Alice Delorme Benites

Professor of Human-Machine-Communication / Co-head of Institute of Translation and Interpreting

Alice is currently co-head of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting at ZHAW, Winterthur in Switzerland. Her research focusses on the adoption of new technologies for language work. She has been investigating how machine translation and large language models are being used by language professionals and by the broad audience and seeks to find out what the different user groups need to know in order to make the best use of new technologies. Her motto: technology is always about people.

Christian Bucher

Head of Business Psychology / Psychological Institute

Christian has a PhD in psychology and is heading the business psychology unit at ZHAW. He investigates psychological factors of entrepreneurship such as mindset and teams as well as serendipity and bricolage.

Previously, Christian worked as a consultant and co-founder of a startup and co-creates in the initiative ZHAW entrepreneurship. Most of all, however, he rediscovers his curiosity through his little son and thereby fills his own head with wonder.

Christoph Regli

Program Director BSc in Aviation / Airline Pilot

Christoph is responsible for the Bachelor's Degree Program in Aviation at the ZHAW School of Engineering. Before this, he worked as a software engineer, as a pilot, and for the Civil Aviation Authority, heading the section Air Navigation Services. He still flies airliners, and the latest developments in artificial intelligence fueled his curiosity about its impact on aviation. The hope that humans will still fly the planes in the future faces the hard fact that automation is continuously progressing.

Christopher A. Hartwell

Professor of International Business Policy / International Management Institute

Christopher A. Hartwell is Professor of International Business Policy and Head of the International Management Institute at ZHAW. He holds a PhD in Economics from the Warsaw School of Economics, a MA in public policy from Harvard, a BA in Political Science and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a leading scholar on the evolution of economic institutions.

Christopher’s interests are in institutional development, especially the interplay between financial institutions and other political and economic institutions. Over his career, he has advised governments in Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Armenia, Russia, Poland, Tonga, Kosovo, and numerous other countries around the world, and has produced several pieces of research for the European Parliament, DG Trade, and DG Regio. He currently is involved with advising the Ukrainian government on post-war reconstruction and has worked intensively on developing a blueprint for economic reforms.  

Marlies Whitehouse

Professor of Professional Literacy / Institute of Language Competence

Marlies Whitehouse, PhD is a full professor of Applied Linguistics at Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland. She is an associate editor of the International Journal of Business Communication and of the Handbook of Applied Linguistics Series, as well as the head of the finance committee of the Association for Business Communication.
Her research fields and foci include applied linguistics, transdisciplinarity, professional literacy, financial communication, text production, and writing in the professions. She has extensive experience as a writing and communication coach for national and international companies. 

Oliver Germer

Entrepreneur, Consultant, Tech Lover / Germer Consulting Team – Creating Value with Technology

Oliver Germer is an entrepreneur, management consultant and enthusiastic tech lover by heart. After studies in Computer Science and Management at Hamburg University he started his career at KPMG and has been advising big and small clients in many countries and industries on how to create value with technology. He also set up several mobile communications providers in Europe and Australia. In recent years Oliver worked with clients to develop new business opportunities arising from LEO satellite technology.
As a loving father with nerd tendencies, he strives to teach his daughters to embrace technology and to stay curious throughout life.