Professor Effie Kesidou
- Position: Chair in Economics of Innovation & Sustainability
- Areas of expertise: Economics of Innovation; Sustainability; Green/Eco-Innovation; Economic Development; Systems of Innovation; CSR; Economic Geography.
- Email: E.Kesidou@leeds.ac.uk
- Phone: +44(0)113 343 4514
- Location: 1.19 Maurice Keyworth
- Website: | LinkedIn | Googlescholar | Researchgate | ORCID
Profile
Effie Kesidou is an economist with expertise in the economics of innovation, environmental economics and sustainability. She is a Chair in Economics of Innovation and Sustainability at Leeds University Business School and the Head of the Graduate School in the Faculty of Business, University of Leeds. She is also a Senior Research Associate at Enterprise Research Centre, Warwick Business School and a CORD Fellow at the Center for Organization Research & Design, Arizona State University. Effie is serving as the Associate Editor at Business Strategy and the Environment (Impact factor: 12).
Her research is interdisciplinary and uses applied economic methods to understand how businesses and regions can become more sustainable via innovation. She has published her work in top-ranked journals such as Research Policy, Ecological Economics, Journal of Economic Geography, International Journal of Production Economics, Journal of Management Studies, Organization Studies, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Journal of Business Ethics, World Development, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Business History, etc.
Effie’s research is funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), European Commission (H2020), and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).
Responsibilities
- Head of Graduate School (Faculty of Business)
- Faculty Graduate School Committee (chair); Faculty Research and Innovation Committee (member)
- Graduate Board University of Leeds (member); Academic Quality Committee ESRC White Rose DTP (member)
Research interests
- Assessing the institutional, demand, organizational factors that drive eco-innovation, environmental innovations, and green patents.
- Examining the impact of international sustainability standards, such as ISO14001, upon firm’s financial, ESG, and CSR performance.
- Explaining the role of city-regions and local knowledge spillovers upon firm’s eco-innovation and productivity.
AWARDS
- Best Paper Award in SMEs, Growth, and Performance, Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, UK (2022).
- Best Paper Award in Innovation, British Academy of Management, UK (2013).
GRANTS
- 2023-2025. Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) (£ 2million), Back to Baselines in Circular Fashion & Textiles, (individual contribution £113,153), Co-I.
- 2023-2024. University of Manchester, ESRC-funded research centre, Productivity in transition – an international comparative analysis of the twin transition, its enablers, and productivity implications, (individual contribution £43,461), PI.
- 2021-2024. European Commission Grant, EU Project H2020 101003491 (€ 3,620 million): A JUST Transition to the Circular Economy (JUST2CE), (individual contribution £420,685), Co-I.
- 2020. University of Warwick, ESRC-funded research centre, Net Zero and SMEs in the UK (individual contribution £44,359), PI.
- 2020. ESRC Productivity Insight Network: Targeted Small Grant (individual contribution £35,000), Co-I.
- 2016-2024. Northern Advanced Research Training Initiative (NARTI), 4 Events of advanced methods training for PGRs and ECRs (£5,500) (Co-PI).
- 2017-2021. BBSRC Global Challenges Research Fund, (£602,831), VOICES Valuing Orchard and Integrated Crop Ecosystem Services (£200,000), Co-I.
- 2013-2015. ESRC Innovating for a Low Carbon Economy (£28,106), Co-I.
- 2013. SeedCorn Funding for Social Science/STEM Collaborations, University of Leeds. –‘Eco-Innovation and the Porter hypothesis’ (£2,000), PI.
- 2012. Collaboration Fund University of Nottingham China, Malaysia & the UK, Eco-Innovation in Emerging Economies, (£5,000), PI.
- 2009-2010. University of Nottingham, New Researchers’ Fund, On the Drivers of Eco-innovations: Empirical evidence from the UK (£40,243), PI.
Qualifications
- PhD Economics, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands
- MSc Development Economics, University of East Anglia, School of Development Studies, UK
- BSc Economics, University of Macedonia, Greece
Student education
Module Leader for LUBS2665 - Economics of Innovation (2012-2019).
Module Leader for LUBS3930 - Economics of Business and Corporate Strategy (2012-2019).
Module Leader for LUBS2570 – Introduction to Econometrics (2012-2015).
LUBS3300 - Economics Dissertation (2012 – current)
Supervision of UG, MSc, and PhD dissertations.
EXTERNAL POSITIONS
2024 – current: Visiting Scholar, Sustainable Purchasing Research Initiative, American University, USA.
2021 – current: Co-Chair - Northern Advanced Research Training Initiative (NARTI).
2020 – current: Academic Quality Committee, ESRC White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership (WRDTP).
2019 – 2023: External Examiner: UG Industrial Economics, University of Nottingham, UK.
2019 – current: Senior Research Associate, Enterprise Research Centre, University of Warwick, UK.
2016–current: CORD Fellow, Center for Organization Research & Design, Arizona State University, USA.
2014– current: Office of National Statistics (ONS) Approved Researcher.
External PhD examination:
2023 University of Warwick, UK
2022 University of Naples Parthenope, Italy.
2021 Nanyang University of Technology, Singapore
2020 University of Birmingham, UK
2020 University of Reading, UK
2019 Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
2018 University of Warwick, UK
2017 University of Southampton, UK
2015 Maastricht University, the Netherlands.
PhD Supervision:
I am interested in supervising PhD theses that use applied economic methods on the following topics: Environmental Regulation; Economics of Innovation; Sustainability; Eco-Innovation; Economic Development Systems of Innovation; Economic Geography.
PhD supervision completions:
2014-2019, Dr Eva Mavroudi ‘Effects of Exploitative and Exploratory R&D on Firm Performance: the Role of Firm- and Industry- Specific Contingencies’ (1st supervisor) (Cross-Department; ESRC Scholarship).
2014-2018, Dr Jurgita Staniulyte ‘An Inquiry into the Underlying Causes of the European Periphery Paradox using the Framework of National Innovation Systems’ (2nd supervisor) (University of Leeds Scholarship).
2019 -2023 Dr Rushi Chen ‘The Consequences of Implementing ETS in Developing Countries: Firm-level Evidence from a Quasi-natural Experiment in China’ (1st supervisor)
Current PhD supervision:
2019 - Ferry Fathoni ‘Eco-innovation driven regional system of innovation: a case study of the energy for transportation sustainability in Indonesia’ (3rd supervisor) (Cross-Faculty; International industry-funded).
2020- Alexandra Woodford (2nd supervisor) (University of Leeds Scholarship).
2022 – Shuang Wang ‘China’s Outward foreign Direct Investment and Firm’s Pollution Emissions’ (1st supervisor)
2022 - Geyao Zhang ‘The Impact of Economic Policy Uncertainty on Corporate ESG Performance’ (1st supervisor)
2024 - Ren Minyi (2nd supervisor) (China Scholarships Council award)
Research groups and institutes
- Applied Institute for Research in Economics
- Centre for Technology Innovation and Engagement