FIRN Key Documentation

FIRN 2022 Annual Report available here

FIRN Code of Conduct (as at 17 October 2022) available here

FIRN Executive Committee:

Elvira Sojli Managing Director, President and member of the board:

Elvira Sojli is an Associate Professor and Scientia Fellow in the School of Banking and Finance, the University of New South Wales. Her current work tries to understand the role of and determinants of women’s participation in innovation. She is particularly interested in the international aspect of differences across countries and disciplines. Her previous work has focussed on international finance and market microstructure. 

Garry Twite – Vice President Education:

Garry Twite is a visiting professor in the Department of Finance, University of Melbourne. He received his Ph.D. from University of NSW. His research interests include corporate finance, corporate governance, compensation and real estate. His research has been published in leading academic journals including the Journal of Financial Economics, the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, the Journal of Corporate Finance and the Journal of Urban Economics. Garry has previously held academic positions at the Australian National University, University of New South Wales and the University of Texas at Austin.

Andrea Lu: Vice President FIRN Women:

Andrea Lu is an Associate Professor of Finance at the University of Melbourne. Andrea has a PhD in Finance from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, and her research focuses on empirical asset pricing, financial market frictions and international asset pricing.

Chelsea Liu: Vice President ECR:

Chelsea Liu is an Associate Professor at The University of Adelaide and previously worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Finance at Foster School of Business, University of Washington. Chelsea’s research on climate finance, corporate misconduct, corporate governance, and sustainability benefits from her industry qualification as a solicitor and barrister in Australia.

Neal Galpin

Neal Galpin: Vice President Conference:

Neal Galpin is Professor, School of Banking and Finance at Monash University.

Ellie Chapple: Company Secretary

Professor Ellie Chapple holds the position of Professor of Accounting at QUT Business School, where she is the research leader in Forensic Accounting and the chief investigator in the research program Accounting For Social Change. Ellie is a member of AFAANZ, member of the Corporate Law Teachers Association and Legal practitioner admitted to the Supreme Court of Queensland.

Anna Bedford: Treasurer

Anna Bedford is an Associate Professor in the Accounting Department at the UTS Business School. Her research focuses on corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions and innovation. Her current research interest is on digitalisation and entrepreneurship.

BOARD MEMBERS:

Christine Helliar (chair)

Christine Helliar is a Professor at the School of Commerce, University of South Australia Business School and chair of the Board of Directors. Christine has a PhD in Risk, Derivatives and Management Control from the University of Dundee, and her research focuses on financial reporting, accounting education, ethics and governance, finance and risk management, auditing and management control. 

Robert Durand

Robert Durand is a Professor of Finance at Curtin University.  Robert’s work focuses on empirical work investigating asset pricing models and behavioural finance. Robert holds a BA (Hons.) from the University of Sydney, an MBA from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD from Murdoch University

Joakim Westerholm

Joakim Westerholm is an Associate Professor of Finance at the University of Sydney.  His teaching and research interests are in the areas of Asset Pricing: with focus on security market microstructure and behavioral finance topics; Corporate Finance: with focus on CEO and corporate insider trading strategies and acquisition decisions.  Joakim has a PhD in Finance from the Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration (Hanken), in Helsinki, Finland. He has 9 years industry experience in broking, dealing and funds management.

Xiaoyang Li

Xiaoyang Li is an Associate Professor in the Department of Finance at Deakin Business School. Prior to joining Deakin, he was an Associate Professor of Finance at the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF), Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He received his PhD from the University of Michigan in 2011. He has published in the Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Finance, Strategic Management Journal, and Journal of Corporate Finance, among others. His broad teaching and research interests cover topics in mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and innovation.