Dr Ruoran Zhao
Lecturer in Accounting and Finance

Profile

Biography

Ruoran Zhao holds a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Edinburgh. Prior to joining SBS, Ruoran was a Research Fellow - Financing Climate Solutions at the University of Edinburgh and a Visiting Scholar at Brown University. Her research interests are deep roots of financial development such as culture and legal institutions, climate finance, Fin-tech, and gender bias in financial markets. Her papers are published in Journal of Business Research, and Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money. Her working papers have been accepted and invited to present in many conferences such as the annual meetings of the American Finance Association, European Financial Management Association, Financial Management & Accounting Research Conference, and European Financial Management Association.

Research

Overview

Ruoran’s current research lies in:

• Corporate Biodiversity Risks
• Epidemic Disease and Innovation
• Political Connection and Firms’ Environmental Performance
• Government Support of Female Employee-dominated Firms
• Institutions and FinTech

Available PhD research projects

I welcome expressions of interest from prospective PhD students interested in topics related to green finance, gender bias in financial markets, and the role of culture in financial decision-making.

Teaching

Undergraduate

• Contemporary Issues in Accounting and Finance
• Research & Information Criticality

Postgraduate

• Research Method

Publications

Selected publications

Journal

1. An, J., Guo, S., & Zhao, R. (2026). The Leverage of Terrorists on Democratic Regimes: Evidence from Natural Experiments in Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Law and Economics.

2. An, J., Chen, B., & Zhao, R. (2025). Epidemic disease and innovation. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 231, 106917.

3. Lawyers in the Boardroom and Firm Environmental Performance, with Xianda Liu, Jiafu An, Tinghuan Duan & Wenxuan Hou, 2023, in Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money

2. Signaling Effects of Doing Good in Global ICO Markets, with Wenxuan Hou, V. Kumar & Ajay Kumar, 2023, in Journal of Business Research

3. From Fiction to Fact: the Growing Role of Generative AI in Business and Finance, with Boyang Chen & Zongxiao Wu, 2023, in Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies