Recent
Academic
Appointments
from 07/2026
Full-time Associate Professor (with tenure) at the Department of Technology, Management and Economics, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), part-time since 10/2025
2023 – 2026
Omidyar Fellow at the Santa Fe Instiute, U.S. (comparable to a junior faculty pure research position including research funding and without teaching responsibilities)
until 2023
Postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Economics, Konstanz University and Thurgau Institute of Economics (with Urs Fischbacher)
2022
Visiting researcher at the Santa Fe Institute (with Samuel Bowles)
from 2020
Member of the Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality” at the University of Konstanz
Education
Nov. 2012
PhD in Economics, Jena University & MPI (summa cum laude)
Thesis: “Cultural, individual and situational determinants of control aversion in employment relationships” (awarded “Best doctoral dissertation” by the GfeW, Association of German-speaking experimental economists)
Advisors: Simon Gächter, Oliver Kirchkamp, Anthony Ziegelmeyer
PhD program: IMPRS-Uncertainty (International Max Planck Research School on Adapting Behavior in a Fundamentally Uncertain World), MPI of Economics, Jena
2003
Diploma degree (equivalent to Master degree) in Psychology, University of Jena (grade 1.1, ranging from 1.0 [best] to 6.0 [worst])
Thesis: “Cognitive structuring and mathematical giftedness – an experiment with primary school children”
1996
“Abitur”, best of the year (grade 1.1)
Awards,
Grants &
Recognition
2022-2026
Member of a scientific round table of economists formed by the Minister of Finance of Baden-Württemberg, Danyal Bayaz
2026
Lou Schuyler grant for learning Natural Language Processing (NLP) methods, $15,000
2026
Workshop funding “The political economy of sustainable liberal democracy”, Emergent Political Economy (EPE) Program, $53,315
2025
Workshop funding “Effective public policy design when preferences and beliefs are endogenous: illustrated by sustainable climate policies”, Emergent Political Economy (EPE) Program, $49,160
2023
Young Researcher Teaching Award, Department of Economics, Konstanz University
2022
Prize for Courageous Science of the Ministry of Science of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg, for research and public communication on covid policies €30,000 (shared with Sireen El Zaatari)
2022
Science Prize of the Messmer Foundation for the research agenda on “Covid and climate: new insights for behavioral science and policy making”, €10,000
2021
Nominated by Konstanz University for Heinz-Maier-Leibnitz prize of the DFG (German Research Foundation)
2020
Fund application at the Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality” (granted, €238,000) for “Selection into Leadership and Perceptions of Inequality: The Case of Consistency” (with A. Chadi, U. Fischbacher, I. Wolff)
2014
Research and teaching grant (€50,000) from the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of the state of Baden-Württemberg
2014
Swiss National Fund, Agora programme (CHF 64,316, with U. Fischbacher, U. Wacker, I. Wolff for public exhibition project: “Economic Decision Making – An Interactive Exhibition on New Findings of Behavioral Economics”
2013
Heinz Sauermann Award for the best Ph.D. thesis of 2012/2013 given by the GfeW (Gesellschaft für experimentelle Wirtschaftsforschung, association of German-speaking experimental economists)
Katrin Schmelz 