Here’s our Conference Speakers lineup
Past Speakers
Prof. Dr. Geoffrey Ditta
Professor of Economics at Complutense University of Madrid, Faculty of Economics and Business.
Presentation Topic: Economic Growth: The Role of Positive Masculinity in Conflict Zones of the DRC
He holds a PhD in Economy from the University of Lyon 2 Lumière in France and has served as a professor of Geopolitics at Paris Sorbonne. His career has taken him to Chile, where he managed French companies under the supervision of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and to Mexico, where he led the industrial division of the multinational COMSA Corporation. Additionally, he has contributed as a research assistant at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean at the United Nations in Mexico City. Drawing from his extensive professional experience, he authored the book “Internationalization and Interculturality,” which explores the international development of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Prof. Dr. Taeho Park
Dr. Taeho Park earned his B.S. and M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Seoul National University and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is a professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management at San Jose State University and director of the Silicon Valley Center for Operations and Technology Management. With extensive industry experience in supply chain, logistics, and software development, his research focuses on operations and supply chain, technology, innovation, and sustainability management. He has published numerous papers in leading journals.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Paweł Smaga
Associate professor in the Financial System Department at SGH Warsaw School of Economics. His research interests include banking, financial stability, systemic risk, and banking regulations. Author and reviewer of numerous publications in JCR journals. He received many awards for his scientific work, among others from Bank Guarantee Fund, NBP, Prime Minister, Financial Ombudsman, as well as the HM Rector of the SGH Warsaw School of Economics.
Dr. Nilanjana Chakraborty
Nilanjana Chakraborty is an independent researcher living in Ahmedabad, India. She did her doctorate from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. Her primary research area is financial economics and she has written some papers related to asset pricing, international finance, term structure of interest rates, derivatives as well as on selected topics from macroeconomics. All her papers are available as post or pre-prints on the Social Science Research Network.
Prof. Alessandra De Chiara
Alessandra De Chiara is full professor of Business Management and lecturer of Corporate Social Responsibility at the University of Naples “L’Orientale” (Italy). She is Coordinator of Master degree in International Relation and Rector’s Delegate for the Development of Sustainability at the University of Naples L’Orientale (Italy). Her scientific activity is aimed at deepening the issues of sustainability, corporate social responsibility and circular economy, also with reference to the units of investigation of the supply chains, clusters and local systems, and she has been a member of numerous international research projects on these issues. She has published numerous articles in A ranking journals, book chapters and edited volumes in international publishers and she has received several awards for the research carried out.
Ass. Prof. Jorge Cerdeira
Jorge Cerdeira is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of University of Porto and a researcher at its Institute of Sociology and Center for Economics and Finance. PhD in Economics, his main areas of research are: international business, international trade, international political economy and applied econometrics. He has published in several journals indexed in SCOPUS and Web of Science and participated in national and european projects.
Dr. Bashar Shirinov Habib oglu
Bashar Shirinov Habib oglu was born on 01.04.1971. In 2001, he received a bachelor’s degree in Management, and in 2003, a master’s degree.
In 2017, he received the title of Doctor of Philosophy in Economics, and in 2024, he received the title of Associate Professor in Economic Sciences.
Since 2003, he has been working as an assistant, senior lecturer and associate professor at the Department of “Business Economics and Management” of the Azerbaijan University of Architecture and Construction.
Mrs. Blessing Ameh
Blessing Ameh is a Data Scientist at T-Mobile Inc USA with dual Master’s degrees in Data Intelligence (4.0 GPA) and Business Administration. A CSCMP™ professional and Presidential Scholar, her interests include AI, sustainability, and supply chain innovation. She’s a published researcher with 2,000+ reads, global presentations, and international recognition.
Mr. Prajeet Khante
Prajeet Khante is a final-year Computer Engineering student at Pune University, International Institute of Information Technology, Pune, India, passionate about AI, fintech, and algorithmic thinking. With hands-on experience in fine-tuning large language models and optimizing object detection systems, Prajeet has applied cutting-edge techniques like reflexion-based learning and prompt engineering in real-world applications. At DayDreamersAi, he has contributed to extending YOLOv11 for custom object detection and explored advanced models like SAM2 for live video inference. His final-year project is a fintech platform inspired by personal challenges faced while learning stock trading. He enjoys analyzing markets, developing trading strategies, and building intelligent systems that blend logic with creativity.
Ms. Halima Taouil
Halima Taouil is a PhD student at Chouaib Doukkali University and currently an intern at the University of Almería. Her research centers on tourism, entrepreneurship, and regional integration in Africa. She is deeply passionate about sustainable development, FinTech applications in tourism, and the development of smart cities. Halima has demonstrated strong leadership through her involvement with AIESEC and Enactus, and she holds the distinction of being the first woman to serve on the Administrative Council of the El Jadida Falconry Association. She has completed Red Crescent First Aid Training and has been recognized through the World Youth Alliance MENA Program. Committed to inclusivity, cultural exchange, and the empowerment of young entrepreneurs, Halima continues to make a meaningful impact in both academic and community settings.
Ms. Maryem Jmahri
Maryem Jmahri is a top graduate of the National School of Business and Management of El Jadida, where she specialized in Financial and Accounting Management. With prior experience as a financial accountant, she is now a PhD candidate and teaching assistant in Economic and Management Sciences at Chouaib Doukkali University. Her research focuses on tax reform in Morocco, particularly tax acceptability and reducing economic inequalities, within the framework of the New Development Model. Maryem has presented her work at academic seminars and published in peer-reviewed journals, demonstrating a strong commitment to research and meaningful economic development in Morocco.
Ms. Teodora-Cătălina Dumitra
Teodora-Cătălina Dumitra is in the final year of her PhD in Cybernetics and Statistics at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies in Romania. She serves as an Assistant Researcher at the National Scientific Research Institute for Labour and Social Protection and as an Associate Professor at her university. Her academic and professional pursuits reflect a strong passion for data science, education, and the dynamics of the labour market. Through her research and teaching, Teodora-Cătălina is dedicated to advancing knowledge in her field and contributing to evidence-based solutions in labor and social policy.
Prof. Dr. Pedro Agua
Professor Portuguese Naval Academy, Portugal
Presentation Topic: Leading and Innovating in Challenging Times: Lessons from Jazz
Prof. Dr. Pedro Agua teaches General Management at the Portuguese Naval Academy and is a Senior Teaching Fellow at AESE Business School, Lisbon. Currently he is the Portuguese Navy Research Centre Deputy Director, and a national representative for fields such as Complex Systems and Complexity. A former Naval Officer, he combines his teaching profile with an extensive business background of more than 28 years as senior manager, dedicated to cutting edge fields such as defence, telecommunications and subsea industry, leading systems engineering and project management teams. He holds an Executive MBA from AESE and IESE Business School and a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Management awarded by the University of Lisbon.
Prof. Dr. Ernest Biktimirov
Goodman School of Business, Brock University, Canada
Presentation Topic: All Topics are not Created Equal: Unpacking the Relation Between Media Sentiment and Asset Prices through Topic Modeling Analysis
Dr. Ernest Biktimirov received his Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Kentucky, USA, and earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation from the CFA Institute. Professor Biktimirov has research interests in the areas of empirical asset pricing, behavioral finance, and financial education. Professor Biktimirov has won numerous research and teaching awards, and he has been frequently quoted in media.
Ass. Prof. Dr. Ozan Nadirgil
Dr. Ozan Nadirgil is an Assistant Prof. in the fields of accounting, finance, and quantitative methods and an independent researcher who has participated in 3 EU funded international projects, in addition to several local projects as a lead researcher or project manager. He has a Ph.D. in management, M.Sc. in finance, and B.A. in business administration. He has lectured undergraduate level accounting, finance, business analytics, and research methodologies courses at various universities in different countries. He has been awarded the Jean Monnet research scholarship in 2019, in addition to two national higher education grants.
Prof. Iacopo Cavallini
Dr. Iacopo Cavallini is an Associate Professor of Business Administration and Public Accounting within the Department of Economics and Management at the University of Pisa, Italy. His academic journey includes earning a PhD in Business Administration from the University of Pisa.
Dr. Cavallini’s expertise and active involvement in the academic community have earned him recognition as an Associate EMAB (EuroMed Academy of Business) Fellow. His research interests encompass various aspects of public administration, with a particular focus on the relationships between ownership structure and corporate performance. Throughout his career, Dr. Cavallini has coordinated several EU-funded projects, including INTERREG and Erasmus+ projects. Dr. Cavallini also serves as an English-language associate editor and editorial board member of refereed journals.
Mrs. Birsen Çelik
Birsen Çelik graduated from nursing and sociology and has completed a master’s in engineering management. She is also an occupational safety expert and professional coach. Since 1994, she has worked as a Workplace Nurse, Occupational Hygienist, Occupational Safety Specialist and Employee Relations Specialist at Çayeli Bakır Enterprises. Currently, she serves as the Training and Development Chief. She has participated in academic studies on occupational health, safety, and ergonomics at national and international congresses and symposiums. She is passionate about inspiring people, driving change, and adding meaning to life
Dr. Damira Keček
Damira Keček graduated from the Faculty of Science in Zagreb, in the Department of Mathematics, programme Financial and Business Mathematics. In 2018 she defended her doctoral dissertation within International Joint Cross-Border PhD Programme in International Economic Relations and Management, Eisenstadt, Austria. Currently she works as an assistant professor at the University North in Varaždin, Republic of Croatia. Interests: Input-output analysis; Energy economics, Operational research, Information and Communication Technology, Applied mathematics.
Mr. Chen Tseng
Chen Tseng is the Executive Head of Research at the Financial and Fiscal Commission. He hold a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Cape Town, currently studying Doctor of Business Administration through Prague University of Economics and Business.
Chen possesses years of management experience (including Acting Chief Executive Officer) leading and conducting evidence-based research to inform economic, financial and fiscal policy across all spheres of government and the private sector. His strengths are using succinct and easy-to-understand macro- and micro- econometrics data and concepts to inform the Legislature and Government on public finance and intergovernmental fiscal relations.
Prof. Dr. Giuseppina Iacoviello
Giuseppina Iacoviello is an Associate Professor of the scientific area “Business Administration” and “Planning and Control” at the Department of Economics and Management – University of Pisa – Italy.
In 2021, Co-Coordinator of the Subject Area Group of Business Administration in the CALOHex project (Measuring and Comparing Achievements of Learning Outcomes in Higher Education in Europe, KA3-Erasmus).
Member of the conference scientific committee the international online conference titled Corporate governance: participants, mechanisms and performance.
Member of the International Institute of Informatics and Systemics.
Member of the Editorial Board of the journal Risk Governance and Control and the Social Science & Humanities Research Association.
Associate Professor Viorela-Ligia VĂIDEAN, PhD
Associate Professor in the field of Finance at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
Presentation Topic: Health outcomes and health expenditures within an economic framework – empirical evidences
Viorela-Ligia Văidean is an Associate Professor in the field of Finance at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca. She obtained a Bachelor Degree in Finance and Banking from Babeş – Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania in 2006, further graduating a Master program in Corporate Finance and Insurances and another one in Project Management and Evaluation. She successfully followed a full time PhD program, obtaining the PhD title in the Finance field, in 2010. In 2015 she graduated a postdoctoral study program. In 2021 she successfully defended her Habilitation Thesis.
She has also worked as an Expert for different EU financed projects and grants. She has published more than 40 research papers and attended several international conferences. She has been the author or coauthor of eleven books and international book chapters. Her research interests cover the areas of Health Economics, Corporate Finance, Financial Management, Organized Crime and Fiscal Policies.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Katalin Lipták
Dr. Katalin Lipták is an associate professor, head of department, and vice-dean at the Faculty of Economics, University of Miskolc, Hungary. Her research fields are regional labour market processes. She is currently researching the evolution and development of the labour market and the changing labour market processes as well as the social and solidarity economies. She is editor-in-chief of Socialis Series in Social Sciences journal.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Woradee Jongadsayakul
Woradee Jongadsayakul is an associate professor of economics at Kasetsart University in Thailand. She received her B.B.A. in finance from Chulalongkorn University, M.F. from Saint Louis University, M.A. in economics and Ph.D. in economics from University of Colorado at Boulder. Her teaching and research interests are in business economics, financial risk management, and industrial organization.
Ass. Prof. Linyin Cheng
Linyin Cheng is an assistant professor at Economics and Management College, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China. She got her PhD degree from Nanjing University, China. Her main research interests are corporate governance, financial accounting, and capital market.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yeqing Guan
Dr. Yeqing Guan is an associate professor of Economics and Manangement College, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, CN. She majored in Computational Mathematics and gained a master of engineering. As a teacher, Dr.Yeqing entered NUAA and obtained a doctoral degree in management. Her research areas include Grey System Theory and the application of Multi-Attribute Decision-Making methods.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Scott Wysong
Scott Wysong, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor and MBA Program Director in the Gupta College of Business at the University of Dallas. Dr. Wysong holds a BA in Economics from Vanderbilt University and an MBA and Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Texas at Arlington. His research interests include sports marketing, branding, customer service and consumer behavior.
Mr. Anas Azzabi
Anas AZZABI is graduated from the Higher Institute of Commerce and Business Administration in 2021. He later returned to the Institute as a PhD student on 2023. He works as a Business Analyst at Tesselate Africa. He is interested in finance, banking, economics, econometrics and research. He is a certified Capital Markets & Securities Analyst by CFI.
Ms. Yeowoon Jeon
Yeowoon Jeon is a graduate student at Ewha Womans University, department of economics. Her research interests include microeconomics and theoretical and empirical industrial organization. Her current research topics are advance selling’s profitability in duopoly and the profitability of using multiple delivery applications in the F&B industry. “
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.