Curriculum Vitae

Please find a long version of the CV at my ETH Zurich website >>

Affiliations

• • Since 2016: Chair of the Agricultural Economics and Policy Group at ETH Zurich (Switzerland)

  • 2014-2015: Chair of the Production Economics Group, University of Bonn (Germany)

  • 2012-2014: Assistant Professor, Wageningen University (The Netherlands)

  • 2006-2011: Doctoral Student & Postdoctoral Researcher ETH Zurich (Switzerland)

Education:

• • 2009: Doctorate in Agricultural Economics, ETH Zürich (Switzerland)

  • 2009: Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Statistics, ETH Zürich (Switzerland)

  • 2006: Diploma in Economics Europa Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt Oder (Germany)

Awards (selection)

• • 2022 European Association of Agricultural Economists (EAAE) Societal impact Award in honor of Giovani Anania (for the paper Bucheli et al. 2021, ERAE)

  • 2022 Outstanding Journal Article Award of the European Review of Agricultural Economics (for the paper Vroege et al., 2021, ERAE)

  • 2022 GEWISOLA Award for 'Communication between the Agricultural Economic and Social Sciences & the Society' for the Agrarpolitik Blog

  • 2019 Best Referee Award European Review of Agricultural Economics >>

  • 2017 Best Paper Award at the 57th Conference of the German Society of Economic and Social Sciences in Agriculture (paper later published as Boecker et al., 2018, Ecol. Econ.) 

  • 2017 Best Paper Award at the XV EAAE Congress (paper later published as Bozzola and Finger, 2021, ERAE) 

  • 2012 International Geneva Award (for the paper Bokusheva et al., 2021, Food Security)

  • 2011 GEWISOLA Preis >> (Young scientist award of the German Society of Economic and Social Sciences in Agriculture)

  • 2009 ETH Medal for an outstanding doctoral thesis, ETH Zürich 

Selected Academic Responsibilities 

• • Since 2021 Chair of the World Food System Center of ETH Zurich (vice-chair 2016-2020) >>

  • Since 2021: Steering Committee member on Open Research Data at the ETH Domain (Chair since 2023)

  • Since 2021: Member Scientific Advisory Board Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (Halle, Germany)

  •  Since 2021: Member Expert Advisory Group for ICT-AGRI-FOOD 

  • Since 2020: Board member of the Swiss Society for Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology

  • 2017-2021: Member Risk Management Commission at ETH Zürich 

  • Since 2016: Member of admission committee for agricultural sciences at ETH Zurich 

  • 2016-2021: Member of the teaching commission agricultural sciences at ETH Zurich 

Editorial Board Memberships

• • Since 2024: Editorial Board Member Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy >>

  • Since 2022: Associate Editor  American Journal of Agricultural Economics >>

  • Since 2021: Area EditorJournal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association >>

  • Since 2021:  Editorial Board Member European Review of Agricultural Economics

  • Since 2021: Editorial Board Member Agribusiness >>

  • Since 2020: Associate Editor Q Open >>

  • Since 2013: Editorial Board Member Agricultural Systems >>

Past Editorial Board Positions 

• • 2022: Guest Editor Q Open 

  • 2021: Guest Editor Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy

  • 2020: Guest Editor European Review of Agricultural Economics

  • 2017-2018: Editorial Board Member Heliyon 

  • 2013-2021: Editorial Board Member German Journal of Agricultural Economics 

Selected Invitation as Keynote Speaker at Conferences

• • 1. • Finger, R. (2023). Digital solutions for sustainable and resilient agricultural systems: Invited Keynote at the XVII Congress of the European Association of Agricultural Economists. 29.08.-01.09.2023, Rennes, France.

       • Finger, R. (2022). Economics and policy of moving from chemistry to biology in plant protection. Invited Keynote at the ABIM (Annual Biocontrol Industry Meeting). October 24-26, 2022, Basel, Switzerland.

       • Finger, R. (2022). Economics and Policy of Pesticide-Free Agricultural Production. Invited Keynote at the ‘European Scientific Conference – Towards Pesticide Free Agriculture’, Dijon June 2-3, 2022

       • Finger, R. (2022). Digital innovations for sustainable agricultural systems – an economic and policy perspective. Invited Keynote at the International Conference on Digital Technologies for Sustainable Crop Production (DIGICROP) March 28-30, 2022.

       • Finger, R. (2021). ‘Welche Agrar- und Ernährungspolitik für eine nachhaltigere Landwirtschaft‘ Invited Keynote at the 61th conference of the Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften des Landbaues e.V. (Society for Economic and Social Sciences of Agriculture) (GEWISOLA), September 22, 2021. Berlin, Germany.

  • Finger, R. (2019). Reconciling production and environmental services – new pathways for agricultural policies. Invited Keynote at the 93th conference of the Agricultural Economic Society. 15-17 April 2019 Warwick, UK.

  • Finger, R., (2019). ‘Umgang mit steigenden Klimarisiken in der Landwirtschaft - Eine Agrarökonomische Perspektive’. Invited Keynote an der 6. Agroscope Nachhaltigkeitstagung ‘Landwirtschaft im Klimawandel – forschen, entscheiden, umsetzen’, 24.01.2019, Zürich, Switzerland.

  • Finger, R. (2018). Methods for Agricultural Policy Evaluation – An Application to European Pesticide Policies. Invited Keynote at the 7th congress of the Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), 14-15 June 2018, Conegliano (TV), Italy.

  • Finger, R. (2016). Risiko und Risikomanagement: Perspektiven für die Schweizer Landwirtschaft. Invited Keynote der Tagung der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Agrarwirtschaft und Agrarsoziologie: Umgang mit Unsicherheit in der Land- und Ernährungswirtschaft. March 31-April 01, 2016, Grangeneuve, Switzerland

Organization of International Conferences and Workshops (selection of recent activities)

• • 1. • 2023: Organizer, Annual conference of the Swiss Society for Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology. Transformation of agri-food systems – sustainability and digitalization of food value chains. Lindau, ETH Zürich, (Switzerland)

       • 2022: Organizer, Annual conference of the Swiss Society for Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology. Evidence based Agricultural and Food Policies. Frick (Switzerland)

  • 2021: Organizer of the Annual Conference of the Swiss Society for Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology on Agriculture in the context of climate change, March 18-19, 2021

  • 2019: Organizer of the 171th Seminar of the European Association of Agricultural Economists (EAAE),'Measuring and evaluating farm income and well-being of farm families in Europe', September 5-6, 2019, Tänikon (Switzerland) >>

  • Since 2019: Co-organizer of the FRIES Seminar Series - Food System Geography, Policy & Economics, ETH Zürich >>

  • Since 2016: Co-organizer of the Agroeconet (Swiss Agricultural Economic Research) Colloqium >>

Project Acquisition (selection) (details on projects can be found here >>)

• • 2024-2027: VineWork: Transition towards low-pesticide production and its socio-economic implications for farmers and farmworkers. Funding: ETH Zurich Research Grant

  • 2023-2026: SUPPORT (Supporting UPtake Integrated Pest Management and lOw-Risk pesTicide Use). Funding: Horizon Europe/SBFI 

  • 2022-2025: Assessment of formal, natural and social insurances: how to cope best with impacts of extreme events on grasslands for sustainable farming systems?  (InsuranceGrass). Funding: Swiss National Science Foundation 

  • 2021-2024: Evidence-​based Transformation in Pesticide Governance  (TRAPEGO). Funding: Swiss National Science Foundation (Sinergia)

  • 2019-2020: Determinants and barriers for farmers’ adoption of pesticide free wheat production in Switzerland (PestiFreeWheat). Funding: ETH Foundation, Jowa, IP Suisse

  • 2018-2021: Reconciling innovative farming practices and networks to enable sustainable development of smart Swiss farming systems (InnoFarm). Funding: Funding: NFP 73 - Swiss National Science Foundation.

  • 2018-2021: Agricultural policies in the era of digitalization (DigitAP). Funding: Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture.

  • 2018: Herbicide free wheat production in Switzerland (HerbiFree). Funding: ETH Science Foundation, Jowa, IP Suisse

  • 2017-2020: Economic analysis of reducing greenhouse gas emissions on farm and regional level: Evaluation of the AgroCO2ncept program in Flaachtal (Switzerland). Funding: Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture.

  • 2017-2021: Towards SUstainable and REsilient EU FARMing systems (SURE Farm). Funding: Horizon 2020 (EC)

  • 2016-2020: Values of species diversity in grassland production – An ecological economic assessment (DIVERSGRASS). Funding: Zurich-Basel Plant Science Center - Mercator Fellowship Program.

  • 2016-2019: Determinants of risk management in Swiss agriculture – the example of Drosophila Suzukii (DROSOPHRISK). Funding: Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture and Task Force Drosophila Suzuki.

  • 2016-2017. Theoretical foundations and empirical specification of decision rules in agricultural agent-based modelling approaches: Current state and future prospects. Swiss National Science Foundation.

  • 2016-2019: Portfolio management to value grassland ecosystem goods and services in Swiss agriculture (VALUEGRASS). Funding: ETH Zurich Research Grants.

  • 2015-2016: Pesticide use and regulation under risk considerations. Funding: Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture.

  • 2014-2015: MisCas - Cascade Utilization of Miscanthus to increase resource efficiency. Funding: Bioeconomy Science Center (North-Rhine Westphalia).

  • 2012-2013: Evaluation of Policy Instruments at the Swiss Milk Market. Funding: Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture.

Current lectures at ETH Zurich (find more information on our teaching here)

Bachelor (in German)

• • World Food System

  • Introduction to Agricultural Management

  • Production, Investment and Risk Management in Agriculture

Postgraduate (in English)

• • Risk Analysis and Risk Management in Agriculture

  • Current Topics in Agricultural Economics and Policy

    1. • Evaluation of Agricultural Policy

  • PhD Course  within the Doctoral Certificate Program in Agricultural Economics: Risk Analysis & Management in Agriculture: Theory and Applications 

Refereeing (see my Publons profile for an overview of review activities >>)

Selected Journals I provided reviews for: Nature, Science, Nature Sustainability, Nature Communication, Nature Food, Nature Geoscience, Environmental Research Letters, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural Economics, European Review of Agricultural Economics, Journal of Agricultural Economics, Food Policy, Agricultural Systems, Climatic Change, Ecological Economics, Land Use Policy, Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, Agribusiness, Economic Modeling, Water Resources Research, Agricultural Water Management, Environmental Modeling and Software, and many others

Memberships

European Association of Agricultural Economists (EAAE), German Society of Economic and Social Sciences in Agriculture (GEWISOLA), International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE), Swiss Society for Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology (SGA-SSE), Agricultural Economics Society (AES)