Andrés Gvirtz, PhD

King’s Business School · Department of Marketing · Bush House (N)2.11 · WC2B 4BG · London, UK andres.gvirtz@kcl.ac.uk

Andrés Gvirtz is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Marketing Technology and Innovation at King‘s Business School at King‘s College London. His research focuses on ‘who’ and ‘where’ consumers are, aiming to improve our understanding of consumer behaviour by combining personality data (who) with spatial information (where). Additionally, he is a Research Affiliate at the King's Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

Andrés advises several technology start-ups and routinely collaborates with companies, e.g. with Nokia Bell Labs. He has a background in management consulting, having worked at McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, UBS and PwC.

Before joining King’s College London, he was a supervisor for Marketing at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge and taught Psychometrics at the Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, where he was nominated for the Student Led Teaching Awards. At King’s, he has been awarded an Innovation Education Fund, shortlisted for the Dean’s Awards (Teaching) and nominated for the King’s Education Awards.

Andrés holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Cambridge and was a Visiting Fellow at Harvard Business School. At Cambridge, he was a finalist for the Cambridge Applied Research award and held the honorary Vice-Chancellor Award (Cambridge Trust), an Economic and Social Research Council studentship (ESRC-UKRI) and was selected as a Peterhouse Scholar.

Previously, he received a MPhil in Psychology (University of Cambridge) and a BA in Economics and Psychology (Clark University) as a scholar of the German National Academic Foundation (Studienstiftung) and the Gerhard C Starck Foundation. Andrés is looking forward to hearing from interested researchers, students and industry partners, please reach out via e-mail.


Cambridge
Harvard
Yale
Heidelberg
Clark
Clark

Education

University of Cambridge

PhD in Psychology
Supervisor: Dr Rentfrow, Advisor: Dr Lee de Wit
PhD Committee: Dr Sander van der Linden, Dr Sandra Matz

Harvard University, Harvard Business School

Visiting Fellow
Sponsor: Prof. Jon M. Jachimowicz

University of Cambridge

MPhil in Biological Science (Psychology)
Supervisor: Dr Rentfrow

Yale University

Visiting Researcher (Economics)
Supervisor: Prof. Michael Peters

Heidelberg University

Visiting Researcher (Psychology)
Supervisor: Prof. Klaus Fiedler

Clark University

B.A. in Economics & Psychology
Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa & Commencement Speaker

Research assistantships

Harvard University

Research Assistant (Psychology)
Supervisor: Prof. Ken Nakayama (Chair of the Psychology Department)

Cornell University

Research Assistant (Psychology)
Supervisor: Prof. Cutting (Chair of the Psychology Department)

Clark University

Research Assistant (Psychology)
Supervisor: Prof. Andrew Stewart

Judge Business School
Compact Copters
McKinsey
Boston Consulting Group
UBS
PWC

Professional Experiences

Business school & Psychology supervisor

I taught the theory and implementation of Psychometrics to undergraduate students at the University of Cambridge, and was a Supervisor for Marketing and Organisational Behaviour to graduate students at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

I have been a Y-Combinator finalist, as well as an analyst for blue-chip companies. An extended interest in aerospace lead to the creation of CompactCopters, a stealth company looking into making industry inspections safer.

A cool side project CompactCopters supported are drones dancing in a show. You can see part of the performance in Britain got talent, or a making of video here.

Corporate engagements

Past gigs include working as summer analyst / associate at:

• McKinsey & Company

• Boston Consulting Group

• UBS

• PricewaterhouseCoopers

I worked especially with finance clients, helping them realize organizational goals with the help of data analysis. Examples include using advanced analytics insights to improve debt collection by remodelling a bank’s communication strategy or automizing an analysis tool diagnosing cooperation issues within functional units of organisations. In addition, I also worked as a Data Science Researcher for the Nokia Bell Labs.


Funding

My research is supported through the generosity of many individuals, foundations and governments. The following Lists Scholarships/Awards/Grants with a value >1000 EUR
PhD:   
Economic Social Research Council: Doctoral Training Program Studentship GBP 25,011
Economic Social Research Council: Fieldwork Award GBP 3,216
Peterhouse PhD Studentship GBP 42,390
Peterhouse Bruckmann Award GBP 1,500
Department of Psychology Research Funding GBP 2,700
Department of Psychology Fieldwork Award GBP 1,879
Cambridge Trust: Vice Chancellor Award (Accepted Honorary) GBP 42,390

MPhil:
 
German National Academic Foundation: Tuition &  Maintenance Award           EUR 19,350
Gerhard C. Starck Foundation: Master Stipend EUR 8,400
Department of Psychology Research Funding GBP 900

B.A.:
 
Clark University Highest International Student Merit Award USD 141,000
Clark University: Herman A. Witkin Memorial Fellowship for Research in Psychology USD 1,200
Clark University: Chandler Bailey Award for outstanding results in Economics USD 1,500
German National Academic Foundation: Tuition & Maintenance Awards EUR 32,600
Gerhard C. Starck Foundation: Bachelor Stipend EUR 34,800
Claussen-Simon Foundation: Study Abroad Grant EUR 5,000

Other:
 
Claussen-Simon Foundation: Conference & Study Award                    EUR 8,000
Cornell Club of Germany: Research Award EUR 1,500
Ghaemian Foundation (Reutax AG) Research Award EUR 1,000
WOBI Award for World Business Forum USD 3,600

Interests

I am extremely grateful for the many institutions that provided mentorship and companionship throughout my education.

Most of my education was made possible through a generous scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation (Studienstiftung). I serve nowadays on the selection committee for new scholars, and during my studies served five years as scholars’ representative.

I was on the student committee of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), organising professional development opportunities for graduate students. We also coordinated international writing groups, with over five hundred involved graduate students up to date.

At Cambridge, I served as graduate representative, making sure that graduate students’ concerns are heard at the administrative and faculty level. We created a graduate buddy system to improve students’ well-being.

I still feel very connected with my undergraduate, and am happy to be part of the young alumni council. During my undergraduate, I served as president of the student government.

In my free time, I enjoy photography and playing floorball, a version of indoor hockey. I had previously played for 12 years for the UCH/Floorball Club Heidelberg (Germany). I also rowed (crew) for two terms for King’s College Cambridge – but decided that I rather spend 5 am in bed.

Rowing
9 year old me practicing for Cambridge rowing