YA

Youval (Yuvi) Aberman

I study what moves people and bring them together through music and shared experiences.

Behavioral scientist · Product researcher · Musician · Facilitator

Get to know me Say hello

Working remotely · Eastern Time

Who I am

Yuvi Aberman seated in a warm room with books, plants, and a guitar

Understanding people. Creating connection.

I’m a behavioral scientist, product researcher, and musician interested in what moves people: what they care about, how they learn, and what helps them feel connected. I turn those questions into research that informs product strategy, design, and the experiences people have with technology.

I make music, facilitate workshops, and help people connect with music and with one another. As a researcher and a practitioner, I bring both careful inquiry and firsthand creative experience to the teams I work with.

How I work

Three expressions of the same curiosity.

01

Understand

Mixed methods research, interviews, experiments, and behavioral data to understand what matters to people, what moves them, and why.

02

Shape

Turning research into product strategy and development: better product decisions, clearer workflows, and shared direction.

03

Gather

Making music, facilitating groups, and designing experiences where strangers become a little less strange.

WHEN TO BRING ME IN

What are you working through?

Research, analysis, and facilitated conversations to help you decide what comes next.

01“Are we building something people actually care about?”
A user discovering a product that fits, represented by two connecting puzzle pieces.

I explore what matters to your audience, where your idea fits into their lives, and which assumptions need testing before you invest further.

Who this is good for

Founders shaping an early idea; small teams without a dedicated researcher; established teams exploring a new audience or offering.

What we could work on

  • Audience research: interview potential users about their motivations and current habits.
  • Concept testing: test your idea and identify likely barriers to adoption.
  • Assumption mapping: examine where the team’s assumptions differ from the evidence.

What you leave with

A clearer audience, a map of needs and barriers, and a prioritized plan for testing your idea.

02“People try it. Why aren’t they coming back?”
A straight planned user journey beside a winding real-life path.

I connect users’ experiences with behavioral data to understand where people get stuck, lose motivation, or stop finding value.

Who this is good for

Teams with a live product and questions about adoption or retention. Especially relevant to experiences built around repeated use, learning, creativity, or participation.

What we could work on

  • User interviews: talk with people who stayed, left, or never got started.
  • Audience segmentation: identify groups with different needs and barriers.
  • Experimental testing: design experiments to test changes to onboarding and ongoing use.

What you leave with

A map of key friction points, meaningful audience differences, and an experiment plan for the changes worth testing.

03“We have the research. What should we do with it?”
A bearded researcher with glasses and a bun examining charts and tangled evidence.

I review the research you already have, assess what the evidence supports, and make the findings easier to understand and use.

Who this is good for

Growing teams with scattered studies or dashboards; leaders facing conflicting findings; organizations that need an independent review before making a consequential decision.

What we could work on

  • Research audit: review methods, assumptions, evidence quality, and gaps.
  • Analysis and synthesis: connect findings across studies and datasets.
  • Data visualization: turn complex results into clear charts and visual explanations.

What you leave with

An assessment of what you can trust, decision-ready visuals, and recommendations for what to do or investigate next.

04“Are we even solving the same problem?”
Four people around a table imagining four different directions.

I make different perspectives and assumptions visible, then help your team work toward a direction people understand and can act on.

Who this is good for

Founding teams making shared decisions; cross-functional teams with competing priorities; leaders navigating a shift in strategy or structure who want meaningful input from their people.

What we could work on

  • Stakeholder interviews: understand priorities and points of tension.
  • Workshop design and facilitation: bring people together around the decision you need to make.
  • Decision framing: clarify disagreements, trade-offs, and the evidence still needed.

What you leave with

Documented priorities, clarity about unresolved questions, and agreed next steps with owners.

Have a question that doesn’t fit neatly here?

Book a curiosity session ↗

Selected experience

Research that leads somewhere.

Meta

2024–present

GenAI Research Collaborator · Behavioral Science Expert

I use mixed-methods research to study human–AI interactions, evaluation quality, and the real-world friction experienced by expert evaluators. My work combines behavioral judgment, qualitative insight, and data analysis across large-scale evaluation programs.

BEworks

2022–2024

Mixed Methods Researcher

I led behavioral research for a wide variety of clients, combining interviews, surveys, experiments, and quantitative analysis. I translated findings into product and communication decisions, and designed workshops and brainstorming sessions to help teams put the research to use.

  • Helped inform concert venue design, with a focus on making the experience more enjoyable for the people attending.
  • Helped teams approach organizational restructuring with greater excitement and less anxiety.

University of Toronto

2016–2022

Doctoral Researcher · Experimental Psychology

I designed and led experimental research on how people learn, make decisions, and understand one another. I studied what motivates people to act pro-environmentally, when they feel connected to their groups, and what helps them feel empowered.

These questions also inform how I facilitate groups and design workshops: how can people feel that they belong, that their contribution matters, and that they can act? I mentored dozens of undergraduate students in experimental design and scientific thinking.

Independent consulting

2017–present

Research Methods & Behavioral Science Consultant

I advise academic and industry teams on user behavior, research design, data analysis, and the interpretation of evidence.

  • Helped startups rethink who their users are and question the assumptions guiding their research, including advising a pharmaceutical company on its research direction.
  • Coauthored a critical review of psychedelic microdosing research, examining the quality of the evidence and how future studies could improve.
Yuvi playing guitar while participants sing and make music together in a community song circle

Creative practice

Music, learning, and connection.

I’m a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and music educator. I also compose and score music. I’ve played in numerous bands throughout my life and taught music for most of my life. A recent project of mine is UV and the Rays, a Toronto psychedelic surf-rock trio.

I facilitate community song circles and am developing my own approach to connecting people through sound. I also create improvised music through live looping, allowing pieces to emerge in the moment.

My facilitation practice extends beyond music to workshops, men’s circles, and conflict resolution. I’m interested in how people listen to one another, find common ground, and participate more fully.

I maintain a small music education practice focused on music theory, ear training, and finding joy through making music.

Book an intro with me

Listen to UV and the Rays

More recordings, musical experiments, and gatherings will grow here.

A working toolkit

Research

Mixed methods · Interviews · Surveys · Usability · Behavioral experiments · Market research · AI annotation

Analysis

Insight synthesis · SQL · R · Python · Statistics · Psychometrics · Qualtrics

Music

Music production and recording · Sound design · Songwriting · Music scoring · Music education

Education

PhD & MA, Experimental Psychology, University of Toronto
BA Psychology, Summa Cum Laude, Columbia University

Other interests

Let’s make something meaningful

Have a question worth exploring?

I’m especially interested in work at the intersection of human behavior, thoughtful technology, creativity, and connection.

I also maintain an independent practice in consulting, music production/mentoring, and workshop facilitation. Get in touch to explore a project or learn together.

Book an intro Email me LinkedIn