Michael SiegristView profile
Professor
Michael Siegrist is a Full Professor of Consumer Behavior at ETH Zurich's Department of Health Sciences and Technology. His research focuses on risk perception, risk communication, acceptance of new technologies, and decision making under uncertainty, with particular emphasis on food and consumer behavior. He has established himself as a leading researcher in understanding how people perceive risks related to food, chemicals, and emerging technologies. Dr. Siegrist earned his education at the University of Zurich, where he studied psychology, economics, and mass communication. He completed his dissertation in 1994 and his Habilitation in 2001 at the Faculty of Arts. Between 1998-2000, he was a visiting researcher at Western Washington University, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. He began teaching and research activities at ETH Zurich in 2004 and became a Full Professor there in 2007. His research interests span risk perception and communication, with particular focus on food safety, disgust sensitivity, naturalness perception, and sustainability. His work examines how consumers evaluate risks related to food technologies, chemicals, and environmental issues. He has published extensively on topics including cultured meat acceptance, food labeling, household chemical safety, and the psychological factors influencing consumer decisions under uncertainty. His research often employs cross-cultural approaches, comparing consumer perceptions across different countries and demographic groups. Dr. Siegrist's publications reveal a strong trend toward understanding the psychological mechanisms behind consumer acceptance of novel food technologies, particularly alternative proteins. His recent work increasingly focuses on sustainability issues in food consumption, examining how consumers perceive environmental impacts of food choices and respond to policy measures aimed at promoting sustainable eating habits. He has made significant contributions to understanding how naturalness claims, disgust sensitivity, and cultural factors shape food preferences and risk perceptions. As an active researcher, Dr. Siegrist collaborates with numerous colleagues across disciplines, including veterinary science, nutrition, and agricultural technology. His work spans both theoretical contributions to risk perception frameworks and practical applications for food industry and policy development.
