal issues. (Source: UCT News, 28 June 2019)