BeCHANGE
Social Marketing / Health Communication / Health Education / Health Behavior Change / Health Promotion and Disease Prevention / Social and Preventive Medicine / Behavioral Medicine / Planetary Health / Human health / Public Health
The BeCHANGE Research Group conducts research in determinants of behaviors and strategies to change behavior.
The primary focus of our work is on health-related behaviors and behaviors that intersect and effect health, environment, and sustainability.
Led by Professor L. Suzanne Suggs (Full Professor of Social Marketing), BeCHANGE is part of two institutes at the Università della Svizzera italiana (Lugano Switzerland): the Institute of Public Communication and the Institute of Public Health.
The BeCHANGE team

Prof. Dr. L. Suzanne Suggs, PhD, MSc, CHES
Profesor of Social Marketing

Dr. Natalie Rangelov, PhD, MA
Post-doctoral researcher

Nathlay Aya Pastrana, MSc
Doctoral Student

Andrej Vujkovac, MD
Doctoral Student
Maximilian Witz, MSc
Research Assistant for SOPHYA2 study and Administrative Coordinator of the SSPH+ Lugano Summer School
Projects
Vaccination behaviors
examines determinants of hesitancy and uptake and communication effects


Games 4 Health
effects of online games on childrens knowledge and attitues and intentions about healthy nutrition recommendtaions

Our latest blog posts
“To prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance, but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society”. (L.D. Fink, 2018)
This is about the future: copied from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/15/business/dealbook/blackrock-laurence-fink-letter.html "Laurence D. Fink, founder and chief executive of the investment firm BlackRock, is going to inform business leaders that their companies...
new publication: children eat healthier when at home with family
Suggs, L.S., Della Bella, S., Rangelov, N., and Marque-Vidal, P. (2018). Is it better at home with my family? The effects of people and place on children’s eating behavior. Appetite. 121: 111e118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2017.11.002.
Prof. Suggs delivers commencement speech to USI CommSci doctoral students
On the 6th of November 2017, the newly appointed Coordinator of the Communication Science Doctoral College, Prof. Suggs addressed graduates, staff, family members and community members in a speech to the outgoing doctoral students. You can read the speech here: here.
Nathaly Aya Pastrana wins best paper award @ World Social Marketing Conference
BeCHANGE doctoral student, Ms. Nathaly Aya Pastrana, won the best student paper award at the World Social Marketing Conference 2017. Held this May in Washington DC, the WSMC brought together approximately 550 academics, practitioners, and policy-makers for mutual...
Online Games to Improve Children’s Knowledge of Nutrition and Physical Activity Guidelines
The BeCHANGE team just published our work on Online Games to Improve Children’s Knowledge of Nutrition and Physical Activity Guidelines in the Global Journal of Health Sciences, published by the Canadian Center of Science and Education. See the full text at:...
Nathaly Aya Pastrana goes to Peru for field research
Ms. Nathaly Aya Pastrana, Ph.D. student of Social Marketing, joined the Center for Excellence in Chronic Diseases (CRONICAS) at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia located in Lima, Peru, to conduct qualitative research for the COHESION Project and for her Ph.D....