We are happy to announce that Dr. Cris Pons-Seres de Brauwer joined our institute as a postdoctoral researcher. He will be working under the leadership of Rolf Wüstenhagen on innovative business dynamics at the intersection between EV use and renewable energy generation. Before he finished his PhD at DTU Wind and Energy Systems and is now ready to take on new exciting challenges to accelerate the energy transition!

We are excited about our newly finished PhDs who just received their doctoral certificates in Feb. 2023: Dr. Jakob Knauf, Dr. Elizabeth Côté and Dr. Nina Schneider with supervisor Prof. Dr. Rolf Wüstenhagen, Chair of Management of Renewable Energies, Dr. Nina Schmid with supervisor Prof. Dr. Judith Walls, Chair of Sustainability Management, and Dr. Angela Honegger with  Prof. em. Dr. Thomas Dyllick, Emeritus Chair of Sustainability Management. Thank you for all your contributions to the IWÖ community, in all possible ways, and all the best for your future!

A “young” institute turns 30! Founded back in 1992, IWÖ-HSG was one of the first research institutes at a leading business school to focus on sustainability. Three decades later, concerns about climate change and biodiversity loss are at the center of the public debate, and the Institute’s contributions to research and teaching on topics of corporate sustainability and renewable energy management are in high demand. To celebrate our anniversary, we joined forces with our colleagues from the Institute of Accounting, Control and Auditing ACA-HSG, which happens to have been founded in the same year. The newly appointed tenure track assistant professor of Sustainability Governance, Dr. Judith Ströhle, shared her insights on “Current Debates in Accounting for Sustainability” with a deep dive into carbon accounting, highlighting interesting areas for future research at the interface of both institutes. Thanks to the many alumni, team members, business and research partners, and university representatives who joined for an evening full of insightful exchanges.

Dr. Fabian Takacs joined the Delegates Team for Responsibility and Sustainability as a Project Manager (Sustainability Curriculum Development) and post-doctoral researcher of the IWÖ. Fabian is passionate about environmental protection and sustainability. His research focuses on the Circular Economy and business model innovation, focusing on the entrepreneurial implementation of resource conservation and closed material loops.

Fabian works at the team of the Delegate for Responsibility and Sustainability on realizing the HSG vision and Roadmap 2025 supporting the implementation of sustainability in the curriculum at HSG. In addition, he continues to research the Circular Economy’s entrepreneurial implementation with various academic and practice partners.

Previously, Fabian worked at the Institute of Management and Strategy (IfB) at the University of St. Gallen and conducted research in an SNF research project (Laboratory for Applied Circular Economy, NRP73), for which work he received the HSG-Impact Award in 2020. Fabian holds a Ph.D. in Management (Ph.D. HSG) focusing on circular transformation through business model innovation and ecosystems. Fabian is also involved in various non-profit organizations, among others, in local culture promotion.

Katharina Reidl and Juliane Seika joined the Chair of Management of Renewable Energies

With the start of the new semester, Katharina and Juliane have started as doctoral candidates after finishing their master’s degrees in Business Management and Marketing Management at the University of St.Gallen.

Being alumni of the certificate program Managing Climate Solutions (MaCS), both are looking forward to contributing to the institute’s research about electro mobility within the CircuBAT project and investigating options for a Green Deal for Switzerland and Ukraine.

Kerrigan joined IWÖ as a post-doctoral research fellow through the Swiss Network for International Studies (SNIS) Project. She recently obtained her Ph.D. in Strategic Management and Public Policy at the George Washington University (Washington, DC) under the supervision of Professor Jorge Rivera. Kerrigan’s research broadly focuses the interconnectedness between business and the natural environment. More specifically, she examines the relationship between biophysical conditions, such as climate change, extreme weather, and biodiversity, and business performance and adaptation strategies. Kerrigan obtained a Graduate Certificate in Geographical Information Systems and a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from George Washington University. She also has experience working with environmental nonprofits in areas on water quality, invasive species, and biodiversity of native species.

In August 2022, Judith Stroehle has joined the Institute for Economy and the Environment (IWOe) and the Institute for Accounting, Control and Auditing (ACA) at the University of St Gallen as Assistant Professor of Sustainability Governance. Judith is passionate about building bridges between sustainability and accounting, challenging the status quo of measurement, reporting, and performance management. Her recent work explores issues related to the measurement of corporate purpose, the benefits and challenges of non-financial accounting, ESG stewardship, and the role of standards and regulation in this space.

Previously, Judith was a Senior Research Fellow at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford where she co-founded and led the Oxford Rethinking Performance Initiative in 2021 and the Oxford Impact Roundtable for sustainability reporting and accounting in 2018. Judith holds a doctoral degree (PhD Europeaus, U Milan) in Economic Sociology for which she examined the auditability of social standards in global supply chains in cooperation with the International Labour Office (ILO). Judith also engages and works with several non-profits, companies and asset managers. She recently served as the Global Future Council Fellow for SDG Investing at the World Economic Forum and works as an academic advisor to the Bertelsmann Foundation in Germany and the Codespa Foundation in Spain.