“UniDistance Suisse is an attractive institution in the field of high-level scientific research”

The Matterhorn Symposium 2025, held on the UniDistance Suisse site in Brig, attracted eminent scholars from around the globe. Elke Weber of Princeton University and Eric Johnson of Columbia University, two prestigious names in international academic research, delivered the keynote lectures. 

“Thanks to this event, we can state clearly that UniDistance Suisse is an attractive institution in the field of high-level scientific research, both on the Swiss academic stage and internationally,” said Manuel Grieder and Michael Kurschilgen, both Assistant Professors at the Faculty of Economics of the university and organisers of the event. 

The Matterhorn Symposium is designed to promote exchange on the interaction between individual behaviour (for example, social preferences, biased expectations) and the institutional framework (for example, incentive systems, laws, social norms). Manuel Grieder explained: “The presence of Elke Weber and Eric Johnson symbolises the interdisciplinary character of the symposium, since both combine psychology, behavioural sciences and economics. In terms of influence on politics and society, they possess an international aura. For example, Elke Weber was among the lead authors of the 5th and 6th assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). As for Eric Johnson, his research contributed to changes in the regulation of the organ donation system in Switzerland and in other countries.” 

It is worth noting that the event received support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). “A true guarantee of the symposium’s scientific quality, this support made it possible to fund travel grants for young researchers carrying out promising studies,” said Michael Kurschilgen. One such recipient was Michela Boldrini from Bocconi University, with her lecture entitled “Negative Emission Technologies and Climate Cooperation”. “My research explains how negative emission technologies, which aim to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, constitute a crucial innovation for achieving the temperature targets set by international climate agreements,” stated the young Milanese scholar, while adding: “The downside is that their use may, however, reduce other behaviours that help to mitigate global warming.” 

After the great success of the first two editions, the Faculty of Economics at UniDistance Suisse wishes to establish the Matterhorn Symposium as a biennial event in behavioural economics. The next edition will nevertheless take place in 2026, as the university will host another major event in 2027: the Annual Congress of the Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics.