Elina Halonen
- Sep 27
- 5 min read

Can ontologies transform how we design interventions across fields?

In our previous posts, we explored how ontologies provide a structured way to organise behavioural science and tackle its complexities. But here’s the real question: can they actually drive change in the real world?

Ontologies aren’t just theoretical tools—they offer a practical framework that can be used to design and scale interventions across diverse fields, from public health campaigns to consumer behaviour strategies. In this post, we’ll look at real-world applications of ontologies and explore how they can be transformative in areas like business, healthcare, and technology. We’ll also discuss how ontologies help tailor interventions to specific populations and make them scalable.

How are ontologies reshaping behaviour change across different sectors?

The power of ontologies lies in their flexibility. While they were initially designed to standardise research in behavioural science, their potential applications go far beyond academia. Ontologies are already being used in public health, healthcare, and technology to design more effective interventions.

For example, public health professionals use ontologies to map out behaviour change techniques (BCTs). When developing interventions for issues like smoking cessation or improving vaccination rates, ontologies help health professionals organise and categorise the techniques most likely to work. By connecting successful past interventions with current strategies, ontologies make it easier to replicate success and adapt it to new contexts.

In the tech world, ontologies can be used to design user experiences. Take apps like fitness trackers, which need to encourage habit formation. Ontologies can map out the behavioural triggers that lead users to engage consistently with the app, allowing designers to tailor features that enhance user retention.

Can ontologies improve tech design and user experiences?

Tech companies are increasingly using ontologies to enhance user experience (UX) by mapping out user behaviours and interactions. Consider a fitness app: the goal is to get users to engage regularly with the app, form new habits, and ultimately achieve their fitness goals. But habit formation is a complex process, shaped by cues, rewards, motivation, and social support.

Ontologies help UX designers break down this process into key components and relationships. For example, they can categorise the factors that influence users to open the app (e.g., notifications, daily goals) and identify which triggers are most effective for encouraging engagement. By structuring these insights, designers can refine their app’s features to better align with user behaviour.

This structured approach helps companies anticipate user needs, making the app more intuitive and user-friendly. Ontologies also help tech companies scale their products across different markets. By adapting the same behavioural model to different cultures or demographics, they can ensure that the product resonates with diverse user bases while maintaining consistency in design.

How can ontologies be used to tailor interventions to diverse audiences?

One of the most exciting aspects of ontologies is their ability to adapt interventions to different populations. Whether in public health, business, or technology, no intervention can be one-size-fits-all. What works in one context might not work in another due to differences in culture, socioeconomic factors, or even geographic location.

For example, public health campaigns promoting vaccination might work well in one country but fall flat in another. An ontology helps public health professionals account for these differences by structuring how various factors (e.g., cultural beliefs, access to healthcare, social norms) interact with behaviour. This allows them to tailor their messaging, outreach strategies, and incentives to match the unique needs of the population.

In business, companies could use ontologies to customise marketing strategies for different regions or customer demographics. A global company might use an ontology to ensure its product messaging aligns with the cultural values of each target market. For instance, a company selling eco-friendly products in Europe might emphasise sustainability, while in another region, the focus might shift to cost savings.

Ontologies allow for this kind of localised intervention design, ensuring that strategies remain both effective and relevant, no matter the audience.

How do ontologies help scale behaviour change interventions across sectors?

Scaling interventions—whether in business, tech, or public health—requires consistency, but also adaptability. Ontologies offer a framework that allows for both. By creating a standardised structure for behaviour (e.g., what drives purchase decisions or health-related actions), companies and organisations can replicate successful interventions across different contexts with minimal modifications.

For example, a public health campaign designed to promote handwashing in schools can be scaled to other regions by adapting the ontology that structures the behaviour. The campaign might add factors like water availability or cultural attitudes toward hygiene in different settings, but the core ontology remains the same.

Similarly, a business could take a marketing campaign that worked well in one country and apply it in another by using the same ontology to structure consumer behaviour. This approach ensures that interventions are flexible enough to adapt to new contexts, but still grounded in a consistent, evidence-based framework.

In essence, ontologies allow interventions to be both scalable and context-specific—the ideal combination for any large-scale behaviour change effort.

The Practical Power of Ontologies Across Fields

Ontologies are far more than academic tools—they provide a practical, scalable framework for designing interventions that work across different sectors and populations. Whether you’re in public health, business, or technology, ontologies offer a structured way to organise data, predict behaviour, and tailor interventions to specific audiences. However, as we’ve discussed in previous posts, ontologies aren’t without their challenges. While they help structure behaviour, they must be used carefully to avoid oversimplification and ensure they reflect the complexities of human behaviour.

As we move forward, it’s clear that ontologies have the potential to transform how we approach behaviour change—offering a scalable, flexible tool for addressing complex issues across sectors. The key is to keep refining these ontologies, ensuring they remain relevant, adaptable, and grounded in the real-world contexts where behaviour happens.

Can ontologies transform how we design interventions across fields?

How are ontologies reshaping behaviour change across different sectors?

Can ontologies improve tech design and user experiences?

How can ontologies be used to tailor interventions to diverse audiences?

How do ontologies help scale behaviour change interventions across sectors?

The Practical Power of Ontologies Across Fields

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