Management, Economics and Social Science

Linh Tu Ho is a Lecturer in Finance, Faculty of Agribusiness and Commerce, Lincoln University, New Zealand. Her research focuses on investment, risk, and financial markets. With the applied quantitative approach, Linh has expanded her area to risk management, sustainable investment, finance technology, and green finance. She has won several research awards including the Sustainable Finance – INFINZ Prize and Semi-finalist of the InSPiR2eS Global PITCHING RESEARCH® Competition (IGPRC) 2022. Linh presented at several leading conferences, including the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand Conference (AFAANZ), International Congress on Modelling and Simulation (MODSIM) in Australia, and New Zealand Association of Economists Annual Conference (NZAE).

John Fan Zhang obtained his PhD degree in 2018 from Auckland University of Technology with a thesis title, “The financial impact of cultural diversity on multinational firms”. In this thesis, Doctor Zhang investigates the influence of national cultural diversity on multinational entrepreneurs (MNEs). Culture is a significant influencing factor on the financial aspects of MNEs. It not only indirectly affects MNEs through formal institutions such as legal and political frameworks, but also directly governs the daily routine of MNEs through individual values, norms, and preferences. Nowadays, MNEs play an increasingly large and important role in the economic development of global markets. MNEs dynamically establish operations in different countries and economies, where national cultures may vary from one another. In this case, MNEs need to develop management and financial practices for each subsidiary in accordance with the national culture in which the subsidiary is operating, this would unavoidably influence financial decisions, performance, and value of the MNEs. Understanding the effect of cultural diversity on a firm is not only important to academic researchers but also matters to managers and investors. Doctor John Fan Zhang has also been a CFA chartholder since 2012.

Adriana Uquillas has a PhD in Statistics from the University of São Paulo (Brazil). She is also a Mathematical Engineer from the Escuela Politécnica Nacional (Ecuador) and Bachelor in Classical Music from the Latin American Institute of Sacred Music (Ecuador). Adriana was Research and Development Manager, Manager of Credit Models and Credit Risk Manager and Senior Manager at Itaú Unibanco Bank, at Banco Múltiplo HSBC and at Banco Bradesco. Since 2016, she is co-founder and president of EstocasticAnalytics S.A company, which provides analytical services that contribute to business innovation. In the academic field, Adriana is a full professor in the Mathematics Department of the Escuela Politécnica Nacional. She has fourteen years of experience in the financial sector, dedicated to Research and Development in the banking sector. Also, she has collaborated in the Scientific Division of Energy Analysis and Development of the University of São Paulo and in the Machine Learning and Computer Vision research group of Escuela Politécnica Nacional. Currently, she is a member of the Integrative Ecology Research Group and collaborates in the Multidisciplinary Research Group for Public Policy of the Escuela Politécnica Nacional.

Mingxuan Mao received the Ph.D. degree in control theoryand control engineering at Chongqing University in 2017.From June 2016 to June 2017, he was a visiting scholar in University of Leeds, Leeds, U.K., where he was engaged in research on advanced control theory and applications for renewable power generation and power electronics. His research interests include renewableenergy systems, power electronics converterand artificial intelligence algorithm.