Jun Du Keynote Speech at the Institute of Management Services (IMS)

Lynne Woolley

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.

Dr. Susan Schwarz

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.

Prof. Christos Ioannidis

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.

Dr. Agelos Delis

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.

Dr. Mustapha Douch

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.

Prof. Jun Du

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).

Dr. Michail Karoglou

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.

Prof. Tomek Mickiwicz

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.

Dr. Yama Temouri

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.

Dr. Arash Sadeghi

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

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 Yuan

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.

Dr. Oleksandr Shepotylo

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.

Dr. Enrico Vanino

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.

Dr. David Morris

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.

Dr. Ruoying Zhou

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.

Dr. Sandra Lancheros Torres

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.

Prof. Sourafel Girma

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. Bach Nguyen

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.

Dr. Hiro Izushi

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).

Dr. Meng Song

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.