The Society for Persuasion and Technology (SPT) is an international, multidisciplinary, scholarly, society that provides an open forum for all those who are interested in the education, science and applications of Persuasive Technology.

Persuasive Technology is broadly defined as technology that is designed to change attitudes or behaviors of the users through persuasion and social influence, but not through coercion or deception. It includes persuasive communication pertaining to attitude and behavior change systems, attitude and behaviour change through technology, related to issues relevant to individuals, to public- and private-sector organizations, and to society at a local, regional, national, or global level.
For a more detailed definition of Persuasive Technology, also see Fogg, 2003 & IJsselsteijn et al., 2006 – For a perspective on theory and evaluation, see Spagnolli et al., 2016

SPT has a Steering Committee consisting of 11 members that provides oversight of the society. Steering Committee members are elected by the society members and serve a term of maximally 3 years. As for serving on the Steering Committee, a year starts at a year’s Persuasive conference, and ends at the next year’s conference. The core task of the Steering Committee is to guide the community such that the goals of the society are attained.

The Steering Committee:

  • Organizes the annual elections for the Steering Committee
  • The Steering Committee installs every year a Conference Organization Committee by appointing a general chair and a program chair. The appointed general chair and program chair organize the conference, and involve other chairs into the Conference Organization Committee. The Steering Committee assists the Conference Organizing Committee by providing advice on common practices (e.g., number of keynote speakers, order of parts of the conference).
  • The Steering Committee can nominate an individual as a member of the Conference Organization Committee and also as a new member for the Steering Committee.

The society aims for a diverse membership with members from academia, government, industry, consultancy, and non-governmental organizations. This diverse membership makes SPT a particularly relevant forum for the discussion of leading issues in Persuasive Technology. Basically, everyone who is (or has been) a participant of a yearly conference can become a member. All members have membership rights as described in the Mission Statement and Bylaws of the society. To apply for membership, a person fills out the application form provided by the Steering Committee.

The Board

Raian Ali
Raian AliChair
Professor, College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar
Khin Than Win
Khin Than Win Secretary
Professor at the University of Wollongong, Australia.
Harri Oinas-Kukkonen
Harri Oinas-KukkonenGeneral Member
Professor, Information Systems Science and Dean of Graduate School, University of Oulu, Finland
Luca Chittaro
Luca ChittaroGeneral Member
Professor, Human-Computer Interaction Lab, Department of Mathematics, Computer Science, and Physics, University of Udine, Italy
Kiemute Oyibo
Kiemute OyiboGeneral Member
Assistant Professor, Interactive Systems Research Group, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, York University, Canada
Roberto Legaspi
Roberto LegaspiGeneral Member
Research Scientist, Collaborative AI Lab, Human-centered AI Laboratories KDDI Research, Inc., Japan

Former Steering Committee Members

Sandra Burri-Gram Hansen
Sandra Burri-Gram HansenFormer General Member
Assistant Professor, E-Learning Lab, Center for User-driven innovation, Department of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University, Denmark
Lisette Van Gemert
Lisette Van GemertFormer General Member
Professor of Persuasive Health Technology at the University of Twente, The Netherlands.
Jaap Ham
Jaap HamFormer General Member
Associate Professor, Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands
Nilufar Baghaei
Nilufar BaghaeiFormer General Member
Senior Lecturer, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
Alexander Meschtscherjakov
Alexander MeschtscherjakovFormer General Member
Assistant Professor at the Center for Human-Computer Interaction and Computer Science Department of Salzburg University.
Rita Orji
Rita OrjiFormer Treasurer
Associate Professor at the Faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie University, Canada.

Our Goals

  • Establishing and strengthening persuasive technology.
  • Bring together individuals from diverse scientific disciplines and practitioners from different countries.
  • Foster professional collaboration.
  • Facilitate the dissemination of knowledge.
  • Encourage Applications.
  • Develop a curriculum on persuasive technology.
  • Provide services to its members.
  • Ensuring ethical scientific practices, application of Persuasive Technology knowledge.
  • Provide recognition.
  • Stimulate diverse participation to the community.

Service for members

Members of the Society for Persuasion and Technology are core to shape the future of Persuasive Technology research and applications.

All members have the following rights:

  • Right to propose initiatives to the Steering Committee
  • Discounts for the Persuasive conference and affiliated events
  • Access to website, including participation in the email list
  • This list will be continuously extended and the society is always looking for new initiative

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