EABA2026 Summer School: BA. Creating a Recognised, Regulated Profession. Speaker: Dr Maggie Hoerger

Title: Behaviour Analysis in the UK: The Process of Creating a Recognised, Regulated Profession Abstract:  This talk outlines the development, current status, and future direction of behaviour analysis regulation in the United Kingdom by the UK Society for Behaviour Analysis (UK-SBA). As a voluntary professional body, the UK-SBA maintains a register of practitioners accredited by the Professional Standards Authority, ensuring safe, ethical, and competent practice. Achieving this recognition required several years of consultation, application, public scrutiny, and sustained effort from a board composed of volunteer members. A central focus of the UK-SBA has been the creation of standards that reflect the specific contingencies of UK practice. Rather than adopting externally developed frameworks such as those of the BACB, the UK-SBA established its own supervision model, emphasising both technical competence and interpersonal effectiveness to support collaboration across professional contexts. Its ethics code similarly reflects UK-specific priorities, including a clear stance on neurodiversity, alongside a formal complaints process to protect service users. These changes require ongoing consultation and communication with both members and consumers of behaviour analysis.  With the register now exceeding 1,000 members, the UK-SBA’s progress highlights the power of collaborative professional governance. Looking ahead, key challenges include expanding the profession while maintaining high standards and transitioning from a largely volunteer-led organisation to a financially sustainable body with dedicated staff. Bio Dr Maggie Hoerger is a consultant behaviour analyst with over 30 years’ experience applying behaviour science across education, health, and organisational settings. She taught and led MSc programmes in Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) and Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) at Bangor University for 25 years, before recently leaving academia to practise full-time. She is currently Chief Behaviour Scientist at Lux Consulting, where she supports behaviour science in diverse industries through organisational and behaviour management. Alongside this role, she works closely with practitioners across North Wales to support high-quality ABA and PBS within multidisciplinary teams. Dr Hoerger has published extensively on embedding behaviour science in complex systems and is President of the UK Society for Behaviour Analysis