We are pleased to welcome Dr. Johanna Zimmermann as junior professor of marketing from 1 April 2025! On behalf of the entire WiSo faculty, WiSo Dean Ulrich Thonemann welcomed junior professor Dr. Johanna Zimmermann.

Johanna Zimmermann's research interests are in the areas of data disclosure processes and consumer privacy, artificial entities (e.g. AI-based systems and avatars), as well as consumer journeys and experience. With these topics, Johanna Zimmermann perfectly complements the focus of the marketing department at the WiSo.

During her studies in International Cultural and Business Studies (Bachelor) and Business Administration (Master), she remained loyal to the University of Passau, with exciting international stays at the Universidad de Málaga in Spain and at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai in India. She also completed her doctorate at the University of Passau with the topic ‘Consumers’ Privacy-Related Decision-Making’ (summa cum laude). During her doctorate, she worked on two exciting research projects: ‘unIT-e³ - Reallabor für ver-NETZte E-Mobilität’ and ‘Bidirektionales Lademanagement - BDL’, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection.

She complements her research with extensive practical experience, for example at Strenesse AG Nördlingen. From January 2024 to March 2025, she worked as a postdoc at the Chair of Marketing and Innovation and in the DFG-funded Research Training Group ‘Digital Platform Ecosystems (DPE)’, where she co-organised the DPE Forum 2024, among other things.

Johanna Zimmermann has written numerous publications in internationally recognised journals, such as the International Journal of Research in Marketing, the Journal of Retailing and the Journal of Business Research, and received the Helmut Schmalen Dissertation Award for outstanding doctoral theses and the Bavarian Culture Prize 2024 for her dissertation.

With Johanna Zimmermann, the WiSo Faculty is gaining an excellent marketing expert who is already highly visible at a young age. We are very pleased to welcome Jun.-Prof. Dr. Johanna Zimmermann to the WiSo Faculty and wish her all the best for the start.

• Jun. Prof. Dr. Johanna Zimmermann