Director Studies
PD Dr. Katharina Gangl
Katharina Gangl is a psychologist specializing in behavioral economics. She is Director of Studies at the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions and a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Vienna. For more than 15 years, Katharina Gangl has been researching the fundamentals of financial decision-making (consumption, saving, investing, tax compliance) with a focus on practical applications.
In addition, she studies factors that influence behavioral change and cooperative behavior, especially in times of crisis. Her empirical research has a strong theoretical foundation and follows a multi-method approach that includes neuroscience, field, laboratory, and online experiments as well as survey studies, qualitative interviews, focus groups, association techniques, and observational studies. Most of her more than 60 research papers have been published in leading international peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Banking & Finance and Social Issues and Policy Review. In recognition of her research, she received the Anerkennungspreis der Republik Österreich (Recognition Prize of the Republic of Austria) in 2024, awarded by the Federal Chancellor. She has served as a reviewer for dozens of journals, theses, the Times Higher Education (THE) university ranking, and national and international funding agencies such as the Horizon 2020 program.
Katharina Gangl is a renowned keynote speaker and media expert. She advises international governments, public authorities, central banks, the OECD, and the European Union. She earned her master’s degree (2009), doctorate (2013), and habilitation (2021) at the University of Vienna. She held research positions at Queensland University of Technology, Australia (2013), and Zeppelin University, Germany (2015–2016). Before joining the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions, she was an Assistant Professor at the University of Göttingen (2017–2019) and Head of the Behavioral Economics Research Group at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna (2020–2025).
