Professor Rico Merkert is Chair in Transport and Supply Chain Management, Deputy Director of the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, and Interim Head of School of International Business, Logistics and Supply Chains at the University of Sydney Business School. He earned a Master of Science in Business Administration (Dipl.-Kfm.) from the Berlin Institute of Technology in 2002, following an exchange program at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. Merkert completed his PhD in Transport Economics at the Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds, in 2009, with a thesis on rail transport economics supervised by Professor Chris Nash and Dr. Andrew Smith, during which he served as a Marie Curie Research Fellow. He also obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning, Teaching and Assessment in Higher Education from Cranfield University in 2012. Prior to joining the University of Sydney Business School's Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies in March 2012, he held lecturing positions at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, University of Potsdam, Leeds University Business School, and Cranfield University, where he was Lecturer in Air Transport Economics and Management and Head of the Centre for Air Transport in Remoter Regions. Merkert has undertaken visiting research fellowships at the University of California Haas School of Business, the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, and earlier at the University of Sydney.

Merkert's research specializations encompass aviation management, transport economics, supply chain management, logistics, benchmarking, performance measurement, risk analysis, global freight strategy, innovation, economic impact evaluation, forecasting, and sustainability strategies, including decarbonization in transport. His key publications include 'Willingness to pay for voluntary airline carbon offsets and sustainable aviation fuel' (2026), 'Value Creation in the Electric Vehicle Battery Supply Chain: An Event Study' (2025), 'Analyzing sectoral policies for deep decarbonization: the case of national freight transportation' (2025), 'Air Cargo and Supply Chain Management' (2024), and 'Logistics and Supply Chain Superpowers and Skills for Survival in the “New Normal” Globalized World' (2023). He serves as Associate Editor of Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Advisory Editor and past Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Air Transport Management, and Associate Editor of the Journal of Transport and Supply Chain Management. Merkert is a member of two U.S. Transportation Research Board standing committees and a Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg. He has received the Dean's Citation for Teaching Award from the University of Sydney Business School in 2016 and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Merkert provides strategic advisory services to clients including Qantas, Air New Zealand, Australia Post, Thales Group, Transport for NSW, the Australian Federal Government, and the Asian Development Bank.

Professional Email: rico.merkert@sydney.edu.au