Who we are
A specialised team, not a large consultancy
We combine research excellence with implementation experience, so we can hold to academic standards while delivering practical answers to real-world challenges. Based in Athens, working across Europe and the MENA region.
What drives us
Guesswork and good intentions are not enough
Evidence-based policy is not optional. With constrained budgets and complex social challenges, governments and businesses need to know what actually works, for whom, and why.
Our founding principle is that good policy requires both a qualitative understanding of human behaviour and quantitative proof of what works.
Our story
From research boutique to research and innovation firm
2019
Founded to bridge academic rigour and real-world policy
Ethos Lab was established in Athens by Dr Georgios Melios and Nikolaos Melios to bring behavioural economics and econometric methods to European policy challenges. Cutting-edge research was not reaching the governments and businesses that needed it most, across Europe and the MENA region.
Early work
Welfare and evidence first
How do we measure social welfare beyond GDP? Which interventions actually reduce inequality? Our early projects combined econometric analysis with behavioural diagnosis, with businesses, government bodies and universities. We did not assume our approaches would succeed. We measured.
Tools
Building our own tools
We co-developed the Reframing Welfare Index with KMOP Policy Centre to measure welfare beyond GDP across Europe’s regions, and built Room Wisdom to turn group conversations into verified evidence.
Today
More than consulting: building capacity
A full-service research and innovation firm of econometricians, behavioural scientists, policy analysts and project managers. Alongside projects, we train policy teams in experimental methods so they keep using evidence long after an engagement ends.
How we work
How we hold ourselves to account
- The right team for each project
- Each project gets the specific expertise it needs, from experimental design to econometric modelling. If your needs require methods outside our core expertise, we draw on an extensive network of leading specialists and subject-matter experts.
- Methods in the open
- You receive the results with the code, data sources, analytical decisions and justifications. Ambiguity and uncertainty are made explicit, never obscured.
- Independent findings
- We collaborate closely with clients, but we do not let pressure shape findings or suppress inconvenient results.
- Academic standards
- Pre-registered analysis plans, established protocols for causal inference, and designs that withstand external scrutiny.
- Review before delivery
- Before delivery, our work is independently reviewed for technical accuracy, statistical validity and strength of evidence.
- Ethics and data protection
- Ethics review to academic and EU standards, informed consent, and GDPR-compliant data handling. Sensitive projects go to an external ethics committee.
Track record and partnerships
Who we have worked with
Public authorities, international and civil society organisations, academic institutions and private-sector partners: the whole quadruple helix.
What do you need to know?
Tell us about the decision in front of you, the idea you want to test or the programme you need to evaluate. We will reply within two working days with an honest view of what we could find out.