Sarah Ashcroft-Jones, DPhil

  • Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Health Policy and Management
  • Lecturer in Health Policy and Management
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Overview

Dr. Sarah Ashcroft-Jones is an associate research scientist at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health with a focus on applied decision-making. She earned an MA in Psychological and Behavioural Sciences from the University of Cambridge and an MSc in Psychological Methods from the University of Oxford, where she also completed her DPhil in Experimental Psychology funded by the UK Medical Research Council. Her doctoral research explored computational models of metacognitive decision confidence in categorization judgments.

Currently, Dr. Ashcroft-Jones investigates the individual and structural factors influencing financial and health decisions, focusing on interventions aimed at reducing social inequality. Her international work includes collaborations with academic institutions like Cambridge University, where she is a Research Associate at the Centre for Business Research, and policy consultancy with the World Bank’s Mind, Behavior, and Development Unit.

Her interests bridge psychology, behavioral economics, and public policy, with a dedication to translating data-driven research into actionable insights that enhance societal well-being on a global scale. Her research spans multiple countries and disciplines, resulting in high-impact publications in leading journals such as Nature, Nature Human Behavior, and Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

Academic Appointments

  • Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Health Policy and Management
  • Lecturer in Health Policy and Management

Credentials & Experience

Education & Training

  • MA, 2017 Psychological and Behavioural Sciences, University of Cambridge
  • MSc, 2019 Psychological Research, University of Oxford
  • Experimental Psychology, 2023 DPhil, University of Oxford

Honors & Awards

  • 2025 Best Poster at MPI for Human Development, Berlin
  • 2022 UKRI DTP Research Stay at Cambridge University
  • 2021 UKRI COVID DTP Studentship Extension
  • 2019 UKRI Medical Research Council DTP Studentship
  • 2019 The Humphrey Dissertation Prize
  • 2017 Alfred Hall Prior Scholarships & Wright Prizes

Research

Selected Publications

Ruggeri, K., Valenzuela-Catar´ı, G., Polemiti, E., Abderahaman, G., Adawi, T. R., Agopian,
T., . . . Ashcroft-Jones, S., Pelica. Global well-being in 2025: A multidimensional analysis
of mental, financial, and social health in 92 countries. In Press (2026)
Preprint DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/3jydav1 (2025)

Azevedo, F., Friedel, E., Ashcroft-Jones, S., Korbmacher, M., Lloyd, K., Mudahera,
D. R., Krasteva, A., Resulbegoviq, H., Andreolli, G., Micheli, L., & Silverstein, P. . “6:
How to. . . develop and use Open Educational Resources”. In Teaching Open Science.
Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing (2026)
DOI: 10.4337/9781035359066.00014

van den Akker, O. R., Bakker, M., van Assen, M. A., Pennington, C. R., Verweij, L.,
Elsherif, M. M., ... Ashcroft-Jones, S., ... & Wicherts, J. M. The potential of preregistration
in psychology: Assessing preregistration producibility and preregistration-study
consistency. Psychological Methods (2024)
DOI: 10.1037/met0000687

Ruggeri, K., Stock, F., Haslam, S.A., ... Ashcroft-Jones, S., ... et al. A synthesis of
evidence for policy from behavioural science during COVID-19. Nature (2023).
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06840-9

Ashcroft-Jones, S.+, Ruggeri, K.+, Abate Romero Landini, G. et al. The persistence
of cognitive biases in financial decisions across economic groups. Sci Rep 13, 10329, (2023).
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-36339-2

Ruggeri, K., Tutuska, O.S., ... & Ashcroft-Jones, S. The psychology and policy of overcoming
economic inequality. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, (2023).
DOI: 10.1017/S0140525X23001103

Pownall, M., Azevedo, F., K¨onig, L. M., Slack, H. R., Evans, T. R., Flack, Z., ... Ashcroft-
Jones., S., ... & FORRT. Teaching open and reproducible scholarship: a critical review
of the evidence base for current pedagogical methods and their outcomes. Royal Society
Open Science, 10(5), 221255, (2023).
DOI: 10.1098/rsos.221255

Buabang, E. K., Ashcroft-Jones, S., Esteban Serna, C., Kastelic, K., Kveder, J., Lambertus,
A., M¨uller, T. S. Validation and Measurement Invariance of the Personal Financial
Wellness Scale: A Multinational Study in 7 Countries, European Journal of Psychological
Assessment, (2022).
DOI: 10.1027/1015-5759/a000750

Parsons, S., Azevedo, F., Elsherif, M.M., ... Ashcroft-Jones, S., ... et al. A communitysourced
glossary of open scholarship terms, Nat Hum Behav. (2022).
DOI: 10.1038/s41562-021-01269-4

Ruggeri, K., Panin, A., Vdovic, M., ... Ashcroft-Jones, S., ... et al. The globalizability
of temporal discounting. Nat Hum Behav, (2022).
DOI: 10.1038/s41562-022-01392-w

Ruggeri, K., Ve´ckalov, B., Bojani´c, L., ... Ashcroft-Jones, S., ... et al. The general
fault in our fault lines. Nat Hum Behav, (2021).
DOI: 10.1038/s41562-021-01092-x

Eckstein, M., Zietlow, A., Gerchen, M.F., ... Ashcroft-Jones, S., ... et al., The NeMo
real-time fMRI neurofeedback study: protocol of a randomised controlled clinical intervention
trial in the neural foundations of mother–infant bonding, BMJ Open, (2019).
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-027747

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