skip to navigation skip to content
Search
 
The El-Erian Institute team.

The EEI is engaged in various research projects on behavioural economics, behavioural public policy and management, and sustainability. The EEI offers teaching on topics such as behavioural economics and sustainability, and collaborates with degree programmes including MBA, Executive MBA and MPhil at Cambridge Judge Business School. Upcoming activities include hosting the 3rd International Behavioural Public Policy Conference on 24-26 June 2024.

Lucia Reisch

El-Erian Professor of Behavioural Economics and Policy

Director, El-Erian Institute of Behavioural Economics and Policy

Professor Lucia Reisch was appointed in 2021 as the inaugural El-Erian Professor of Behavioural Economics & Policy and Fellow of Queens’ College, joining from Copenhagen Business School. Lucia is a behavioural economist and social scientist, whose work includes research in sustainable consumption, behavioural public policy, and consumers and digitisation.

She is an Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Consumer Policy and has worked on sustainable consumption and other issues with the OECD, the European Commission, the World Bank, various United Nations agencies as well as several governments worldwide. The El-Erian Professor will pay specific attention to mentoring early career researchers, particularly those currently less represented at the Business School.

“I am excited that the El Erian Institute is now part of the vibrant research and educational environment of Cambridge Judge Business School. With its interdisciplinary research, applied education, and team lab approach, the EEI could not be better placed. I am looking forward to developing a lively platform for researchers and practitioners, students and policymakers alike to study and learn how to effectively “nudge for good”.

Aga Niedzwiecka

Centre Manager, El-Erian Institute of Behavioural Economics and Policy

Micha Kaiser

Senior Research Associate, El-Erian Institute of Behavioural Economics and Policy

PhD (University of Hohenheim)

Malte Dewies

Research Associate, El-Erian Institute of Behavioural Economics and Policy

PhD (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

Paul Lohmann

Research Associate, El-Erian Institute of Behavioural Economics and Policy

PhD (University of Cambridge)

Atiyeh Yeganloo

Research Associate, El-Erian Institute of Behavioural Economics and Policy

MRes/PhD (University of Manchester)

Mariam Abdelnabi

Research Assistant, El-Erian Institute of Behavioural Economics and Policy

Aiswarya Sunil

Research Assistant, El-Erian Institute of Behavioural Economics and Policy

Noah Peters

Student Research Assistant, El-Erian Institute of Behavioural Economics and Policy

MSc (London School of Economics and Political Science)

Noah is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Politics and International Studies and a research assistant at the El-Erian Institute of Behavioural Economics and Policy at Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. The El-Erian Institute generously funds Noah’s doctoral research.

Noah’s research lies at the intersection of sociology and behavioural economics. Noah investigates the interplay between social mobility – a core theme in sociology – and personality traits increasingly studied in economics. Do individuals strategically adopt patience and balanced risk-taking to climb the economic ladder? How does the experience of socioeconomic success shape personality traits? These questions revolve around and reassess the influential notion that positive life outcomes depend on the ‘right’ character. By adopting a sociological perspective, Noah critically engages with popular narratives of meritocracy, that is, the idea that hard work and talent enable people to get ahead in life. Noah’s research examines how meritocracy is used to legitimate power imbalances and how individuals come to accept their position in the socioeconomic pecking order.

Interdisciplinary in nature, Noah’s research frequently turns to art, literary fiction and poetry for motivation and utilises both quantitative and qualitative methods. Noah is also interested in broader aspects of interdisciplinarity and the history of economic and social thought.

Research interests include behavioural economics; behavioural public policy; cultural sociology; economic sociology; inequality; social mobility; survey methodology.

Dame Theresa Marteau

Fellow, Cambridge Judge Business School

Director, Behaviour and Health Research Unit, Institute of Public Health, University of Cambridge

Faisal Naru

Fellow, Cambridge Judge Business School

Executive Director, Policy Innovation Centre

Cass R Sunstein

Fellow, Cambridge Judge Business School

Robert Walmsley University Professor, Harvard Law School

Lisa Eckmann

Visiting Scholar, El-Erian Institute of Behavioural Economics and Policy

PhD (Goethe University)

Lisa Eckmann is a postdoctoral research associate at the Chair of Market and Consumer Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt. She received her PhD from Goethe University Frankfurt in May 2022. Prior to her doctoral studies, she studied economics and business with a focus on marketing and management at Goethe University Frankfurt as well as consumer behavior and behavioral economics at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Lisa Eckmann’s research addresses questions at the intersection of marketing and psychology. Her work focuses on consumer psychology and behaviour, especially the psychological processes that influence consumer judgments and preferences. In the domain of nonconsumption, she is particularly interested in examining the conditions under which individuals benefit from reducing their consumption.