Erica van Herpen

Erica van Herpen is an Associate Professor at Wageningen University's Marketing and Consumer Behaviour Group, specializing in sustainable consumer behavior. Her research focuses on reducing household food and packaging waste through interventions in retail and home environments. She holds a Ph.D. in Marketing from Tilburg University and has conducted visits at the University of Southern California and University of Florida.

Her work examines how retail practices (e.g., pricing, communication) and household behaviors influence waste generation. Key projects include the REFRESH initiative and founding the WAFF community to combat food waste. She teaches courses on social psychology, decision making, and consumer perception.

Recent studies explore moral motivations in food waste reduction, the impact of price promotions on waste, and the effectiveness of meal boxes in minimizing waste. She advises multiple Ph.D. students and collaborates internationally on sustainability initiatives.

Her contributions include developing validated surveys to measure household food waste and assessing interventions like social norms and measurement tools. She remains active in policy discussions, presenting at the European Commission's bioeconomy policy day.