Dr. Ivana Igic
Biography
Dr. Ivana Igic holds the position of docent and co-head of the Leadership and Communication study at the Military Academy (MILAK) at ETH. She started her academic career with a master's in psychology from the University of Belgrade. She then moved to Switzerland for further studies, earning a master's in work and organizational psychology and differential and personality psychology from the University of Bern. After obtaining her master's, she embarked on her doctoral journey at the same university, resulting in a Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. During this period, she also had the opportunity to serve as a visiting scholar at the University of California, Irvine. Following her doctorate, she held various positions at the University of Bern, including postdoctoral researcher, project leader, and senior researcher.
Beyond academia, Dr. Igic accumulated valuable experience by working for the market institute "Kantar" in Belgrad, contributing to various projects for a foundation with a legal mandate in Switzerland to initiate, coordinate and evaluate measures to promote health and prevent disease ("Gesundheitsförderung Schweiz"). She splits her time between her role at MILAK at ETH and her work for "Roche" in Basel.
Her research, which intersects organizational behavior, occupational health, and career research, employs advanced quantitative methodologies. She studies the effects of stressors and resource constellations, the role of social interactions, and their temporal variations within organizations. She shows particular interest in how individual and contextual factors impact health, well-being, and sustainable career development. Her findings provide valuable insights for leadership practice, illustrating how to cultivate leadership to mitigate unnecessary stress and promote employees' sustainable development. Current projects, for example, explore how leaders might foster or diminish resilience and well-being among followers, particularly in structured environments like the military.
Dr. Igic's work appears in prestigious scientific journals, including the Journal of Applied Psychology, the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, and the Journal of Organizational Behaviour.
Main Areas of Research
- Stress, Health, and Well-Being
- Leadership, Resilience, and Well-Being
- Appreciation in the Workplace
- Sustainable Career Paths
Ongoing research projects
- Decoding 'Good' Leadership: Promoting Resilience and Well-being in the Swiss Armed Forces (PI: Ivana Igic, 2024 - 2026)
Teaching
ETH / MILAK ETH
- Lecture Leadership (Bachelor in Public Policy ETH Zurich)
Leadership modules in continuing education courses 1, 2 and 3 (MILAK Birmensdorf) for advanced professional officers
Memberships
- Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP)
- European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology (EAWOP)
- Academy of Management (AOM)
- American Psychological Association (APA)
- Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Psychologie (SGP)