Nadhirah Ibrahim
Lead Researcher, Behavioural Insights, ICMR
Nadhirah Ibrahim is the Lead Researcher for Behavioural Insights at the Institute for Capital Market Research Malaysia (ICMR), where she specialises in applying behavioural economics and experimental research to understand financial decision-making and inform evidence-based policymaking.
Her work focuses on bridging the gap between what people know, intend and ultimately do, particularly in areas of investor behaviour, financial well-being and retirement planning. At ICMR, she leads behavioural research initiatives that examine the psychological, cognitive and contextual factors shaping financial decisions, translating these insights into practical policy recommendations and interventions. Her expertise spans behavioural diagnostics, experimental design, impact evaluation and the application of behavioural insights to improve policy and programme effectiveness.
Beyond research, Nadhirah actively contributes to industry dialogues, conferences and capacity-building initiatives, sharing practical approaches to embedding behavioural insights into policymaking and programme design. She is particularly passionate about advancing the use of experimentation and evidence-based evaluation to ensure that policies are designed around how people actually behave, rather than how they are assumed to behave.
Prior to joining ICMR, Nadhirah served at the Securities Commission Malaysia, where she was among the founding members of its Behavioural Insights Unit and contributed to the Financial Education Network (FEN), Malaysia’s national platform for advancing financial literacy. She subsequently joined the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) as a Behavioural Insights Analyst, undertaking policy research on retirement solutions, financial literacy and behavioural approaches to policy design.
Nadhirah holds a Bachelor of Analytical Economics (Hons) from Multimedia University (MMU) and has completed the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)’s programme on Designing and Running Randomized Evaluations.
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