Brock’s Koudys Wins APBA Award for International Practice Advancement

Koudys’s 2026 APBA Recognition

ST. CATHARINES, ONTARIO — Julie Koudys received the 2026 International Advancement of the Practice of Behavior Analysis Award from the Association of Professional Behavior Analysts (APBA) at the organization’s annual convention in New Orleans, held March 12 to 14.

Koudys is an associate professor and clinical coordinator in Brock University’s Department of Applied Disability Studies. She holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from York University, Ontario’s Registered Behaviour Analyst designation, and the BCBA-D credential from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB).

The award recognizes contributions to the practice of behavior analysis outside the United States. Brock now counts three APBA honorees. Associate Professor Kendra Thomson received the 2022 Jerry Shook Award for advancing professional credentials in behavior analysis, and Associate Professor Rosemary Condillac received what Brock described as the inaugural Excellence in Ethical Practice Award in 2024.

Three APBA awards since 2022 to a single Canadian university department, each recognizing a different dimension of the field: international advancement, ethical standards, and professional credentialing.

Credentialing and Policy Roles

Koudys currently serves as International Representative on the BACB Board of Directors. The BACB credentials the global ABA workforce. As of October 2025, the board reported 317,699 certificants worldwide, including 81,566 BCBAs, a 10% increase from 74,125 the prior year.

Her Ontario policy work predates the board appointment. Koudys served on the provincial government’s Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinical Expert Committee and chaired the Ontario Scientific Expert Taskforce for the Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder, contributing to the province’s clinical framework for autism services. She also chairs the Jurisprudence Committee of the Ontario Association for Behaviour Analysis (ONTABA).

Ontario’s regulation of behaviour analysts took effect July 1, 2024, under the Psychology and Applied Behaviour Analysis Act, 2021. The College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario (CPBAO) now oversees registration for ABA practitioners in the province. Koudys holds both the CPBAO’s R.B.A. (Ont.) designation and the international BCBA-D.

Brock’s ABA Footprint

Brock’s Applied Disability Studies department operates what it describes as Ontario’s only in-person master’s-level ABA program. The research-track master’s enrolls around 10 new students per year. In November 2023, the university launched Ontario’s first PhD in Applied Behaviour Analysis, the second doctoral ABA program in Canada after the University of Manitoba.

Research output has kept pace. Brock, citing a February 2026 study published in Behavior Analysis in Practice, reported that its ADS department ranked second among ABA programs for research productivity based on publication output from 2015 to 2024.

Koudys sits on the board that credentials more than 317,000 ABA practitioners worldwide while helping shape a provincial regulatory framework that is less than two years old.

Koudys’s term as International Representative on the BACB Board of Directors runs through August 2027.

AT A GLANCE

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