Hannes Rusch

Dr. Hannes Rusch holds dual roles as Associate Professor of Economics at Maastricht University’s School of Business and Economics and Independent Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law (MPI-CSL) in Freiburg. His work bridges behavioral economics, evolutionary psychology, and criminology to address societal conflicts, cooperation, and moral behavior.

• Research Focus: Exploitation dynamics, intergroup conflict resolution, heroism, and refugee integration.
• Affiliations: UM Behavioral Insights Center, Marburg Center for Institutional Economics, and multiple academic societies (ESA, VfS).
• Projects: Leads MANUNKIND (on modern exploitation) and DISGRID (on racism and inequality).
• Grants: Over €2 million in funding; >40 grants secured.

His research emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches, blending experimental methods with evolutionary theory. Recent work explores refugee support dynamics, altruism in conflict, and the societal roles of police in peacebuilding. He is a prolific author with >1.7k citations, publishing in Nature Human Behaviour, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, and others.