Prof. Dr. Sebastian Hess was born in 1975 in Kassel. He successfully completed his training to become a farmer and then went on to study Agricultural Economics at the University of Göttingen and University of California, Davis from 1998 to 2003. He obtained his doctorate in Agricultural Science in Göttingen in 2007, followed by his Swedish post-doctoral lecturing qualification in Economics in 2013.
Professor Hess was then first employed as a postdoc (2008), then assistant professor (2011), and finally associate professor (2013) at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Uppsala, Sweden. During this time, he also took on the role of Interim Professor of Agricultural Marketing at the University of Göttingen from 2009 to 2010. From 2014-2019, he was Chair of Dairy and Food Industry Economics at Kiel University. Since 2019, he has been a tenured Professor and Director of the Department of Agricultural Markets at the University of Hohenheim. He is also Director of the Research Center for Cooperatives.
In addition to his academic career, since 2008 Professor Hess has also been involved in policy consulting projects for the World Bank and the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation).
His work and research topics include agricultural markets, pricing, product differentiation, and delivery relationships in markets and value chains, the importance and development of cooperatives in the agricultural sector, international trade, market, and price policy. Professor Hess was appointed to the role of Vice President for Academic Affairs in April 2024 and is responsible for all matters related to academic affairs at the University of Hohenheim.
