Alumni
Dr. Malin Pimper
Malin Pimper studied economics with a focus on microeconomics and behavioral economics at the University of Konstanz (B.Sc.) and the University of Bamberg (M.Sc.). Beside her studies, Malin worked as a student research assistant and gained practical experience at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the State Parliament of Baden-Württemberg.
Malin’s strong interest in human decision making led her to the University of Zurich, where she joined the team of the Department of Business Administration as a doctoral student under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Martin Natter and Prof. Dr. Andrea Giuffredi-Kähr in December 2020.
Dr. Pimper's research focuses on socially relevant topics at the intersection of marketing, consumer behavior, and psychology. In spring 2026 she graduated at UZH with her doctoral thesis on "The Role of Consumers in Corporate Communication: Strategies to Mitigate Environmental and Misinformation Risks."
Dr. Nils Hossli
Nils Hossli graduated at UZH in spring 2025 with his doctoral thesis on "The Predictive Power of Personal Values - Job Satisfaction, Digital Markets, and Consumer Choices." He received his Master degree in Economics from HEC Lausanne, the business school of the University of Lausanne. Before studying economics, he completed a Bachelor degree in Tourism at the University of Applied Sciences in Chur. He spent semesters abroad at Nanyang Polytechnic in Singapore and at the Free University of Berlin. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher in our team until spring 2026.
Dr. Hossli gained practical experience at SBB, in the Swiss hospitality industry and in the area of digital marketing at a wine e-commerce start-up.
Dr. Sybilla Merian
Sybilla Merian has graduated from the University of Zurich, completing an exchange semester at the Smith School of Business in Canada. Her master thesis explored the Impact of Word of Mouth on the Demand for movies, which led her to start a position as a PhD candidate at the Department of Business Administration as of June 2019, completed in spring 2024 with a doctoral thesis on Marketing for Sustainable Development.
Generally, Sybilla's research focuses on facilitating behavioral change. Thereby, her projects can be grouped into various stages of this process. As a baseline for interventions, she is interested in the quantification of different sustainability aspects (e.g., food waste, biodiversity) and how it can be improved. Further, she is interested in identifying distinct customer groups and designing interventions tailored to these segments (e.g., regarding food wasting or safe driving). Finally, she additionally explores the effectiveness of interventions in promoting sustainable behaviors.
Dr. Merian left our team to start as an Assistant Professor (with Tenure Track) for Strategic Management at the University of Lucerne in February 2026.
Dr. Petra Tipaldi
Dr. Petra Tipaldi studied Business Administration at the Baden Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University in Villingen-Schwenningen (B.A.). After gaining practical experience in project administration at Airbus and KUKA Robotics, she completed her master’s degree in Business and Economics at the University of Basel, majoring in Marketing (M.Sc.). During that time, she studied one semester at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia.
In March 2017, she started as a doctoral student at the University of Zurich at the Department of Business Administration. Besides conducting research, she assisted Professor Natter in his lectures and seminars.
Her research interests focus on recent trends in consumer behavior and decision making in the context of technology, innovation and behavioral change. She has presented her work at International conferences such as the Annual Conference of the European Marketing Academy (EMAC) and Marketing Science.
She successfully completed her PhD studies in 2022 and then challenged herself with a new post in the private industry sector.
Dr. Julia Wamsler
Dr. Julia Wamsler studied Business Administration and Economics at the Goethe University Frankfurt with focus on Marketing and Management (B.Sc.). During that time, she spent a semester abroad at the University of Birmingham, UK. Afterwards, she continued her studies at the University of Cologne, majoring in Marketing (M.Sc.).
In March 2016, she started as a doctoral student at the University of Zurich at the Department of Business Administration, assisted Professor Natter in his lectures and seminars and was significantly involved in building up the Chair’s organizational structure and processes.
Her research interests focus on dynamic pricing and recommendation systems. She has presented her work at conferences such as the ACM Conference on Recommender Systems and the Annual Conference of the European Marketing Academy (EMAC). In 2017, she was invited to the EMAC Junior Faculty & Doctoral Student Research Camp where she received the Best Paper Award for her work in progress on price signals.
She successfully completed her PhD studies in October 2020 and then challenged herself with a new post in the private industry sector.