Jianan Lu

Jianan Lu is an Associate Professor in Finance (ESG & Sustainable Finance) at the School of Accounting and Finance, University of Vaasa.

Jianan obtained his PhD in Finance at the University of Edinburgh (Grade A) and subsequently served as a post-doc at the University of Oxford. Before joining Vaasa, Jianan was a Research Fellow in University of Portsmouth, and an adjunct Research Fellow at Tsinghua University.

Jianan’s research is distinguished by its interdisciplinary nature, encompassing Corporate and Household Finance, Financial Technology, Experimental and Digital Economics, Innovation and Development, Financial Inclusion, and Sustainable Finance. His work has been presented at leading international economic and finance conferences (e.g., AEA, AFA, EEA, FMA) and published in prestigious journals such as the Journal of Financial Intermediation (ABS 4, ABDC 4*) and Research Policy (ABS 4*, FT50).

He has received several research grants and has led international research projects. Notably, he served as Principal Investigator (PI) for the UK–Ukraine collaborative project “Fintech as a Fence for the Shock and Fuel for the Recovery? Lessons from the War” (completed), involving eight scholars from both countries. He is currently leading an ESG–Social Investment Quality Mark project in collaboration with the City Council of the London Borough of Walton Forest.

Jianan also holds several external roles: he is a Visiting Scholar at the University of Edinburgh and serves as Guest Editor and Editorial Board member for the Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies.

He is supervising PhD students and welcoming new applicants.