Professor Jacob Lund Orquin receives Sapere Aude grant for project on consumer choices
On 5 December 2018, Jacob Lund Orquin from the Department of Management received a grant of DKK 5,849,529 from the Danish Council for Independent Research’s Sapere Aude programme for his project, which aims to define a model for the consumers’ choice of products.
As the first of its kind, the project “Rethinking the Choice Process” integrates new breakthroughs within cognitive research, neuroscience and economics. The project involves leading international researchers and aims to develop a mathematical model for describing which products consumers notice and choose in supermarkets, webshops, etc.
Understanding contributes to basic research and strengthens sustainability
The aim of the model is to enhance our understanding of the psychological processes that drive consumer decisions and to improve our ability to predict specific consumer choices. The ability to predict consumer choices plays a key role in socially responsible marketing and in public policy and may contribute to making consumers more likely to choose healthier or more sustainable products in the future.
“I hope that my research will lead us towards more realistic behavioural models. At the moment, only very few theories are able to explain how ordinary people make choices outside the lab. Our research can also be used to guide consumers towards healthier or more sustainable products in the future,” says Jacob L. Orquin.
The grant will go towards conducting psychological experiments involving eye tracking, which is a technology that measures our eye movements, towards travelling and research dissemination and not least towards the appointment of a postdoc to help conduct the research.
“Naturally, I’m really happy and a little proud to have made it through the three selection rounds in the Sapere Aude programme. And not least, I’m relieved not to have to receive a rejection letter. It always stings a bit when your papers or research applications are rejected although it’s an unavoidable part of the process,” concludes Orquin.
About Sapere Aude
Since 2010, the Danish Council for Independent Research (DFF) has been awarding generous grants to both junior and senior researchers through the researcher talent development programme Sapere Aude. The grants are awarded with the aim of strengthening research at a high international level.
Further information
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