Professor Martin Obschonka

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Director, Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research

Summary:

  • Martin Obschonka is a psychologist working in the research fields vocational development, entrepreneurship, economic culture, social and economic change, and applied personality psychology.                                                                                                
  • He is currently Director of the Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research and Full Professor of Entrepreneurship in the QUT Business School, Brisbane, Australia (School of Management). In 2018 he was appointed as International Faculty Fellow at MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, MA, USA.                                                                                                                                                                        
  • He is Chair of the Academic Committee of the annual ACERE conference (Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research Exchange) and Associated Editor of Small Business Economics and International Journal of Psychology.

 

Short CV:

Education/positions

After completing an advanced vocational training as a wholesale and foreign trade manager in Germany, Martin earned a diploma in psychology (highest honors) from the University of Hamburg, Germany, and a PhD (highest honors) and a habilitation in psychology from the University of Jena, Germany. He was a postdoctoral fellow of the Pathways International Postdoc Programme, funded by the Jacobs Foundation. He was Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Psychology at Saarland University, Germany. He is currently Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship in the QUT Business School (School of ManagementAustralian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research) and International Faculty Fellow at MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, MA, USA.

 

Research topics

His research involves projects on entrepreneurial development over the lifespan, entrepreneurial regions  and culture, public policy, human capital, personality, geographical psychology, organisational behaviour, well-being and stress, and social and economic change. He has an interest in interdisciplinary projects, cross-cultural perspectives, innovative data and data collection methods, and also in the practical application of new scientific knowledge.

 

Publications

He has published his research in psychology journals (e.g., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of PersonalityEuropean Journal of PersonalityJournal of Vocational Behavior, European Psychologist), entrepreneurship journals (e.g., Journal of Business VenturingEntrepreneurship: Theory & PracticeSmall Business Economics), economics journals (e.g., European Economic ReviewIndustrial and Corporate Change), economic geography journals (e.g., Regional StudiesEnvironment and Planning A), finance (Journal of Baning & Finance), and interdisciplinary journals (e.g., PLOS ONE).

 

Editorial and committee work

He works as Associate Editor of Small Business Economics and International Journal of Psychology. He worked in regional capacity building projects for the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS) and was a member of the Standing Committee for Publication and Communication (SCPC) of IUPsyS. He is chair of the Research & Development Committee of the School of Management, QUT.