Thomas Schilling

Thomas Schilling is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Psychology, University of Trier, affiliated with the Psychological Research Methods team. He holds a PhD in Economics from Victoria University of Wellington (2022) and has professional experience in banking, auditing, and behavioral science consulting. His work bridges experimental social psychology and economics, focusing on financial decision-making influenced by personality variables and situational contexts.

Academic Career: Postdoctoral researcher (Trier University, 2022–present); PhD in Economics (Victoria University, 2018–2022); MBA (Trier University with study abroad at University of Nebraska Omaha, 2013–2015); BBA (University of Applied Sciences Trier with study abroad at Midwestern State University, 2009–2012).

Research Interests: Financial decision-making (savings, investments, consumer behavior), personality predictors (HEXACO+D model), judgment heuristics, digital nudging, and person-situation interactions. Specializes in experimental methods involving online data collection and multivariate analysis (R).

Teaching: Leads courses like 'Empirical Internship' and 'Scientific Project Work' in English. Supervises theses requiring experimental design, personality variable inclusion, and potential for peer-reviewed publication.

Professional Work: Freelance behavioral scientist advising on financial decision-making strategies. Former roles include Behavioral Scientist at Behavioral by Design (New Zealand) and roles at Advanzia Bank, UBS, and KPMG.