The Authors

Welcome

Graduates’ research affinity is a central outcome of every academic education. Yet, the critical research experience at the end of most academic programmes turns out as less than it could be.

This is where we begin our investigation into how to make the student research journey a more fulfilling, purposeful, and essentially convincing one. We are excited to welcome you to the companion website of our new book on the matter.

Take a look around and always feel welcome if you consider reaching out to us to discuss how to make the student research experience an even better one.

With best regards,

Omid and Benjamin

Hello, I am Omid

Professor Omid Aschari (omid.aschari@unisg.ch) is an Associate Professor of Strategic Management and founding Managing Director of the globally respected flagship Master in Strategy and International Management (SIM-HSG) at the University of St. Gallen since its inception in 2003. Today it is widely respected for educational excellence and innovation. SIM-HSG has been ranked number 1 in the world for a record-setting eleventh consecutive year by the Financial Times Global Master‘s of Management Ranking.
Omid is an experienced international Executive Coach with an own practice. His 25 years of experience includes positions as manager, entrepreneur, management consultant and trainer. His views are continuously picked up by media. In public appearances he addresses topics of high significance for leaders and organizations. In 2021, Omid received the Mentor Award of the SHSG University of St.Gallen. Twice, he was nominated for the CS Award for Best Teaching. In 2007, he received a "Master of Arts HSG Honoris Causa" award from the SIM Alumni Association. Among others, he is member of the Beta Sigma Honor Society and Honorary Member of the Sigma Squared Society.
Omid studied Business Administration at the Johannes Kepler Universität Linz, Austria, and graduated with an M.B.A. from the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management, CA, U.S.A.. He received a Ph.D. (Organizational Transformation) from the Johannes Kepler Universität Linz, Austria. He holds several professional certifications in the field of training, coaching and leadership development.
Omid was born in Austria into a Bahá’í family, lives in St.Gallen, Switzerland, married and father of three children. He has a culturally diverse background and views himself as a committed world citizen. In his extra-occupational activities, he takes on social concerns. In addition to sports and music, his interests include studies in philosophy, comparative world faiths, astrophysics and the arts.

Omid’s answers to the authors interview

Listen to the answers

Describe one realization that helps you while writing and conducting research projects.

What do you do when you get stuck?

Which thoughts in the book resonated most with you, personally? Why?

What does success look like in terms of the book, to you personally?

Where would you like to see student research in the next five to ten years?

What might "supercharge" student research at most universities?

What are lessons from your field that can help student researchers during their projects?

Hi, I am Benjamin

Dr. oec HSG Benjamin Berghaus (benjamin@brghs.de) is a scientific entrepreneur at the intersection of research, education, and practice in his field. Since 2018, Benjamin has established himself to work a broad portfolio of self- and co-initiated projects geared towards fostering young people at the transition from the academic to the professional phase of their lives.
Benjamin has co-founded and leads the development and analysis of the Career Profiler project. The Career Profiler project enables 25 Swiss universities to better counsel their students on suitable career paths, generate insight into the prevailing career-related attitudes and goals of students. He is in the process of founding Research Stride, a digital contextual offer to this book which strengthens students’ self-leadership skills, makes exchange among students and supervisors more efficient, and enables universities to generate transparency over the countless ongoing projects and ways their institution makes a contribution to their constituencies. Furthermore, Benjamin is a former core faculty member of the Master in Strategy and International Management (SIM-HSG) at the University of St. Gallen. He teaches regularly at the MBA programme of University of St. Gallen and builds on international teaching experiences with leading schools like ESMT Berlin, EM Lyon, Hanken SSE, Rotterdam School of Management, among others, as well as his formal university teaching qualification by University of St. Gallen.
Benjamin received his Ph.D. from University of St. Gallen for his research on prestigious employer preference among job seekers and his Master degree from University of Hildesheim, Germany, for his research on entry level vocabulary modules in multilingual information retrieval systems. During his Ph.D. programme, Benjamin initiated and co-founded a Competence Center on Luxury Management which he led for five years. He is an established researcher, teacher, and speaker on the subject of managing prestigious brands. Before his Ph.D., he worked as a manager in the German automotive industry.
Benjamin was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Today, he lives with his wife in Munich, Germany. An information scientist by original training, marketeer by career fortune, management researcher and educator by stroke of luck, and academic mentor and scientific entrepreneur by conviction, Benjamin follows his career as an exploration rather than as if guided by a strict itinerary. Benjamin is a tech nerd, loves to bake his own bread, and cherishes long walks and talks with those dear to him.

Benjamin’s answers to the authors interview