Work on cruise ships leads to a career in marketing academia
Ph.D. candidate brings a unique perspective to marketing research and solving problems
Ph.D. marketing candidate Julia van de Sandt has chosen to blend her academic curiosity with her passion for teaching marketing students and her background in cruise ship cost management.
Raised in Germany, van de Sandt completed her undergraduate degree there before pursuing a double-degree masters program that brought her to the United States. By the end of her second year in the U.S., she had successfully earned both her German degree in international business management and her U.S. MBA degree — an accomplishment that reflects the global perspective and grit that have defined her academic path.
“Prior to the PhD, I worked for a long time in industry, almost a decade, and I was always intrigued by just solving challenges that would come up. But over time, you have to quickly turn challenges into opportunities,” she says. “There was never the time to really look into problems in depth, and I was hoping a Ph.D. would give me a more fundamental understanding of issues that are in the marketplace.”
Her research explores how subtle cues guide decision-making without people realizing it.
“I research information on framing and product materials, and how they affect judgment and decision-making in sustainability and financial decision-making”, van de Sandt says.
As she moved deeper into academic work, she began to appreciate the discipline research demands.
“I think research sets you up with a unique skill set because you need to get a critical thinking ability and also the persistence to drill through readings and data,” van de Sandt says.
Her projects span online data disclosure, credit card materials, and circularity labels, each revealing the hidden beliefs that influence everyday choices.
“If an online form is broken into categories, you will actually give up more data than if it’s just a list (published in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research) she explains. “We find that the material of a credit card affects payment decisions. People match the feel of the card with the price of an item.”
Her sustainability research uncovers similar patterns.
“When packaging says ‘made from recycled materials,’ consumers are more likely to recycle it — even if it can’t be recycled at all,” she says.
Before her foray into academia, she spent years as a financial controller on cruise ships doing inventory controls and revenue and cost controls, where high-pressure work shaped her resiliency and problem-solving skills.
“I worked 14 to 16 hours a day, seven days a week, for six months straight. Amid those long shifts, we sometimes had the chance to visit temples or explore local sites — extraordinary experiences, but incredibly demanding,” she says. “Life on a cruise ship is like living in a parallel society, you can’t carry conflicts for days — you have to solve problems immediately.”
The result of that demanding environment was a lasting shift in how she handles obstacles.
“That experience toughened me. Now, during my Ph.D., I don’t dwell on problems — I focus on solving them,” she says.
van de Sandt says teaching at the Moore School has been equally rewarding. She’s found joy in helping students grasp complex ideas, supporting their academic journeys, and building meaningful connections along the way.
“I like this view or this look on the students’ faces when this light bulb goes up over them,” she says. “When I can tell that they have this aha moment, that they can finally make sense of something.”
van de Sandt recently concluded her term as chair of the American Marketing Association special interest group for marketing doctoral students in 2024 and 2025, where she focused on elevating access and strengthening the national doctoral community.
“We break down barriers, but just overall bring the doctoral student community together,” she says. “We have about 600 members, and so that's pretty much every school that has a doctoral program or Ph.D. program in the United States, and then schools in Europe, Asia, Australia.”
Life outside academia has been full for van de Sandt as well; she welcomed her first child this year and credits planning and mentorship of her advisor Dr. Elise Chandon Ince for helping her balance Ph.D. work with motherhood.
Looking ahead to graduation in May 2027, van de Sandt plans to pursue a faculty position where she can continue her research on consumer behavior, sustainability and decision-making while inspiring the next generation of business leaders.