Meet one of our PhD alum, Laura Zimmermann. Laura completed her PhD in General Management in 2018 and currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Marketing at IE Business School in Madrid. We caught up with her to hear about her experience studying at LSE, what she has been up to since graduating, as well as the inspiration behind her research.

Tell us about yourself; what are you most proud of to date, personally or professionally?

I’m currently serving as an Assistant Professor of Marketing at IE Business School in Madrid. After living in London for almost ten years, I moved to sunny Spain, where I completed my PhD at the LSE. Originally, I’m from a small German town in the Bavarian Forest. I studied Psychology at the University of Regensburg (a beautiful medieval city with a brutalist university building), but soon felt I needed to get out of Bavaria. To me, the obvious choice was London! While studying for my Master’s, I organised an internship at Imperial College, at the cancer research unit in St. Mary’s Hospital, where my interest in research and academia began. I worked with a Decision Scientist, Melody Ni, who was developing a decision framework for surgeons, coincidently she had been a Decision Science graduate from LSE. After wrapping up my Master’s, Melody put me in touch with Barbara Fasolo at the LSE, where I worked as a research and teaching assistant before embarking on my own doctoral journey under the supervision of Amitav Chakravarti.

Why the Department of Management? 

My journey with the department has been a transformative and rewarding experience.

The exposure of working as a research and teaching assistant at LSE prior to pursuing my PhD, influenced my decision to embark on a doctoral journey. LSE stood out as the clear choice due to my familiarity with the department and a desire to collaborate with specific faculty members. Early on in my PhD, I faced challenges whilst defining my research topic; however, despite the initial hurdles, this experience was instrumental in shaping my research journey. Looking back, I recognise that there were opportunities for greater strategic planning and efficiency, but maybe these moments were integral to the learning experience. As a DoM PhD student, I’ve evolved as a researcher and embraced the challenges that came with it.

Research

My PhD investigated the associations between regular physical activity and decision-making. This was a challenging endeavour due to the complexities of addressing endogeneity problems.

When I started my job at IE Business School, I sought a fresh start and embarked on an entirely new research stream, where I’m now investigating consumer technology interactions. Specifically, I’m researching habits (and how to break them) related to smartphone usage and how novel technology is impacting consumers’ well-being and decision-making more generally.

Future Career Plans

My immediate career focus, and next milestone I’m working towards revolves around getting tenure, which currently involves advancing my current working papers, so fingers crossed! I also just came back from spending a research semester at NYU, which has been an incredibly inspiring experience, so I have lots of ideas for new research projects in the future.

What piece of advice would you give to prospective PhD students?

If I were to offer advice to prospective PhD students, it would be a ‘don’t give up’. I’ll be completely transparent — there were moments during my own PhD when I seriously considered leaving the programme. However, looking back, I am incredibly grateful that I persevered. Embarking on a PhD is a unique experience, and working in academia opens doors to continuous learning in ways that few other professions can offer. The process of selecting journals and research questions, choosing collaborators and designing studies allows you to understand the characteristics and skills a strong PhD candidate has to offer.

But also remember to have fun! Attend conferences in exciting locations, participate in summer schools, and connect with fellow PhD students. These shared experiences not only make the journey more enjoyable but can also evolve into collaborations. Essentially, my advice is to persevere, be strategic, and infuse your PhD journey with fun moments. The challenges are part of the process, but the rewards and personal growth are worth the effort.

Find out more about our PhD programmes and research being undertaken across the department.