Professor Lucia Reisch

El-Erian Professor of Behavioural Economics and Policy at Cambridge Judge Business School (CJBS), University of Cambridge

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El-Erian Professor of Behavioural Economics and Policy, Director of the El-Erian Institute

Lucia Reisch is a behavioural economist and social scientist by training and the inaugural El-Erian Professor of Behavioural Economics and Policy at the Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.

As El-Erian Institute's Director, she sees this as a unique opportunity to focus on behavioural insights based policies for sustainable development, both in research, teaching, and practice, in cooperation with policymakers and innovative companies worldwide.

Her main research focus today is on behavioural economics, behavioural public policy, sustainable consumption (in particular, energy, food and health, active mobility and fashion), intercultural consumer behaviour, consumers and digitization, as well as consumer policy.

Over the past years, she has been involved as principal investigator in several large EU research projects on consumer behaviour and policy, as well as participating in German, Danish, and Swedish research projects.

She also holds a permanent Guest Professorship at the Zeppelin University of Friedrichshafen (Germany). In 2017, she was appointed as honorary Leibniz Chair, jointly awarded by the German Leibniz Association and the Leibniz Institute of Prevention Research and Epidemiology (BIPS) in Bremen. She is an elected lifelong member of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering.

Besides academic research, teaching and outreach, Lucia is engaged in policy consultancy, e.g. nine years as a member of the German Council for Sustainable Development, the Ethics Commission for Safe Energy Supply of the German Chancellor, the German Bioeconomy Council and the German Advisory Council for Consumer Affairs, all of which consult with the German federal government.

She is honoured to consult with governments and non-governmental organizations in different countries on how to apply behavioural insights to increase citizens’ welfare and foster sustainable development. She also works with the OECD, the European Commission, the World Bank and UN bodies on sustainable consumption issues. Lucia also consults innovative businesses on sustainability issues and chairs the Sustainability Board of Dr. h.c. Porsche AG.

For the last 20 years, Lucia has been one of the Editors in Chief of the Journal of Consumer Policy (SpringerNature Publishers) and a member of the Editorial Board of several academic journals and book series in the field of behavioural public policy and sustainable development.

Lucia also founded the Consumer and Behavioural Insights Group (CBIG) at Copenhagen Business School.

  • In news articles

    Behaviour change and sustainability

    CSaP in collaboration with Professor Charles Kennel, Director Emeritus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, delivered the 2022 series of climate change seminars hosted by Christ’s College, Cambridge. The second seminar chaired by Dr Rob Doubleday – CSaP Executive Director – explored how behavioural science can inform policymaking to improve sustainability and help reach net zero.