Agnieszka Tymula: Neuroeconomics, and an Interdisciplinary Approach to Research

DECISION SCIENCES IS THIS BOCCONI ALUMNA'S FIELD. TYMULA IS ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AT THE CHARLES PERKINS CENTRE SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

She studies how the human mind makes decisions in relation to economic-financial topics, and in particular she analyzes how rationality is often influenced by a series of emotional factors - so much so that those factors provoke choices which seem to be irrational. Agnieszka Tymula, Associate Professor at the Charles Perkins Centre School of Economics at the University of Sydney, told us about her career: “I chose this particular school because it has a propensity for promoting multidisciplinary research. In neuroeconomics, my field, we need to be able to encompass a variety of sciences. Here, thanks to exchange and collaboration with my colleagues in psychiatry, the neurosciences and philosophy, I have the opportunity to move freely amongst a variety of research areas, and I’m encouraged to create interdisciplinary connections”.

During her Master and PhD studies at Bocconi, Agnieszka Tymula started to investigate decision sciences, and today she is considered to be a leading exponent of the field. After completing her PhD, she went to the Institute for the Interdisciplinary Study of Decision Making (IISDM) at New York University, where she worked as an experimental researcher at the Glimcher Lab, thanks to a scholarship she received from the Axa Foundation. “I continue to work at NYU as a Visiting Professor, and in collaboration with its researchers. I work with Paul Glimcher, in particular; we manage a two-year neuroeconomics summer school, along with Hilke Plassmann (INSEAD) and Nathaniel Daw (Princeton), who also help guide this project”. Neuroeconomics is an emerging sector which Agnieszka Tymula is helping to develop through her research: “the freedom of thought that is allowed when working in a research area that isn’t yet fully explored is simply extraordinary. Of course, I certainly haven’t done everything by myself. Over the years there have been certain people who have given me the energy I needed to persevere when faced with obstacles, and get to where I am today: Pierpaolo Battigalli, who was my mentor during my studies at Bocconi, Camelia Kuhnen, and of course,  Paul Glimcher”.

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by Allegra Gallizia