Academic staff

Meet the academic members of the CRBF.

Academic staff members

John O.S. Wilson
I am a Professor of Banking and Finance and Director of the Centre for Responsible Banking & Finance based at the University of St Andrews Business School. My research interests lie in the areas of commercial banking, credit unions and applied industrial organisation. In addition to my academic role, I have advised government bodies on issues pertaining to financial regulation. Further information regarding my research and other activities can be found at John Wilson, Department of Finance and John O.S. Wilson, google site.
Bert Scholtens
I am a Professor of Banking and Finance based at the University of St Andrews Business School. My research interests lie in the areas of sustainable banking, finance and investment and energy markets. I am also affiliated with the University of Groningen in The Netherlands. In addition to my academic role, I have advised government bodies on issues pertaining to (greening) financial policy. Further information can be found at Bert Scholtens, Department of Finance and Bert Scholtens, University of Groningen.
Dimitris Chronopoulos
I am a Professor of Banking and Finance at the University of St Andrews Business School. My research interests lie in the areas of financial intermediation, empirical corporate finance and stock return predictability. Further information regarding my research and other activities can be found at Dimitris Chronopoulos, Department of Finance.
Anna Lucia Sobiech
I am a Lecturer at the Center for Macroeconomic Research, University of Cologne. Prior to joining the University of Cologne, I was an Associate Lecturer in Banking and Finance at the University of St Andrews. I hold a BSc in Japanese and Management from SOAS and Birkbeck College, an MLitt in Finance and Management and a PhD in Banking and Finance from the University of St Andrews. My research and teaching interests include empirical financial intermediation, bank regulation, and corporate finance. My research has appeared in publications including the Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Financial Stability and Financial Accountability & Management.
Jimmy Chen
I am a Lecturer in Finance at the University of St Andrews Business School. My research interests lie in the areas of corporate finance and investment with particular emphasis on sustainability and emerging markets. Further information regarding my research and other activities can be found at Jimmy Chen, Department of Finance.
João Rafael Cunha
I am a Lecturer in the University of St Andrews Business School. I am a member of the Centre for Global Law and Governance and serve on the steering committee of the Institute of Legal and Constitutional Research (ILCR), both also at the University.
Before coming to St Andrews, I was a Research Fellow in the Faculty of Economics at the University of Cambridge, a Max Weber Fellow in the Robert Schuman Centre and the Department of Economics at the European University Institute and a Marie Curie Research Fellow at the London School of Economics. My research interests include financial regulation, banking, monetary and financial history, law and economics, political economy, fintech, macro-finance, international macroeconomics and finance. Further information can be found at João Rafael Cunha, Department of Finance.
Christian Engels
I am a Lecturer in Banking and Finance at the University of St Andrews Business School. My research interests lie in the areas of banking, behavioural finance and household finance. Prior to joining St Andrews in 2020, I studied for my PhD at Durham University in the Department for Economics and Finance. Further information can be found at Christian Engels, Department of Finance.
Sapnoti Eswar
I am a Lecturer at the University of St Andrews Business School. I am a financial economist, working primarily in the area of corporate innovation, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and financial regulation. I have taught PhD, masters and undergraduate students at the University of Cincinnati, and MBA and executive MBA students at Indiana University and London Business School. I completed my PhD from London Business School. Prior to joining academia, I worked in the M&A and transaction advisory team within Standard Chartered Bank and in corporate finance at Tata Steel. Further information regarding my research can be found at Sapnoti Eswar, Department of Finance, and S K Eswar, google site.
Sean Field
I am the Director of Policy at the Centre for Energy Ethics and a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Social Anthropology. Since 2018, my research has explored how financial professionals evaluate energy, calculate risks, and integrate ESG into energy investment practices. My current project is part of the larger Energy Ethics research project led by Dr Mette High and funded by the European Research Council. It follows on my SSHRC-funded PhD research on agricultural commodity markets and my MSc research on global supply chains. I also currently lead the Financial Pathways theme of the multi-year Research Alliance for Energy, Homes and Livelihoods, funded by the Scottish Funding Council, and I convene the Energy and Climate Finance Network. Further information regarding my research and other activities can be found at Sean Field, Centre for Energy Ethics.
Maria Chiara Iannino
I am a Lecturer at the University of St Andrews Business School. My main research interests lie in the fields of behavioural finance and banking systemic risk. In particular, I have been working on banks' and insurance companies' systemic risk, investigating the impact of regulation, social corporate responsibility, ownership basis on the resiliency and interconnectedness of the European banking system. I completed my PhD at Queen Mary University of London and, prior to joining the University of St Andrews, I worked as assistant professor in finance at the University of Vienna. Further information can be found at Maria Chiara Iannino, research portal.
Marcel Lukas
I am a Lecturer in Banking and Finance at the University of St Andrews Business School. My research interests lie in the areas of financial technology (FinTech), household finance and behavioural finance. Prior to joining St Andrews in 2020, I was an Assistant Professor in Finance at Heriot-Watt University. I studied for my PhD at University of Edinburgh Business School in collaboration with two major FinTech companies. I am open to supervise PhD students in the mentioned research areas. If you are a prospective PhD student, I can also provide a large-scale consumer finance data set which you can use to conduct your research. Further information regarding my research and other activities can be found at Marcel Lukas, Department of Finance.
Kulnicha Meechaiyo
I am an Associate Lecturer in the University of St Andrews Business School. I received my PhD from the University of Glasgow. My research interests are in the areas of corporate finance and financial economics in Asian emerging markets. In addition I am passionate about pedagogical research in economics and finance education. For more information about my teaching, research, and other activities, please visit my personal website at K Meechaiyo, google site.
Linh Nguyen
I am a Senior Lecturer in Banking and Finance and Editor of the working paper series of the Centre for Responsible Banking & Finance based at the University of St Andrews Business School. My research focus is on bank corporate culture and governance in financial services. Further information regarding my research and other activities can be found at Linh Nguyen, Department of Finance. 
Eleonora Sfrappini
I am a Lecturer in Finance at the University of St Andrews Business School. My research interests are in banking, climate finance, and financial regulation. Before joining the University of St Andrews, I completed the graduate program at the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) and received my PhD from the University of Magdeburg. Further information regarding my research and other academic activities can be found at  Eleonora Sfrappini, Department of Finance and at Eleonora Sfrappini: my personal website. 
Ruslan Tuneshev
I am a Lecturer in Finance at the University of St Andrews Business School. I obtained a PhD degree from Durham University Business School. My research interests lie in the areas of empirical asset pricing, option markets, textual analysis and stock price crashes, with a particular focus on discovering option return anomalies. More information can be found at Ruslan Tuneshev, Department of Finance.
Mao Zhang
I am a Lecturer in Banking and Finance at the University of St Andrews Business School. My research interests lie in the areas of empirical corporate finance and corporate governance. Prior to joining St Andrews in 2018, I studied for my PhD at University of Sheffield. Further information can be found at Mao Zhang, Department of Finance.
Song Zhang
I am a Lecturer in Banking and Finance at the University of St Andrews Business School since Aug 2019. My research interests focus on entrepreneurial finance and banking, and earnings management. I earned my PhD from Surrey Business School, University of Surrey. Further information can be found at Song Zhang, Department of Finance.

Honorary academic staff members

Louis Nguyen
I am a Professor in Finance at Durham University and an Honorary Professor at the University of St Andrews Business School. My research interests include corporate finance, banking, household finance and climate finance. My most recent project focuses on firms' investment in managing their climate risk exposure. Further information regarding my research and other activities can be found at Louis Nguyen, Durham University and Louis Nguyen, google site.
Manouchehr Tavakoli
I am an Honorary Reader in Economics and Finance at the University of St Andrews Business School, with wide research interests in finance, industrial organisation and health economics. My research interests are in insider trading, company performance, television viewing choice, advertising and health economics. I regularly advised the industry on economic and modelling issues. I have co-edited six books covering health reforms, financing and controlling costs and have written over 70 chapters and journal articles.
José Liñares-Zegarra
I am a Senior Lecturer in Finance at Essex Business School (UK). I am also an affiliated researcher at the Centre for Responsible Banking & Finance (CRBF) and Honorary Senior Lecturer at University of St Andrews (Scotland). My teaching and research interests focus on banking, financial technology (FinTech) and entrepreneurship. My research has been published in journals including the British Journal of Management, Journal of Corporate Finance and the Journal of Banking & Finance. Further information can be found at José Liñares-Zegarra, google site.
Pejman Abedifar
I am an Assistant Professor of Economics and Finance at Tehran Institute for Advanced Studies, and an Honorary Lecturer with the University of St Andrews Business School. My research interests lie in the areas of commercial banking, corporate finance and Islamic economics. I have published articles in leading journals such as Review of Finance, Journal of Financial Stability, Journal of Banking & Finance and Journal of the American Academy of Religion. Further information regarding my research and other activities can be found at Pejman Abedifar, TeIAS.
Kais Bouslah
I am an Honorary Lecturer at the University of St Andrews Business School and a member of the Centre for Responsible Banking & Finance. My research interests lie in the areas of sustainable finance, risk management and the application of multi-criteria decision making methodologies to problems in finance. Further information regarding my research can be found at Kais Bouslah, University of St Andrews Business School.