Dr. José Abad

He holds a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Exeter, UK. He also completed the Advanced Studies Program in International Economics at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Germany, and specialized in Quantitative Methods at Madrid Polytechnic University, Spain. Additionally, he has a dual bachelor's degree in Law and Finance from ICADE, Spain.

Currently, José is a consultant in the Economic and Market Research Department at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, in Washington, DC. His prior roles include positions at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Goldman Sachs in London, and as Chief Economist at the Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO) in Madrid.

His research focuses on the usability of bank capital buffers and the political economics of subnational public finances. He was awarded the 2022 Federico Prades Prize (Spanish Banking Association) and nominated for the 2023 Rybczynski Prize (Society of Professional Economists, UK).

PhD. Candidate Daniela-Andreia Damian

She is a PhD candidate in the Geography Department at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (Iasi, Romania), and at Côte d'Azur University (Nice, France). Her research explores the connection between human capital formation and academic trends in the European context, with a specific emphasis on the Romanian case. Through her research, she aims to offer insights that can inform policy decisions and contribute to the improvement of education in Romania.

PhD. Candidate Ana Lleó Bono

Ana is a PhD candidate in Economics at the University of Cambridge. She is specializing in Behavioural, Experimental, and Organizational Economics. Her research spans topics such as productivity, team dynamics, and incentives. In particular, her PhD thesis investigates the incentives’ structure of workers in the Spanish citrus industry to draw policy conclusions to balance quantity vs. quality trade-offs and avoid food waste.

PhD. Candidate Hasan Küçük

Hasan is a PhD. candidate in the Sociology Department at Gaziantep University. His research interests are in political economy, sociology, and political science. Specifically, his work focuses on developmental challenges among Global North and South, and regional inequalities and social justice. In his research, Hasan focuses on global and local firms' power asymmetries, and how global production networks affect social and economic welfare.

PhD. Candidate Jinghui Yu

Jinghui is a Doctoral Research Associate and a PhD candidate in Economics at Lancaster University, UK. She specializes in International Macroeconomics, Innovation and Trade. Her research focuses on topics such as global technology diffusion, labor market dynamics, and the role of trade in productivity spillovers. Her PhD thesis develops a novel measure of global technology shocks to examine how trade exposure, borrowing capacity, and labor mobility shape labor market responses and economic gains from technological advancements across countries. Additionally, she investigates technology news shocks using a patent-based world technology news index to analyse how expectations of global innovation influence domestic productivity, trade dynamics, and labor market adjustments.

PhD. Candidate Nuria León Pérez

Nuria is a PhD. Candidate in Human Rights, Democracy and International Justice at the University of Valencia. She has been granted the Manuel Serra Foundation scholarship to support her research in the field of procedural law. Her doctoral project examines the protection of human rights, with particular attention to international judicial cooperation, proceedings before the International Criminal Court, and the principle of universal jurisdiction, as well as its interaction with both national and supranational judicial systems.  

Dr. Yue Dai

Yue recently graduated with a PhD in Economics from Swansea University, where she researched the cultural, social, and political forces that shape the socioeconomic lives and choices of Chinese individuals, particularly in relation to their consumption behavior.

Building on her PhD project and drawing insights from sociology, her current research interests focus on understanding how inequality originates from societal structures and how it affects socioeconomic progress, using quantitative research methods. Additionally, Yue aims to explore the inherent factors that influence human needs, incentives, motivations which determine socioeconomic choices and outcomes. To gain a deeper understanding why individuals prefer certain options, she also employs mixed research methods, including interviews to provide additional insights and evidence.

Dr. Fernando Gómez Herrero

Fernando Gómez Herrero (PhD Duke University; MA Wake Forest and Salamanca University; BA and Premio de Grado, Salamanca University; MLS Simmons University) is currently a Visiting Research Scholar at the Instituto de Iberoamérica, University of Salamanca, Spain. He has taught mostly in the U.S. (Duke University, Stanford University, Pittsburgh University, Oberlin College, UMass, Boston University, Boston College, Hofstra University, etc.) and the U.K. (University of Birmingham, University of Manchester).

He recently published The (Latin) American Scene, Present and Future (Im-)Perfect (Anthem Press, 2025).

A. Prof. Marta Martínez Matute

She is Professor of Economics at the Ruhr University Bochum and an Associate Research Fellow at the University of Sussex in the Digital Futures at Work Research Centre. Her research focuses on new technologies (digitalisation, robots, AI), regional economics and development, firm dynamics (such as location choices, productivity and trade), labour market analyses, and inequality, applying modern techniques from econometrics, data science and machine learning.

Prof. Astrid Krenz

She is Professor of Economics at the Ruhr University Bochum and an Associate Research Fellow at the University of Sussex in the Digital Futures at Work Research Centre. Her research focuses on new technologies (digitalisation, robots, AI), regional economics and development, firm dynamics (such as location choices, productivity and trade), labour market analyses, and inequality, applying modern techniques from econometrics, data science and machine learning.

PhD. Candidate Jaime Gimeno Ribes

Jaime is a Civil Engineer and a PhD candidate in Economics at the University of Valencia (Spain).  His research focuses on the implications of behavioral biases for household consumption, for the transmission of monetary and fiscal policy, as well as for business cycle dynamics.

PhD. Candidate Tatjana Neuhuber

Tatjana Neuhuber is a Ph.D. candidate at the Vienna University of Technology at the Institute of Spatial Planning. Her broader research interests are the welfare state and its role in alleviating spatial inequalities and achieving spatial justice. In her research, she focuses on the quantitative measurement of social and spatial inequality and how different inequality indicators determine the risks and opportunities for policy interventions.

Dr. Juan de Lucio

Juan de Lucio is Professor at the Universidad de Alcalá – UAH and main researcher of the high-performance research group I4. He has a extensive record of teaching in public and private universities and experience in research in different institutions such as FEDEA, the Spanish Chamber of Commerce and the Bank of Spain.

He is specialized in the field of applied economics analysis.

PhD. Candidate Costanza Giannantoni

She is a PhD Candidate in Economics at Department of Economics and Law, Sapienza University of Rome.

Her research explores how decentralisation policies affect subnational institutions and bureaucratic efficiency and, ultimately, local economic activity.

Prof. Javier Sáez-Fernández

He has a Degree in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Valencia and PhD in Economics from the University of Granada. He is currently Professor and Director of the Department of International and Spanish Economics at the University of Granada. His research work is mainly developed in the lines of monetary and financial economics, social economy and economics of natural resources.

PhD. Candidate Genghao Zhang

Genghao Zhang is a first year PhD student at the University of Bristol. The anticipated end date of his program: Advanced Quantitative Methods (PhD) is 18th September 2026. His research interests are Geography of Innovation and Twin Transitions.

To get in touch with him, please use the following email address

PhD. Candidate José Joaquín Luque García

He is a pre-doctoral researcher with an FPI
contract at the University of Málaga. He specialises in Economic History, particularly his line of research revolves around the gas industry in Latin Europe.

PhD. Candidate Javier Padilla

He is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the City University of New York (CUNY). He holds a master’s degree in philosophy and public Policy from the London School of Economics. His research focuses on the fate of authoritarian elites in Latin American and South European democracies and how political parties are perceived on the left-right dimension. 

PhD. Candidate Zhuoying You

Zhuoying You is currently 3rd-year PhD candidate in the Department of Management, Strategy and Innovation (MSI), Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) at KU Leuven. Her research interests include regional innovation, environmental sustainability, and international business.

To get in touch with her, please use the following email address

Dr. Enrique Acebo

Enrique Acebo is an Assistant Professor of Management at the University of León, where he earned a PhD Summa Cum Laude in Business Economics. His research focuses on how firms can leverage new products and processes in innovation ecosystems with the purpose of value creation and environmental sustainability.

To get in touch with him, please use the following email address

Dr. Ana-Maria Opria

She is assistant professor at the Department of Geography, Faculty of Geography and Geology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania.

Her research interests are oriented towards the field of Human Geography. Currently, her research focuses on aspects related to sustainable development, with a particular attention on topics such as: management of European and national funding programs, inequalities in the distribution of funds for sustainable development, factors leading to different performances of rural communities in absorbing financial support.

Dr. Silje Haus-Reve

She is an Associate Professor and the Head of the Department of Innovation, Management, and Marketing at the Business School of the University of Stavanger. Her research focuses on innovation, regional development, and policy, drawing on insights from innovation studies and economic geography. Her particular interest lies in examining how knowledge and skills empower firms to innovate and drive regional development.

Dr. Wioletta Kilar

She is assistant professor at the Department of Entrepreneurship and Spatial Management as well as the Director of the Institute of Geography of the Pedagogical University of Krakow.

Her research focuses on the processes of transformation of industrial spatial structures in various spatial systems; the formation and functioning of enterprises (especially multinational corporations); factors of location, innovation and development of multinational corporations and their branches.

Prof. Pablo de Andrés Alonso

He is Professor of Finance and head of the Finance Department at the Autonoma University of Madrid. His research interests range between corporate governance, corporate finance and real options. His interest in corporate governance started early in his career, as he was awarded the European Investment Bank Prize for young researchers (1997).

Lately, his research interests are toward start-up finance (digital) strategies.

Dr. Paulino Montes Solla

Paulino is Assistant Professor of Fundamentals of Economic Analysis at the University of A Coruña where he has been teaching since 2019. He is also a senior researcher at the Jean Monnet Research Group on Competition and Regional Development in the European Union (GCD) where he has held the position of manager since 2007 to 2021.

Cristina Carrillo Pulido 

Cristina is a doctoral researcher in Economics, Business and Law within the research line of Sectoral Economics and Development, and a member of the Applied Economics Research Group of the University of Jaén.

In addition, she has been working for several years in companies as a business consultant to strengthen the business fabric leading to more innovative, intelligent and sustainable business management models. She also holds a MSc Economic and Territorial Development and a BA Business Management from the University of Jaén.

Dr. Richard Huddleson / Riocárd Ó hOddail

He is a postdoctoral researcher in Catalan Language and Culture at University College Dublin. His research is part of the project 'Youth Engagement in European Language Preservation' (YEELP), which is funded by the European Research Council and based in Scoil na Gaeilge, an Léinn Cheiltigh agus an Bhéaloidis.

Elena Renzullo

She is a fourth-year PhD Candidate in Economics at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. During her PhD she visited the Department of Regional Science & Economic Geography of the Gran Sasso Science Institute and worked as a short-term consultant for the World Bank Group.

Her research interest lies at the intersection of Public Economics, Political Economics, and Regional Economics. Her PhD dissertation investigates the relationship between local electoral outcomes in Southern Italy and European Cohesion Policy.

Gonzalo Reguera-Zaratiegui

He is a doctoral researcher at I-COMMUNITAS - Institute for Advanced Social Research and belongs to the research group “Rural sociology, mobilities and social research” of the Public University of Navarre.

His research focuses on socio-territorial cohesion and mobility.

Dr. Chiara Burlina

She is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics and Management, University of Padova.

Her research interests lie at the intersection of Applied Microeconomics, Regional Economics, Economic Geography, and Institutions. Her research specifically explores how different economic factors impact the development of regions, based on a quantitative approach.

Paloma Alonso Stuyck 

Paloma holds a PhD in Psychology and is an Associate Professor at the International University of Catalonia.

At the Cañada Blanch Centre LSE, she is designing a workshop for university teachers, with the aim that they teach in their disciplines to read the language of nature.

Diego Loras Gimeno

Diego is a doctoral researcher and lecturer at Comillas Pontifical University. His research focuses on how the urban-rural gap affects inequality and poverty in Spain.

In addition, he works as a Parliamentary Assistant at the Spanish Congress of Deputies.

José Carlos Tenorio Maciá

Doctoral researcher at the Jean Monnet Chair of the University of Alicante, in the Department of Contemporary Humanities. His research focuses on the British European policy from 1945 onwards, with special attention to the way the Spanish press have covered the difficult relationship between Britain and the European project during this period.

Pau Sendra Pons is a researcher and lecturer at the Department of Corporate Finance of the University of Valencia. He graduated in International Business and holds a Master in Corporate Finance from this institution, both with an extraordinary prize upon graduation. His research focuses on new frontiers in entrepreneurial fundraising, specially crowdfunding, as well as entrepreneurship and gender. He has published articles in international journals including European Research on Management and Business Economics, Service Business and Quality and Quantity. He has been awarded numerous research awards, including the best research from a young researcher by the European Academy of Management and Business Economics or the Fundación Cañada Blanch - London School of Economics research award. Additionally, he serves as Innovation Deputy at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Valencia as well as the Scientific Board of RESOCEM – Research Society on Entrepreneurial Motivation.