Andreas Balthasar studied economics and economic history at the University of Bern and then worked as a research associate at the Research Center for the History and Sociology of Swiss Politics at the University of Bern. He completed a Ph.D. in political science at the University of Bern under Prof. E. Gruner, Chair of Social History and Sociology of Swiss Politics, in 1985, completed a habilitation (post-doctoral qualification for research and teaching at professorial level) at the Faculty of Economics & Social Science at the University of Bern in the spring of 2007, and was named titular professor of political science at the University of Lucerne in 2010. Andreas Balthasar founded Interface in Lucerne in 1991 and has since conducted nearly one hundred evaluations. In addition to heading the firm, he serves mainly as an evaluation consultant to various federal offices. He is also active in research on social and health policy and manages diverse evaluation projects. From 1987 to 2005 he taught at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Bern. In addition, he headed further training courses in evaluation. He has been teaching at the Department of Political Science of the University of Lucerne since 2007.

 

Bibliography
Key Aspects of Research

Ueli Haefeli studied history, psychology, and musicology at the University of Bern and then worked as a research associate/senior research associate at the Center for General Ecology at the University of Bern from 1990 to 2001. He completed a Ph.D. at the University of Bern under Prof. Christian Pfister (Department of History, Section for Economic, Social and Environmental History) in 1994, completed a habilitation (post-doctoral qualification for research and teaching at professorial level) in contemporary history at the University of Bern in 2007, and was named titular professor of sustainable mobility at the University of Bern in 2009. Ueli Haefeli joined Interface in 2001. He is a partner in the firm and heads the “Transport, Environment, and Energy” area. He specializes in transport issues and focuses on evaluations of transport projects, analysis of transport trends and mobility behavior, and consulting on sustainability issues and mobility. In addition, he regularly conducts evaluations of projects in the fields of environment, energy, and regional development.

 

Bibliography

Noëlle Bucher studied social and communication sciences at the University of Lucerne; her B.A. degree thesis was on the compatibility of work/university and family. During her studies, she worked at the Education Department of the City of Lucerne. After completing her B.A., she did an internship at the Federal Office for Sport and worked as a freelance journalist. Ms. Bucher worked for one year as an intern at Interface. She joined Interface as an associate in the “Education and Family” area in March 2010. She is currently also working towards a Master’s degree in sociology with a concentration in organizations.

Miriam Christen completed training as an esthetician and make-up artist, and for many years she ran her own business as an esthetician. She made a career change in the fall of 2008, starting work in IT at a national Swiss company for building and plumbing supplies. In addition to IT support at that company, she was also responsible for employee internal training in German and French. Miriam Christen joined Interface in 2010 and works in IT support and the office. 

Olivier Dolder studied political sciences at the University of Geneva and public management and policy with a specialisation in public economics at the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration (IDHEAP) in Lausanne and at the University of Neuchâtel. During his studies he worked as research assistant at the public marketing and management chair at IDHEAP. Olivier Dolder joined Interface in 2010 where he works mainly in the department of Organization and Public Management. 

Birgit Laubereau is a physician with clinical experience in internal medicine and pediatrics. She completed a postgraduate Master of Public Health degree with a concentration in quantitative methods at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich, Germany, in 2001. She then worked for several years on design and coordination of a number of clinical epidemiological studies and statistical analysis of the data. From 2004 to 2008 she planned and analyzed various population-wide surveys to build the foundations for data-based decision-making by the Bavarian State Ministry of Public Health. Birgit Laubereau joined Interface in 2009.