İBRAHİM ERDEM SEÇİLMİŞ is a Professor of Economics at Hacettepe University's Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. His research focuses on experimental economics, public goods theory, behavioral economics, and tax policy with notable contributions to understanding risk perception, social discount rates, and creative industries in Mediterranean economies. He has authored/co-authored over 40 peer-reviewed publications and edited several academic volumes. Key research areas include: Experimental analysis of public goods provision Behavioral responses to environmental policies Comparative analysis of social discount rates in transition economies Evaluation of tax reforms through behavioral lenses Impact of cultural industries on regional development Notable publications include seminal works on Turkish presidential election policies (2025), risk aversion in public goods (2019), and Mediterranean creative industries (2016). His work frequently bridges theoretical economics with policy applications, particularly focusing on sustainability and social equity. He has presented at international conferences such as the Regional Studies Association European Conference (2014) and contributed to edited volumes on game theory applications and economic philosophy. Current research trends emphasize behavioral tax policy design and the socio-economic consequences of rising inequality.
Dr. Shan Lu is a Lecturer in Finance at the Department of Accounting and Finance, Kent Business School, University of Kent, since August 2021. He previously held positions at the University of Aberdeen and the University of Bradford and earned his PhD from the University of Aberdeen. Research interests: Financial derivatives, option pricing, and quantitative finance. His work focuses on volatility modeling, risk-neutral density estimation, and computational finance, with publications in journals such as the European Journal of Finance, Journal of Futures Markets, and Economics Letters. Teaching: Covers financial markets, derivatives, econometrics, and quantitative methods at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Scientific awards: Fellow (FHEA) of Higher Education Academy Advising: Offers PhD supervision in topics aligned with his research interests, including financial derivatives and quantitative finance. He emphasizes collaboration on research ideas directly related to his expertise. Publications: Recent work explores volatility dynamics in VIX/VXX options, risk-neutral density extraction, and implied volatility forecasting, leveraging computational methods and empirical finance techniques.
Dr. Robert Huber serves as a Lecturer at the Department of Environmental Systems Science at ETH Zürich, specializing in Agricultural Economics and Policy. His research focuses on the integration of interdisciplinary knowledge to analyze and evaluate management and policy options that promote sustainable development in the agricultural sector. Institution: ETH Zürich Department: Agricultural Economics and Policy Research Focus: Sustainable Agriculture and Policy Methodologies: Bio-economic and agent-based modeling Dr. Huber's research explores how multifunctional agricultural sectors can provide essential non-market goods and services while maintaining their primary economic function of food production. His work applies bio-economic and agent-based modeling techniques to understand farmers' decision-making processes regarding ecosystem services provision, coupled with economic valuation techniques to analyze societal demand for these services. His research aims to identify effective and efficient policy measures that align supply and demand for ecosystem services at landscape scale. His recent publications demonstrate strong expertise in agricultural policy analysis, climate change mitigation strategies, sustainable farming practices, and innovative modeling approaches. His work spans topics from herbicide-free agriculture using remote sensing technologies to biodiversity enhancement in agricultural landscapes and the cost-effectiveness of different climate change mitigation policies at various scales. Remote sensing applications in sustainable agriculture Behavioral aspects of farmer decision-making Policy evaluation methodologies Climate change adaptation in farming systems Economic valuation of ecosystem services Digitalization impacts on agricultural policy Dr. Huber has published extensively in high-impact journals including Journal of Agricultural Economics, People and Nature, and Q Open. His collaborative research often involves interdisciplinary teams addressing complex agricultural sustainability challenges. His publications demonstrate a consistent focus on practical policy implications derived from rigorous empirical analysis.
Roles and Affiliations: Professor David Levinson is a Professor of Transport in the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Sydney since 2017. He holds adjunct faculty status at the University of Minnesota's Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo-Engineering (since 1999–2016). He previously directed the Accessibility Observatory and the Networks, Economics, and Urban Systems (NEXUS) research group. He is a member of The Net Zero Institute and leads the TransportLab research group. Education: PhD 1998 in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. Research Interests: Focuses on transportation networks, urban systems, accessibility analysis, and policy. Key themes include spatial equity, transport economics, and the co-evolution of land use and transport infrastructure. His work emphasizes data-driven approaches to urban mobility challenges, including modeling transport networks and evaluating infrastructure impacts on accessibility and equity. Grants and Projects: Recent grants include Design of micro-decisions in automated transport (2022, ARC) and Reducing pedestrian crashes through better intersection design (2021, Australian Road Safety Innovation). Collaborates internationally on projects like the Accessibility Observatory. Labs and Teams: Leads the TransportLab and collaborates with the NEXUS group. Active in interdisciplinary research, including urban analytics and transport policy.
Stephen Billings is an Associate Professor of Finance at the Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado Boulder, where he holds the Global Real Estate Capital Markets Chair position. He serves as the faculty director of the MS in Real Estate program and research director for the CU Real Estate Center. His work spans multiple research centers including the Center for Research on Consumer Financial Decision Making and the Michael A. Klump Center for Real Estate. Billings received his PhD in Economics from the University of Colorado, a MS in urban planning from the University of North Carolina, and a BS in economics from Georgetown University. Prior to joining CU Boulder in 2016, he was faculty at the University of North Carolina Charlotte with appointments in both economics and public policy, where he also served as faculty director for the real estate center. His research focuses on the intersection of housing, schools, neighborhoods and crime, addressing critical policy issues including the impact of public investment in light-rail transit on neighborhoods, school segregation's influence on academic achievement and crime, neighborhood gentrification causes, lead-based paint in low-income housing, and the effects of sea level rise and natural disasters on neighborhood sorting and household finances. Billings employs sophisticated analysis of large micro-datasets with studies based on data and policies in Charlotte, NC and Denver, CO. His work connects urban economics with public policy, demonstrating how neighborhood environments shape individual outcomes across multiple dimensions. Billings' recent publication record demonstrates a consistent focus on neighborhood effects, school choice impacts, crime economics, and housing market dynamics. His work frequently examines the intersection of race, housing, and economic outcomes, with particular attention to policy implications. He has developed innovative methodological approaches to studying residential amenities and neighborhood spillovers, with increasing attention to climate change impacts on housing markets. His research appears in top journals including The Quarterly Journal of Economics, American Economic Review: Insights, and Journal of Urban Economics. As an educator, Billings teaches undergraduate and masters classes in real estate finance and economics, as well as doctoral and masters level courses on cost-benefit analysis and statistical methods. He has extensive consulting experience conducting economic impact studies, including assessments of North Carolina's public higher education system, affordable housing needs in Colorado communities, and the economic effects of marijuana legalization on property markets. His practical policy work complements his academic research, creating a bridge between theoretical insights and real-world applications. Billings leads significant research initiatives through the CU Real Estate Center, where he directs studies examining the impact of business improvement districts and other urban development policies. His work bridges academic research with practical policy applications, making substantial contributions to our understanding of how housing, education, and neighborhood environments shape individual outcomes and community development. His December 2023 memo on the HUD Officer Next Door Program exemplifies his engagement with current housing policy issues.
Wei Xiong is the Hugh Leander and Mary Trumbull Adams Professor in Finance and Professor of Economics at Princeton University, affiliated with the Department of Economics and Bendheim Center for Finance. His research centers on behavioral finance and capital market imperfections with a focus on China's financial system and commodity markets. His educational background includes: Ph.D. in Finance from Duke University (2001) B.S. in Physics from University of Science and Technology of China (1993) Research Interests: Professor Xiong's work fundamentally explores behavioral finance and capital market imperfections , pioneering studies on speculative bubbles , heterogeneous beliefs in asset pricing , and financing frictions . His recent scholarship critically examines the financialization of commodity markets , belief distortions during financial crises , and the unique institutional dynamics of China's hybrid economy , where state and market forces interact. Publication Trends: Xiong's 48 publications in top-tier journals reveal an evolving trajectory from classical behavioral finance (2001-2013) toward contemporary China-focused systemic analysis (2017-2025). Recent works integrate cryptocurrency economics, real estate risk management, and policy design in emerging markets, demonstrating methodological rigor through structural modeling and empirical analysis of large-scale financial datasets. Scientific Awards: 2012 Smith Breeden Award (first prize) for the best non-corporate finance paper published in Journal of Finance 2013 NASDAQ OMX Award for the best asset pricing paper presented in Western Finance Association Meetings Professional Activities: As NBER research associate and former Management Science finance editor (2009-2011), Xiong bridges academia and policy. He co-founded VoxChina.org to foster China-world economic dialogue and co-edited The Handbook of China’s Financial System (Princeton University Press). His keynote addresses at major conferences—including the 2024 Chinese Economists Society meeting on “Information Discovery in a Hybrid Economy”—demonstrate sustained policy influence. Labs and Initiatives: Xiong leads Princeton's Bendheim Center for Finance research initiatives and directs VoxChina.org, which produces influential policy analyses on China's economy. His recent work includes the NBER-commissioned study on commodity market risks and ongoing projects examining big tech lending models and data privacy impacts on digital finance.
Prof. Mark Heitmann is a Professor of Marketing & Customer Insight at the University of Hamburg Business School. He holds a visiting appointment at Nova School of Business and Economics. His research focuses on AI-driven marketing strategies, social media analytics, brand equity, and consumer decision-making. He has held academic roles at institutions including the University of St. Gallen and Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel before joining Hamburg in 2011. Academic Career: Holds a PhD (2004) and post-doctoral Habilitation (2007) from the University of St. Gallen. Visiting researcher at Columbia University and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. Research Interests: Applications of artificial intelligence in marketing Social media and digital transformation Ethical consumer behavior Brand self-expression and visual design Marketing technology (MarTech) innovations Key Achievements: Over 20 peer-reviewed publications in top journals like Journal of Marketing Research and Harvard Business Review . Award-winning research includes the MSI/H. Paul Root Award and IJRM-EMAC Best Article Award. Active in translating research into scalable commercial solutions through software-as-a-service ventures. Team & Collaborations: Leads a research team including M.Sc. candidates Sammar Rath, Julia Rosada, Maximilian Witte, Tijmen Jansen, Claus Hegmann-Napp, and Magdalena Heynicke. Engages in interdisciplinary projects with industry partners.
Demetris Christodoulou is an Associate Professor in Accounting, Governance and Regulation at the University of Sydney. He holds a BEcon from Piraeus University, an MSc(Fin) from the University of York (UK), and a PhD from Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB). His research focuses on applying data analytics, econometrics, and visualization techniques to financial analysis, equity valuation, life insurance, and financial advice. He co-directs the PEMA research group, specializing in productivity and performance measurement analytics, and previously led the MEAFA research group (2007–2022). He has collaborated extensively with industry partners including Deloitte and Australian insurers, and developed training programs for over 1,000 executives. His work includes open-source contributions to Stata software and the Graph Workflow platform, alongside $662k in workshop-generated funds supporting academic programs. He has advised multiple PhD students and taught at leading universities globally. Education: BEcon in Economics (Econometrics), Piraeus University MSc in Finance, University of York (UK) PhD in Accounting and Financial Analysis, Athens University of Economics and Business His research interests span financial reporting models, life insurance underwriting strategies, and behavioral finance. Recent projects address dishonesty mitigation in insurance disclosures and the adviser effect on customer disclosures. He has published widely in top journals like the Review of Accounting Studies and Stata Journal , and his work was featured in The Australian for insights on insurance fraud reduction. He maintains international collaborations, including visiting roles at Columbia Business School and the University of Cyprus, and serves on advisory boards for organizations like Behaviour.ai. Publications highlight methodological innovations in econometrics and visualization, with 2025's upcoming Stata Journal paper advancing time-series analysis techniques. His grants include partnerships with industry on longitudinal studies of insured lives, aiming to improve risk modeling and public policy insights.
Konstantinos Drakos is a Professor at the Department of Accounting and Finance, Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB). Previously, he served as Assistant Professor at AUEB (2009–2012), Assistant Professor at the University of Patras (2003–2008), and Lecturer at the University of Essex (2001–2002). He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Essex, preceded by an MSc and undergraduate studies in Economics at the University of Athens. His research focuses on Applied Financial Economics and the Economics of Security, with recent work analyzing hedge fund leverage, geopolitical risk impacts, cryptocurrency markets, and green banking. Teaching responsibilities include Macroeconomic Theory, Finance for Banking, and Risk Management at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Drakos' publications span over two decades, addressing topics such as terrorism's economic effects, bank lending behavior, and investment under uncertainty. His recent articles (2022–2025) emphasize cryptocurrency dynamics, geopolitical risk interactions, and financial stability in green banking. Notable themes include market volatility, capital allocation under uncertainty, and policy responses to systemic risks. No scientific awards are listed in the provided materials. His research has explored structural shifts in financial risk, macroeconomic sentiment, and cross-market linkages following major global events like 9/11 and the 2008 crisis. Drakos has advised on policy-related topics related to financial markets and regulatory frameworks, though specific grants or lab affiliations are not detailed here.
Eva Ascarza is a Professor of Business Administration in the Marketing Unit at Harvard Business School (HBS) . She co-founded the Customer Intelligence Lab at HBS's D 3 Institute, focusing on responsible and effective customer data utilization. Research Interests include: Customer retention and churn analysis Algorithmic bias in marketing AI Field experimentation (A/B testing) for targeting optimization Customer lifetime value (CLV) modeling Dynamic personalization strategies Scientific Awards and Recognitions: 2023 Weitz-Winer-O'Dell Award (winner) 2022 Paul E. Green Award (PNAS publication) 2020 Marketing Science Institute (MSI) Scholar 2019 Erin Anderson Award for Emerging Female Scholar 2018 Paul E. Green Award (JMR publication) 2014 Frank M. Bass Outstanding Dissertation Award Her articles demonstrate cutting-edge applications of statistical modeling , Bayesian methods , and fair AI frameworks in modern marketing challenges.
Dr. Livia Pancotto is a Senior Lecturer in Banking at the Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Strathclyde. She serves as Director of the MSc in International Banking and Finance and Deputy Director of the Responsible Business Institute (ReBI). She holds a PhD and MSc from Bangor University and degrees from Sapienza University of Rome. Her research focuses on European banking regulation, financial stability, and gender diversity's impact on climate finance. She chairs the International Accounting & Finance Doctoral Symposium and edits The European Journal of Finance. Awards include the 2014 Best Banking and Finance Master’s dissertation. She leads research on negative interest rates, non-performing loans, and green lending through EU-funded projects. Education: PhD Banking & Finance (Bangor), MSc (Sapienza), BSc (Sapienza) Research explores empirical banking dynamics, regulatory frameworks, and sustainable finance. Key topics include EU banking union evolution, climate change mitigation via gender-diverse bank boards, and market reactions to policy shocks. Recent work analyzes negative interest rate impacts on bank efficiency and Italy's NPL crisis. She has secured £153k in research funding (2023-2025). Grants: Research Excellence Awards (Strathclyde SRSS) Led workshops on Responsible Business and AI, presented at FSB Financial Innovation Network, and peer-reviewed for top journals. Supervises doctoral candidates through IAFDS. Active in editorial and advisory roles enhancing academic rigor in finance disciplines.
Na Du is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Informatics and Networked Systems at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Computing and Information. She holds a PhD in Industrial & Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan (2021) and a Graduate Certificate in Data Science. Her research focuses on human factors in smart cities, human-centered computing, and user experience design. She is affiliated with the Intelligent Systems Program, Pitt Cyber, and the Center for Governance and Markets. Education: PhD in Industrial & Operations Engineering (University of Michigan, 2021); Undergraduate in Psychology (Zhejiang University). Research emphasizes explainable AI, human-AI teaming, and smart technologies. Recent grants include funding from Honda Research Institute and Pitt Cyber Accelerator for projects on emotions in Human-AI interaction and Metaverse privacy awareness. Her work has been recognized with awards like the HFES Best Paper Award and the IOE Outstanding Student Award. Advising includes PhD students and researchers in human factors and UX design. The HAT Lab under her leadership explores interdisciplinary challenges in human-computer interaction and smart systems.
Soroush Saghafian is an Associate Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, specializing in applying operations research and machine learning to address public health challenges. He leads the Public Impact Analytics Science Lab (PIAS-Lab), focusing on analytics-driven solutions for societal problems. His research spans healthcare delivery optimization, emergency department efficiency, and public health policy. Notable collaborations include Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard's Center for Health Decision Science. Awards include the INFORMS MSOM Responsible Research Award and the Pierskalla Award for healthcare research. Recent work includes studies on hospital closures' impacts, predictive analytics for bipolar disorder using Fitbit data, and policy implications of race in disease risk models. He teaches courses on machine learning and big data for public impact.
Dr. Xiaoxiao Li is an Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of British Columbia (UBC), with joint appointments in Computer Science (Associate Member) and the School of Medicine at Yale University (Adjunct Assistant Professor). She is also a Canada CIFAR AI Chair and Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Responsible AI. Her research focuses on enhancing trustworthiness, fairness, and efficiency in AI algorithms and foundation models, particularly in healthcare applications. Education: B.S. (Honors) in Zhejiang University (2015), Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Yale University (2020), Postdoc at Princeton University (2020-2021). She leads the Trusted and Efficient AI (TEA) Lab at UBC, which develops algorithms for federated learning, medical imaging analysis, and interpretable AI systems. Research interests include federated learning, generative models, medical image analysis, AI fairness, and graph-based methods for neuroimaging. Recent projects include GMValuator (data valuation for generative models), FairMedFM (fairness benchmarking in medical AI), and FedTextGrad (textual gradient-based FL optimization). Grants: Canada Foundation for Innovation Grant (2023), UBC Green Lab Fund (2023), Vector Institute funding Teaching: Courses on machine learning, federated learning, and AI ethics at UBC Awards & Recognition: Best Paper Award at FL@FM WWW 2024, Editorial Board Member of Medical Image Analysis , multiple top-tier conference acceptances (NeurIPS, ICLR, CVPR, MICCAI). Lab & Teams: TEA Lab collaborates with industry and hospitals to translate AI research into clinical tools. Current projects address AI fairness in healthcare, federated learning for medical data, and multimodal medical analytics.
Elliott Ash is an Associate Professor of Law, Economics, and Data Science at ETH Zurich's Center for Law & Economics. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics and J.D. from Columbia University, a B.A. in Economics, Government, and Philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin, and an LL.M. in International Criminal Law from the University of Amsterdam. His research focuses on empirical legal studies using econometrics, NLP, and ML, examining topics like judicial behavior, legislative impact, and AI-driven governance. He has been funded by the ERC, Swiss NSF, and others. Research Interests: Elliott explores automation of legal decisions, text-as-data analysis in law, and the intersection of AI with legal systems. He develops tools like BallotBot and LePaRD to enhance legal transparency and public understanding. His work bridges law, economics, and computer science, with publications in top journals like the American Economic Journal and Review of Economics and Statistics . Teaching: Courses include Building a Robot Judge , Natural Language Processing for Law , and Big Data for Public Policy . He co-organizes the Zurich Workshop in AI+Economics and Monash-Warwick-Zurich Text-as-Data Workshops. Awards: European Research Council Starting Grant, Swiss National Science Foundation Grant, and multiple grants from U.S. and Swiss institutions. His work has been featured in NPR , VoxEU , and Georgetown Law Journal . Labs/Teams: Leads the Swiss AI Initiative's Human-AI Alignment team, collaborates with the CEPR on Political Economy research, and serves as an Economic Journal Associate Editor.
