Cristian is a Ph.D. Candidate in Economics at the University of Bern and, previously, at the Geneva Graduate Institute (IHEID), where he also obtained his Master's degree. He is currently visiting LSE (Centre for Macroeconomics) under the supervision of Prof. Ricardo Reis. He graduated cum laude in Political Science from the University of Milan and completed an Executive Master as part of the Premio America Giovani prize, which is awarded each year to the best graduates in Italy. He spent a semester at the European Stability Mechanism, where he co-authored a research project on bond convenience yields. He was a research fellow at AlphaMundi Group, an impact investing fund based in Geneva, and he also interned at BlackRock. Recently, he spent a research period at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel, working on a project linking productivity, inflation and AI. Cristian gained extensive experience as project manager in a start-up based in Milan and, before starting his academic career, he had been a Cadet Officer at the Military Academy of Modena.

Hengyi is a fourth-year Finance PhD candidate at Tilburg University. His research focuses on the intersection of banking, industrial organization, and monetary policy, exploring how financial institutions navigate evolving economic frameworks.

Divij is a fifth year Finance doctoral candidate at the Gies College of Business, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research interests lie in the area of Household Finance and Financial inclusion. He studies how financial policies, technological innovations, and macroeconomic forces shape households’ access to credit, their financial decision-making, and their overall financial wellbeing. 

Sejin is a PhD candidate and finance researcher at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Seoul National University and a Master’s in Finance from London Business School. Her core research interest focuses on behavioural finance in the banking industry. Her background incorporates professional experience across private banking, fintech startups, and central banking, with roles held in Seoul, Zurich, and Dublin. Her current research portfolio includes a project with the Central Bank of Ireland on central bank digital currencies (Digital Euro) and consumer payment behaviours.

Sameh Marei is a PhD candidate at Esade Business School and a visiting researcher at Imperial College Business School. His research interests are in financial intermediation and corporate finance. His job market paper studies valuation practices in the private credit industry. Before starting his PhD, he spent ten years in banking, working across derivatives sales and trading in cross-asset roles, covering clients across multiple countries in the EMEA region.

Roberto is a PhD candidate at the University of Bergamo (Italy) and the University of Agder (Norway). His research focuses on financial intermediation, banking, and development finance, with particular attention to bank ownership and development. His current work examines the role of public  banks in local development in Colombia.

Jing is a PhD Candidate in Finance at the Swiss Finance Institute and the University of Geneva, supervised by Prof. Harald Hau. His research interests include household finance, empirical asset pricing, machine learning and insurance.