Philipp Aerni is currently the director of the Center for Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CCRS) at the University of Zurich. He is also a lecturer at  the University of Zurich, ETH Zurich and the University of Basel. As an interdisciplinary and practice-oriented scholar, he has organized many academic conferences and workshops but is also engaged in consulting and editorial activities. He co-founded the journal “African Technology Development Forum” and authored several journal publications and books, including “Global Business in Local Culture: The Impact of Embedded Multinational Enterprises” (SpringerBriefs in Economics, 2018).

After studying Geography at the University of Zurich, Philipp Aerni did a PhD in Agricultural Economics at ETH Zurich on the acceptance of transgenic rice in the Philippines. Subsequently, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Kennedy School of Harvard University, a very enriching experience in a university that is in his words “very embedded in society”. This was followed by several other post-doctoral research experiences in Mexico, South Africa, New Zealand and Switzerland. In 2012-13, Philipp Aerni worked for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations on the topic related to the remuneration of positive externalities in agriculture.