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Find out more about the team behind the Lloyds Banking Group Centre for Business Prosperity.
Zheng (Chris) Cao is Lecturer in Economics at Aston Business School. He joined the school in September 2018. Prior to that, he worked as a post-doctoral research fellow at University of Surrey and a research assistant at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He holds a Ph.D. in Tourism Economics, an M.Sc. in Economics and a B.Econ. in Finance.
Chris’ expertise lies in tourism demand analysis, economic development, economic impact analysis and globalisation. He has extensive experience in carrying out applied economics research and has been involved in a number of externally funded projects, including ‘Analysis and forecast of socio-economic impact of Clean Sky’, ‘Economic impact of Watts Gallery’, ‘Economic impact and travel patterns of accessible tourism in Europe’ and ‘The economic effects of visa regulations on the demand for China’s tourism’. He has published a number of articles in top-tier internationally refereed journals, including Tourism Management, Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research, and International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
As the Lloyds Banking Group Centre for Business Prosperity Manager, Lynne oversees the daily operations associated with the Centre. Having 20 years experience in Higher Education, Lynne has previously worked as a Lead Coordinator for an Erasmus+ funded project, Aston University being the beneficiary institution.
Susan Schwarz is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Strategic Entrepreneurship at King’s College London; and editorial board member of Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.
Her research is on how human capital, social networks and psychological resources affect enterprise. Recent publications include papers in Journal of Vocational Behavior, International Small Business Journal, and AOM ‘Best Paper’ Proceedings.
Christos Ioannidis joined the Economics, Finance and Entrepreneurship Group at Aston Business School as Professor of Entrepreneurial Finance in 2016. He has previously held posts at The University of Bath, Cardiff Business School, University of Liverpool and Brunel University.
Recently he is involved with externally funded research projects that deal with the economics of information security. He has undertaken research as consultant for private financial institutions and government organisations (ONS, City of London Corporation, WDA etc).
He has successfully supervised eight doctoral students and currently supervising three full-time students, reading in credit market derivatives and their effects on systemic stability, modelling the term structure in fixed income security assets and the effectiveness of forecast combinations in financial markets and one part-time student researching the impact of the introduction of the common currency in European equity markets.
I joined Aston Business School in September 2011, having spent the previous two years as Visiting Lecturer at the University of Cyprus.
Prior to that, I was for two and a half years Research Fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for Research on Globalisation and Economic Policy (GEP), University of Nottingham.
Mustapha Douch is Research Fellow of the LBP. He graduated from the Universities of Modena & R.E., Bologna, KU Leuven and received his PhD degree from Loughborough.
Apart from being a highly skilled econometrician, Mustapha has research experience and expertise in International economics, macroeconomics, and applied econometrics.
Jun Du is currently a Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics, Finance and Entrepreneurship, Aston Business School, UK. She is an applied economist with her main research interest in understanding the driving forces and impediments of economic growth and development. Her research endeavour covers multi-level dimensions of individuals, firms, industries, regions, governments and their interplays, based on the observations drawn from different contexts of emerging countries as well as mature economies.
Jun received PhD degree in Economics from the Economics Department in University of Leicester. She held a visiting research fellowship in Stockholm School of Economics and is linked with Chinese Social Science Academy. She is also a research fellow in Advanced Institute of Management, and member of several professional bodies. Jun previously published in International Journal of Industrial Organization, Kyklos, Journal of Business Venturing, Research Policy, Empirical Economics, Journal of Productivity Analysis, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, International Journal of Business Studies, etc. Her research has received external funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), NESTA foundation, Leverhulme and various UK government agencies including UKTI, DTI and BIS, as well as local governments (Manchester and Birmingham).
Michail is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics, Finance and Entrepreneurship at Aston Business School.
His expertise lie in the areas of applied macroeconometrics, financial econometrics and advanced time series analysis.
Tomasz Mickiewicz is the 50th Anniversary Professor of Economics at Aston University, Birmingham; honorary research fellow at University College London; and associate editor of Regional Studies.
His research is on how formal and informal institutions affect performance and entrepreneurship. Recent publications include papers in Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of World Business and others.
Yama Temouri (PhD, Aston University, UK) is an Associate Professor in International Business at the University of Wollongong in Dubai, UAE and is also affiliated with the University of Aston in the UK.
His research focuses on the links between institutional quality across countries, Foreign Direct Investment and firm performance. With regards to FDI, he is particularly interested in the determinants of FDI in tax haven locations. Other work looks at the impact of agility, resilience and dynamic capabilities on firm performance. His papers have been published in the Journal of World Business, Journal of International Management, Corporate Governance: An International Review, Journal of Comparative Economics, among others. He also has extensive consultancy experience, including projects for the OECD, European Commission and several UK Government Departments.
Arash joined Aston Business School as a Lecturer in International Business and Strategy in September 2018. He completed his PhD in the Department of Management at the University of Otago, New Zealand. His primary research interest lies in the field of international business and strategy.
In particular, he is interested in studying the dynamics of international development of SMEs and the strategies for SMEs’ healthy, rapid growth. In his doctoral research he explored the consequences of adopting different international growth strategies. Specifically, his research examined the performance implications of rapid internationalisation among SMEs. Arash holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s in Industrial Management and Operations Research. Due to his diverse educational background, he has carried out some interdisciplinary research jointly with academics in the fields of Urban Planning, Energy Management, and Economics, which resulted in publications in these areas. Arash also has practical experience of working in different organisations, including small business consulting companies.
Nduka Uzoamaka joined the Aston Business School as a research student in July 2018, having received the Aston Prize scholarship funded by Aston University and Lloyds Banking Group.
She holds a Masters Degree in Econometrics from the University of Nottingham and her research interest is in the areas of International Economics, Trade and Applied Microeconometrics.
Xiaocan is currently a PhD student in the Department of Economics, Finance and Entrepreneurship, Aston Business School, UK.
Her research focuses on how management practices and managers’ capabilities affect companies’ performance and productivity.
Oleksandr Shepotylo has recently joined the Economics, Finance and Entrepreneurship at Aston Business School as a Lecturer in Economics.
His specialisms include trade policy, productivity and applied study of firm behaviour.
Enrico is a fellow in economic geography at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His research focuses on international economics, firms’ internationalization, innovation, trade policy and regional economics.
He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Birmingham and he has previously worked as a research fellow at the Enterprise Research Centre and collaborated as a consultant on several research projects focusing on the EU trade policies, international economics and development.
I joined Aston Business School in 2014, after completing my thesis at the University of Sheffield.
I teach quantitative methods courses at both MSc and undergraduate level, as well as some introduction to business economics courses. I have recently been engaged in consultancy for the ILO and research in labour economics and applied micro econometrics.
Ruoying Zhou is a Teaching Fellow at the University of Leicester since 2017.
She received her PhD in Economics from Economics, Finance and Entrepreneurship Group at Aston University. Her research interests are in innovation, firm internationalisation, firm growth, and regional development.
Sandra Lancheros is Lecturer in Economics at the University of Leeds since 2015. Her research interests are in the areas of international economics and industrial organisation, focusing on the effects of globalisation on firms’ performance.
She pays special attention to the activities of multinational companies, including their foreign direct investments, exporting and innovation. Her work has been published in international peer review journals, such as the Journal of International Economics, the Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organisation, the Journal of Development Studies, and the World Economy.
Sourafel Girma is a Professor of Industrial Economics at the University of Nottingham.
His research interests lie in microeconometric policy evaluation and the impact of globalisation on firms’ performance.
Dr Nguyen is a researcher in the field of small business and entrepreneurship. His main research interest is understanding the economics and management of new ventures and small businesses.
His research interest lies in several aspects of small businesses, including entrepreneurial financing, investment decisions, human resource management, and institutional settings on firm performance. Before joining academia, he spent several years in financial industry as a professional data analyst. Dr Nguyen has research published in Regional Studies, Journal of Small Business Management, Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business. He is serving as an Editor of the Journal of Asian Business and Economic Studies (Emerald). He also has several papers presented at Academy of Management Annual Meetings and has been an ad hoc reviewer for Small Business Economics and Regional Studies.
Hiro Izushi has a PhD from University of California at Berkeley and international experience in research and consultancy in innovation and regional economic development. Clients of his past research projects include OECD, NESTA, DTI, Scottish Enterprise, and South East England Development Agency, among others.
Hiro has co-authored and co-edited three books, including Competition, Competitive Advantage, and Clusters: The Ideas of Michael Porter (Oxford University Press), Competing for Knowledge: Creating, Connecting, and Growing (Routledge), and The Global Competitiveness of Regions (Routledge).
Meng Song is a Lecturer in Entrepreneurship. Her main research interests include understanding the driving force of firm innovation and growth, internationalisation strategies and impacts, and the interplay between firm behaviour, industry and institutions.
Her research plan for the next few years is to investigate topics related to trade, global value chain and economic development in the UK. Meng has worked in University of Birmingham and Cardiff University before re-joining Aston in 2019. Her previous research involved regional economic development in Wales and SMEs performance in the UK.
From June 2013 George has been the Executive Dean of Aston Business School, returning to the academic world, in which he began his professional career. From 2003 to May 2013 George was the founder and CEO of Contango Capital Advisors, a wealth management firm in San Francisco.
George has also been a Director of McKinsey & Co, working in the US and the UK, the Global Head of Investment Banking for SBC Warburg, the Global Head of Onshore Private Banking for Swiss Bank Corporation and then for UBS and a member of the Group Management Boards of both Swiss Bank Corporation and UBS. George has also been involved in a variety of venture capital activities.
He has been a frequent commentator on economic and financial topics in a variety of media. George was a Lecturer in Economics at Harvard and then Assistant and Associate Professor of Finance at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in the 1970s. George holds a B.Econ (Hons) from Monash University and a PhD in Economics from Harvard University. He was also a Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows at Harvard.
Mark is Deputy Director of the ERC, Associate Director in the Aston Centre for Growth and Professor of Small Business and Entrepreneurship at Aston Business School. At the Centre he is responsible for the research theme focusing on Business Demography, Productivity, Local Growth and Business Support.
At Aston University he is also one of the Programme Directors and Academic Lead for the national Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses programme and has worked and published extensively in the areas of entrepreneurship, enterprise and small business development and policy. A 2014 recipient of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion, he has played a national role in promoting enterprise skills and supporting entrepreneurs as well as advising government on small business and entrepreneurship matters. He also manages the GEM UK national team for GEM Global which is the only international source of annual evidence on entrepreneurial attitudes, activity and aspiration (www.gemconsortium.org).
Jim Love Is Professor of International Business in Leeds University Business School. He previously held Chairs in international business and economics at Aston, Birmingham and Warwick Universities, and a World class expert in the field of international business and innovation.
Jim has acted as a consultant on aspects of inward investment and innovation policy for a number of organizations including the OECD, UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), Advantage West Midlands, the Manchester Independent Economic Review, the Scottish Executive, Scottish Enterprise, Invest Northern Ireland, and Forfas (Dublin). He has held visiting chairs and fellowships at Copenhagen Business School and Wolfson College, Cambridge. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and of the Higher Education Academy, and is a former member of the Research Committee of the ESRC.
