Thomas Rigotti

Thomas Rigotti serves as Research Group Leader at the Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research (LIR) and Professor for Organizational and Business Psychology at Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz. His academic career spans over two decades with significant contributions to understanding resilience mechanisms in work contexts.

Dr. Rigotti completed his psychology studies at the University of Leipzig (1996-2002) and earned his Dr. rer. nat. degree magna cum laude in 2008. His professional trajectory includes positions as Member of Scientific Staff at the University of Leipzig (2002-2012), Visiting Professor at Otto-Friedrich University Bamberg (2012), and W2 Professor at Johannes Gutenberg University since 2013. He has also led the Psychological Institute at Mainz (2016-2018) and serves as Research Group Leader at both the German Resilience Center (since 2018) and Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research (since 2020).

Professor Rigotti's research focuses on identifying contextual, individual, and processual aspects that influence how work-related stressors affect individuals. His work particularly examines social interactions (leadership, teams, couples, families), the demands of boundaryless and flexible work environments, and career development trajectories. Using diary data and longitudinal study designs, his research team captures near-real-time dynamics of workplace stress and resilience.

His publication record demonstrates consistent scholarly output with recent work exploring adaptive change processes in emotional exhaustion, the interplay between past and current stressors, team-level demand-resource dynamics, and resilience paradigms. His research spans multiple contexts including educational settings, pandemic conditions, and major political events like Brexit, showing the breadth of his resilience framework.

• Theodor-Litt Award at the University of Leipzig for Excellence in Teaching (2012)
• Dissertation-Award from the German Psychological Association's section of Work, Organizational and Business Psychology (2008)

Professor Rigotti maintains extensive professional service commitments including editorial roles at the Journal of Organizational Behavior (since 2020), Applied Psychology: An International Review (since 2019), and Journal of Occupational Health Psychology (since 2017). He has served as spokesperson for the Gutenberg Academy (2021-2023) and the section of Work, Organizational and Business Psychology within the German Psychological Association (2018-2022). His research group currently pursues projects including CARE (Creating Resilience in Educational Contexts) and RiCH (Resilience in handling daily work stressors) with international collaborators from Macquarie University, Radboud University, Philipps University Marburg, Arizona State University, and Simon Fraser University.