Dr. Alice Aubert

Dr. Alice Aubert

ZHAW School of Life Sciences and Facility Management
Institute of Natural Resource Sciences
Grüentalstrasse 14
8820 Wädenswil

+41 58 934 56 06
alice.aubert@zhaw.ch

Work at ZHAW

Position

Senior researcher

Focus

Environmental sciences - society interface
Participatory decision-making, e.g. Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis process
Behavioral Operations Research, e.g. biases and heuristics in decision-making
Gamification and serious games for decision-making
Citizen sciences
Water quality, agricultural and food systems, sustainability

Teaching

Research Methods (in MSc ENR)
Food Systems and Natural Resources (in MSc Circular Economy Management)

Experience

Senior Researcher
Geography of food group, ZHAW-IUNR, Wädenswil (CH)
09 / 2022 - today
Scientist (SNSF Ambizione Fellow)
Environmental Social Sciences department, Eawag, Dübendorf (CH)
03 / 2018 - 05 / 2023
Post doctoral scientist (Eawag Postdoc Stipendium 2015)
Environmental Social Sciences department, Eawag, Dübendorf (CH)
10 / 2015 - 12 / 2017
Post doctoral scientist
Institute of Landscape Ecology and Resources Management, Justus Liebig University, Giessen (DE)
09 / 2014 - 09 / 2015

Education and Continuing education

Education

PhD / environmental sciences, agro-hydrology
Agrocampus Ouest, Rennes (FR)
11 / 2010 - 10 / 2013
Ing. Agricultural Sciences (eq. Master) / Major in natural sciences (water and soil sciences), basis of social sciences (environmental economy, geography, agricultural politics).
Agrocampus Ouest, Rennes (FR)
09 / 2006 - 09 / 2010

Continuing Education

CAS Higher Education Didactics
Zurich University of Teacher Education, Zurich (CH)
04 / 2024

Network

Membership of networks

ORCID digital identifier

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-6613-5942

Social media

ResearchGate

Projects

Publications

Articles in scientific journal, peer-reviewed

Lacroix, S. et al. (2026) 'Uncovering stakeholder preferences for urban blue-green infrastructure siting : insights from online swing weights elicitation', Cities, 179(107638). doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2026.107638.
Egger, M. et al. (2026) 'Consolidation of shared sustainability visions through deliberative multicriteria evaluation in Ecuadorian cocoa farming communities', PLOS Sustainability and Transformation, 5(9), p. e0000279. doi: 10.1371/journal.pstr.0000279.
Jaisli, I. and Aubert, A. (2026) 'Stakeholder evaluation of livestock scenarios in Switzerland using value-based multi-criteria analysis', Agricultural Systems, 239(104937). doi: 10.1016/j.agsy.2026.104937.
Geisser, T. and Aubert, A. (2026) 'Corrigendum to 'Social network analysis to identify actors for participatory food system transformation : learning from two case studies in Switzerland' [J. Rural Stud. 123 (2026) 104071]', Journal of Rural Studies, 124(104161). doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104161.
Geisser, T. and Aubert, A. (2026) 'Social network analysis to identify actors for participatory food system transformation : learning from two case studies in Switzerland', Journal of Rural Studies, 123(104071). doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104071.
Buehler, D. et al. (2025) 'Drivers for the adoption of circular water systems at the building level in a high-income context', Water Research X, 29(100416). doi: 10.1016/j.wroa.2025.100416.
Aubert, A. H. et al. (2025) 'Balancing reality, meaning, and play - the case of a digital game about the Swiss food system : a reflection on Foodscape's design journey and its lessons for future serious games', Gaia, 34(3), pp. 143–149. doi: 10.14512/gaia.34.3.13.
Aubert, A. H., Scheidegger, A. and Schmid, S. (2023) 'Gamified online surveys : assessing experience with self-determination theory', PLOS ONE, 18(10), p. e0292096. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0292096.
Aubert, A. H. and Lienert, J. (2023) 'Operational research for, with, and by citizens : an overview', European Journal of Operational Research, 316(3), pp. 800–814. doi: 10.1016/j.ejor.2023.10.037.
Aubert, A. H., Schmid, S. and Lienert, J. (2023) 'Can online interfaces enhance learning for public decision-making? : eliciting citizens' preferences for multicriteria decision analysis', European Journal of Operational Research, 314(2), pp. 760–775. doi: 10.1016/j.ejor.2023.10.031.

Book chapters, peer-reviewed

Bekius, F., Aubert, A. H. and Koopman, L. (2026) 'Participatory game theory interventions to support multi-actor decision-making on grand challenges : a case study of the Dutch dairy sector', in Hoorani, B. H. and Rouwette, E. (eds) Methodology to address grand challenges : theory, practice and interventions. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 158–192. doi: 10.4337/9781035314317.00013.

Written conference contributions, peer-reviewed

Bühler, D. et al. (2025) 'Drivers for the adoption of circular water systems at the building level in a high-income context', in 13th IEES International Conference 'Closed Cycles and the Circular Society – The Power of Ecological Engineering', Reykjavik, Iceland, 16-18 July 2025.
Aubert, A. et al. (2024) 'Water and Nutrient Circularity as a Service (WaNCaaS) : a feasibility study for new business models to close the water and nutrient cycles in the food industry', in FTAL Conference 2024 – Circular Economy, Lugano, Switzerland, 14-15 November 2024.

Other publications

Aubert, A., Buchmann, F. and Böckler, N. (2026) 'ZirkuLAr : spielerisch Kreislaufwirtschaft in der Landwirtschaft fördern', in Circular Lab Konferenz : Interdisziplinäres Forum zur Zukunft der Land- und Ernährungswirtschaft, St. Gallen, Schweiz, 22. April 2026. Wädenswil: ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-36496.
Grau, M. et al. (2026) 'Wasser- und Nährstoffkreisläufe schliessen', Aqua & Gas, 2026(4), pp. 54–57. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-36352.
Pfändler, N. et al. (2026) 'Wasser- und Nährstoffkreisläufe schliessen : kann in der Lebensmittelindustrie ein neues Geschäftsmodell den Kreislauf schliessen?', Aqua & Gas, 2026(4), pp. 54–57.

Oral conference contributions and abstracts

Aubert, A. (2026) 'Building hierarchies of objectives to integrate interdisciplinary sustainability research : a reflective study', in 102nd Meeting of the EURO Working Group in Multiple Criteria Decision Aiding (EWG-MCDA), Zurich, Switzerland, 17-19 September 2026.
Aubert, A. and Jaisli, I. (2025) 'Rethinking livestock future : behavioural insights from value-focused thinking and MCDA', in 34th European Conference on Operational Research (EURO), Leeds, United Kingdom, 22-25 June 2025.
Aubert, A. and Jaisli, I. (2025) 'Actors' trade-off preferences matter : an illustrative case based on Swiss agricultural policy for the future of livestock production', in 53. Jahrestagung der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Agrarwirtschaft und Agrarsoziologie (SGA), Bern, Switzerland, 8-9 May 2025.
Aubert, A. (2024) 'Participatory weighting and decision-making', in 88th LCA Discussion Forum Frontiers in Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment – How can Life Cycle Thinking embrace the Triple Bottom Line?, Wädenswil, Switzerland, 22 November 2024. Available at: https://video.ethz.ch/events/lca/2024/autumn/88th/398d52a5-5451-4162-95c5-83ab8aca7c9e.html.
Aubert, A. (2024) 'Playing a card game in a workshop to generate decision objectives : pretesting the evaluation', in 33rd European Conference on Operational Research (EURO), Copenhagen, Denmark, 30 June - 3 July 2024.
Aubert, A. H., Mittal, A. and Scholten, L. (2023) 'Game-based approaches for Behavioural Operational Research?', in Workshop of the European Working Group on Behavioural OR (EWG BOR), Delft, The Netherlands, 21-22 September 2023.
Aubert, A. H. (2023) 'Gamifying online surveys to engage citizens in complex decision-making', in SHiFT COST Action Conference "Reflections on Transformation: Shaping the Future, Transcending Disciplinary Silos and Exploring 'Lived' Knowledge Systems", Graz, Austria, 18-19 September 2023.
Aubert, A. H. (2023) 'Reflecting on inputs from learning sciences for BOR studies', in Workshop of the European Working Group on Behavioural OR (EWG BOR), Delft, The Netherlands, 21-22 September 2023.