Prof. Dr. Rıfat Kamaşak is a Professor of Management and Strategy at Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey and he acts as the Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. He also holds board membership positions in several companies listed in Istanbul Stock Exchange (Borsa Istanbul, BIST – 100). He worked in the food, confectionery, carpet, textile, aluminium, metal, retailing, trading and consulting industries for nearly twenty years. He has done research, consultancy and training at a large number of organisations and run his family’s traditional hand-made carpet business for five years, simultaneously. Having completed his bachelor’s or degree in economics and postgraduate diploma in international management at the University of Istanbul, he continued his graduate studies in the UK. Professor Kamaşak received his MA in marketing from Middlesex University London, MA in management from Durham University, and MSc in applied linguistics from the University of Oxford. He also has two individual PhD degrees: PhD in management studies from the University of Exeter (2014) and PhD in organisation theory from the University of Istanbul (2004).
His primary interest areas are strategic management, knowledge and innovation and equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) at work. He has conducted field studies in Turkey and internationally and his work is empirically grounded. His research is supported by international as well as national grants. His work has focused on increasing firm performance and effectiveness, facilitating firms’ innovativeness and changing policy and practice in equality and diversity at work. He is an engaged scholar, driven by values of workplace democracy, equality for all, and humanisation of work. He has a special interest in English medium instruction in university settings and sociolinguistics and carries out field research in these areas. He has published nearly 100 conference papers and over 50 papers in academic journals such as Business Ethics: A European Review, Gender, Work and Organization, International Journal of Production Research, Knowledge Management Research and Practice, European Business Review, Journal of English for Academic Purposes, Management Research Review, Journal of Organizational Change Management and Gender in Management among others. His book chapters have been published by Emerald Press, Cambridge University Press, Springer International Publishing, Palgrave Macmillan, Edward Elgar Publishing and Information Age Publishing. Professor Kamaşak served as chair, academic committee member and keynote speaker at several conferences. He supervised over 10 PhD students and 20 master’s students. He currently holds memberships in the UK Chartered Institute of Marketing, the UK Chartered Management Institute, the Institute of Leadership and Management (UK), the Institute of Administration Management (UK) and the Research Quality Association, (UK) and acts as an honorary board member in the European Marketing and Management Association.
Highlighted Speakers
Dr. Viorela-Ligia Văidean
Viorela-Ligia Văidean is an Associate Professor for the Finance Department of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration in “Babeș-Bolyai” University Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She holds two Bachelor Degrees, two Master degrees, a PhD in Finance, a post-PhD certification and a defended Habilitation. Her research interests cover the areas of Health Economics, Corporate Finance, Financial Management, Organized Crime and Fiscal Policies.
Dr. Koon Nam Henry LEE
Henry, K.N. Lee is a Lecturer at the City University of Hong Kong. Henry received his PhD (Economics) from Aston University, United Kingdom. Henry’s area of interests includes real estate finance and economics, emerging markets, and data analytics. His work has been published in Applied Economics, Applied Economics Letters, Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management among many others.
Ms. Minghan Yang
Minghan Yang is an undergraduate at University College London studying Mathematics and Statistics. Her interest in data analysis began during high school when she earned the 1st place in a competition by doing experimental research. Pursuing her love in data science, she persists in self-studying coding, modelling and machine learning.
Mr. Vasileios Baratsas
Vasileios Baratsas works as ground staff for a handling agency. He holds a Degree in tourism management, Postgraduate Diploma of Specialization in Sustainable development, Certificate of Pedagogical and Teaching Competence and he studies towards an MBA degree. Areas of interest include risk management and governmental investments in the tourism industry.
Prof. Dr. Gayle Pohl
Prof. Dr. Gayle Pohl, who has a PhD and an accreditation in public relations, is an associate professor at the University of Northern Iowa, teaching public relations. She is a member of PRSA. Her research includes public relations books and articles on social media, crisis communication, and public relations strategies.
Mr. Paschalis Kagias
Mr. Paschalis Kagias is PhD candidate in the University of Western Macedonia (Greece), Chartered Certified Accountant (FCCA), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE). His current position is audit manager in audit firm and chairman on the Audit Committee of a listed company in Greece. His research interests include internal audit, fraud prevention and investigation.
Mr. Alewijn
Alewijn began his career in government service in 2013 and currently serves as the Deputy Administrator for Operations of the Freeport Area of Bataan. He oversees 7 divisions involved in utilities infrastructure, environment regulation, logistics and trade, community and labor services. Alewijn obtained his degree in Economics from the Ateneo De Manila University in 1999 and earned his MBA in 2015 from the same institution. He is currently completing his research work to earn his Doctorate degree from the University of the Philippines. He was the lead author for a manuscript that won Best Paper in the 2021 Asia Future Conference held in Taipei, Taiwan. During his free time, Alewijn enjoys being a numismatic hobbyist and gives back to the community by teaching college students.
Ms. Cynthia Onyangore
Cynthia is a Sustainability Research Fellow at the International Sustainability Academy (ISA) in Hamburg with her project focused on developing a sustainable African indigenous value chain in Kenya. She holds a Msc in Agricultural Production Chain Management from Van Hall Larenstein University, Netherlands and an MBA from Baker University, USA.
Mr. Chen Luyang
Mr. Chen Luyang, a finance major student studying at Wenzhou-Kean University. He is still taking finance and economics courses, which interests him. At the same time, He is also the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition Winner in the university.
Past Speakers
Dr. Wasan Sakulkijkarn
Dr. Wasan Sakulkijkarn is an assistant professor of business administration in the Social Enterprise program at Srinakarinwirot University, Thailand. He joined the faculty after ten years as a full-time lecturer at a leading university, such as Mahidol University. In his research, Dr. Wasan Sakulkijkarn studies small and medium enterprises with a focus on emerging markets. His two major areas of inquiry concern the management of human capital within multinational firms and local entities in emerging markets. He was awarded the best research by the National Institute of Development Administration and was recognized as the most promising scholar under the age of 40 in the field of business management. Dr. Wasan Sakulkijkarn earned his doctor of public administration degree at the National Institute of Development Administration, receiving the Doctoral Research Award. Before pursuing his doctorate, he worked at many public and private organizations in Thailand and overseas.
Dr. Fanny Fong Yee Chan
Dr. Fanny Fong Yee Chan (Ph.D., University of Kent, UK) is an Associate Professor of Marketing at School of Business, The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include marketing communications, consumer psychology, sustainable consumption and psycholinguistics. Her work has been published in European Journal of Marketing, International Marketing Review, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Business Research, and others.
Ms. Martyna Jacenko
Ms. Martyna Jacenko holds a Master’s degree in Finance and Banking from Warsaw School of Economics, a Master’s degree in International Management from CEMS (Community of European Management Schools), and an MBA from Florida Atlantic University. Currently, she pursues her PhD in International Business at Florida International University
Mr. Carlos David Higuera Villalba
Mr. Carlos David Higuera Villalba graduate of the Law School of the Nueva Granada Military University, and Political Science School of National University of Colombia, Major in Private Economic Law. Public prosecutor in National Direction of Tax and Customs. Associate researcher in the Territorial Development, Peace, and Post-Conflict Research Group in UNIJUS-UNAL.
Mr. Kshitij Patil
Mr. Kshitij Patil is an economics scholar graduated from MIT WPU, India. Backing curiosity for Economics and Finance with analytical skills he has been consistently doing research work in Monetary and Agricultural Economics. Currently pursuing the CFA charter, he is also passionate about social causes and has earned a UN certification.
Ms.Harin Cristina
Ms.Harin Cristina is currently conducting a PhD programme in Finance at the Faculty of Economics and Business Management at Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The latest academic degree is Master’s in Banks and Capital Markets. The focal point of her doctoral studies is the research of international portfolio allocation in cultural context.
