Obituary: Professor Dr. Nora Szech

The Department of Economics and Management and the Institute of Economics (ECON) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) mourn the loss of their highly esteemed colleague Professor Dr. Nora Szech.

After studying Mathematics and Economics at the University of Bonn and working briefly in investment banking, Nora Szech completed her PhD at the Bonn Graduate School of Economics in 2010. In 2012, she accepted the offer of a professorship in Industrial Economics at the University of Bamberg. The following year she moved to the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) taking up a professorship in Political Economy at ECON. Despite numerous offers from other universities, her loyalty to KIT never wavered.

In a very short time Nora Szech built an excellent reputation both nationally and internationally thanks to her outstanding and highly regarded research contributions. One of the eminent figures of her generation in the field of economics research, her focus was on behavioral economics, market design, experimental economics, and game theory. A central theme of her work was the interplay between markets and morality.

Nora Szech was a member of numerous academic societies and associations, including as a fellow of the Berlin Social Science Center and the CESifo Research Network. She was also a member of the Theoretical Committee of the Verein für Socialpolitik, where for years she worked to promote women’s issues. She received the PhD Award from the University of Bonn and the Reinhard-Selten Award of the Verein für Socialpolitik, and won many teaching awards at the University of Bonn and at KIT. With her broad expertise in behavioral economics, Nora Szech was also highly successful in securing research funding, and was significantly involved in many of the current research initiatives of the KIT Faculty of Economics.

The practical relevance of her research and scientific communication was particularly close to Nora Szech’s heart. And she regularly spoke out in the media with informed contributions on current topics, and participated in numerous public panel discussions.

Her enthusiasm for academic research and her extraordinary ability to engage and inspire others will be vividly remembered by her colleagues and students.

In Nora Szech, the Institute of Economics, the KIT Faculty of Economics, and the whole of KIT have lost an outstanding researcher and committed colleague. The vigor with which she pursued her numerous academic projects has been abruptly cut short. We will sorely miss Nora Szech. Our sympathies are with her family.