I am Applied Economist working in the areas of development, gender and household behaviour using lab and field experiments. 

Dr. Dao Le Trang Anh is a senior lecturer in Finance at RMIT University Vietnam, Hanoi campus. She is also an adjunct senior lecturer at Lincoln University, New Zealand. Dr Trang Anh is currently Associate Editor of the International Journal of Social Economics and Lead of Digital Economy and Emerging Markets research theme, under Centre for Business and Emerging Technologies (CBET), at RMIT Vietnam.

Awards and recognitions:
- 2025 PRME Education Award Winner - Research Category (PRME: Principles for Responsible Management Education, a United Nations initiative that aims to raise the profile of sustainability in business and management education). 

- 2025 RMIT CoBL Award for Research Excellence - Early Career Researcher

- RMIT The Business School's Research Impact Award 2024 - Early Career Academic

- Emerald Awards 2023 Literati for Outstanding Reviewer
- Literati Award Winners 2022 of Journal of Economic Studies for Outstanding Paper
- Pounamu bearer in 2021 Graduation: Was chosen as Pounamu bearer to be handed the Pounamu (greenstone symbolises education) in the 2021 Graduation ceremony of Lincoln University
- Winner of Postgraduate Conference, Lincoln University (2018)
- Lincoln University Doctoral Scholarship, New Zealand (2018 – 2020)
- University Trust International Leadership Scholarship, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom (2012)
- SCIC - Fostering Young Talents” Scholarship: Scholarship of State Capital Investment Corporation (Vietnam) for students with excellent academic results and performance (2011)
- Finalist - Global Social Venture Competition, Southeast Asia Round, Bangkok, Thailand (2011)

Sefa Awaworyi Churchill holds the RMIT Distinguished Professor tile. He is Co-Director for the RMIT Centre for African Engagement and Director for the RMIT Centre for International Development. He is an internationally recognised applied economist whose research and leadership advance the sustainable development goals in various ways. His scholarship is inter-disciplinary and focuses on development economics, energy and environmental economics, health economics and behavioural economics. He is a Stanford/Elsevier top-cited researcher, ranked in the top 2% of researchers worldwide for five consecutive years (2021 to 2025), and has published over 160 academic works in prominent journals including Journal of Business Venturing, Research Policy, Journal of Economics Behavior & Organization, Energy Economics, Social Science & Medicine, and World Development, among others. In 2020 and 2021, he was named by The Australian among Australia’s top 40 young researchers and top 5 in the broad field of social science. RePEc also ranks him among the top 5 economists in Australia over the last decade.

Sefa has been the recipient of a number of prestigious academic research awards including the Australian Research Council (ARC) DECRA and an Endeavour Fellowship Award, a government scheme which allows Australia’s highest performing researchers to conduct research in alignment with the government’s strategic priorities. His research has garnered over $5.6 million in competitive funding, including grants from the ARC, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, and Plan International. His work has shaped international policy conversations and guided actionable change for marginalised communities, and he remains committed to addressing pressing social and economic challenges. He actively collaborates with academic, government, and international organisations including the United Nations, the Australian Government, Indian Government and Asian Development Bank. He is committed to promoting evidence-based policy and building lasting partnerships for sustainable and equitable development.

Sefa regularly contributes as a visiting scholar both within Australia and internationally, most recently as a Resident Fellow/Scholar at the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research. He previously worked with Princeton University as a Fung Global Fellow, contributing to policy-relevant research on sustainable futures. As an award-winning educator, Sefa brings a capacity-building ethos to his teaching and mentoring, supporting the next generation of researchers and thought leaders across diverse backgrounds.

Sefa received his doctorate in economics from Monash University. He holds masters degrees in educational leadership (Melbourne), public health (UNSW), construction management (Melbourne), health leadership and management (UNSW), business and financial economics (Greenwich, UK) and a BSc (Hons) in mathematics (KNUST, Ghana) and BPsych (Hons) (JCU). He serves as an Associate Editor for Energy Economics (ABDC A*/Q1) and Energy Research and Social Science (Q1), which are two leading field journals.

Dr. Deepak Behera is currently a Lecturer in the Economics and Finance Department at RMIT University Vietnam. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, India, in January 2029. His doctoral thesis, Health Care Financing in Indian States: A Fiscal Space Perspective, examined the impact of macroeconomic policies on public healthcare expenditure and identified alternative revenue mobilization options at the regional level to prioritize healthcare in India.

His research interests include macroeconomics, public finance and policy, global economic issues, development economics, health economics and policy, Global public health.

Prior to joining RMIT, Dr. Behera worked with two leading public health institutes — the Public Health Foundation of India and the Asian Institute of Public Health. He later contributed to the development of a master’s program in Health Economics at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), India, where he also taught MSc Health Economics students. Over the years, he has supervised numerous Master of Public Health (MPH) students on diverse topics such as telemedicine, WASH practices, prisoners’ health, health-seeking behavior of tribal populations, healthcare utilization and access, menstrual hygiene, and the effectiveness of government health schemes in India.

Dr. Behera has extensive teaching experience in biostatistics, healthcare financing and management, healthcare modeling, health policy and practice, and introductory health economics. He has also worked with the Indian Institute of Public Health on the Diagnostics of Health System Transformation (DHST) Project, funded by Tata Trusts and HSTP.

In 2021, he was awarded the Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR) Fellowship, during which he led a project on palliative healthcare services for cancer patients (2021–2023). He is an active member of Health Systems Global and currently serves as an Associate Editor of Health Economics Review (a Q1 journal).

His research spans healthcare utilization and access, efficiency of health spending, aging and cognitive health, financial protection against disability, healthcare financing, climate and health, disease risk factor analysis, and digital health interventions for aging populations. Dr. Behera has published extensively in high-impact journals such as The Lancet Global Health, BMC Public Health, Scientific Reports, Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, Alzheimer’s & Dementia, Archives of Public Health, Global Health Research and Policy, Maternal and Child Health Journal, Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation, and Health Research Policy and Systems. His ongoing work focuses on maternal and child health, the global burden of disease, and the economic implications of healthcare challenges.

Tung is an experienced economics lecturer, having taught at various institutions over the past eight years. Before joining RMIT as a lecturer in economics, Tung was a lecturer at the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City. Tung has taught many courses in economics and finance, such as Price Theory, the Blockchain Economy, Corporate Finance, and International Finance. His research focuses on financial economics and macroeconomics policies. Tung is also an expert in macroeconomic modelling.

Awards & recognition

·        2024 RMIT Media Star Award: Media Star of the Year 2024

·        2024 Listening to Citizens’ Policy Proposals contest by Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee: Second prize winner

·        2023 RMIT Media Star Award: Top Versatile Spokeperson 2023

·        2021 Emerald Publishing Literati Awards for Outstanding Paper

·        2020 Teaching Excellence Award from the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

·        2018 Research Excellence Award from the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Industry experience
2019: Consultant for the Economics Analysis and Cost-Benefit Analysis for the project " Preventing River Bank Erosion in Mekong-River Delta"

Dr Bhagya Gunawardena is an applied economist with primary research interests in the economics of education, gender economics, labour economics, and experimental and behavioural economics. Her current projects centre on identifying cost-effective strategies to improve learning and educational outcomes and minimising female under-representation in high-paying occupations, with particular emphasis on peer learning, performance, and preference towards STEM. For her research, Bhagya primarily uses experimental and quasi-experimental methods.

Dr. Van Ha is a Senior Lecturer in Economics in the Department of Finance and Economics at RMIT University Vietnam. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Waikato, New Zealand, as well as a Master’s degree in Economics and dual Bachelor’s degrees in Political Economics and International Economics from Vietnam National University.

With more than 15 years of academic and research experience, Dr. Van has taught at several universities in Vietnam and New Zealand. Her research focuses on foreign direct investment, domestic firm performance, firm behavior, gender inequality, and sustainable development. She has published nover 20 research articles in highly ranked journals, including two A* journal.

Dr. Van is committed to linking economic theory with practical application and contributing to research on important issues in international and development economics.

Research grants & Funding

• 2024: Recipient of TBS Research Impact Awards 2024, Team Category, RMIT Vietnam, Vietnam
• 2024: Recipient of RMIT Vietnam Excellence in Learning and Teaching Awards 2024, Teaching Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning, RMIT Vietnam, Vietnam
• 2021: Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)
• 2021: Faculty Recognition Award, Excellence in Digital Education, Liverpool John Moores University U.K.
• 2020: Nominee, Best Teaching Team in John Moores Student Union Amazing Teaching Awards, Liverpool John Moores University, U.K.

Ronald joined RMIT University Vietnam as a senior lecturer (Economics). Ronald worked at the University of the South Pacific (USP) Fiji Campus for more than 10 years, in various roles inlcuding associate professor, senior lecturer, lecturer & advisor for Banking and Finance Program, in the School of Accounting and Finance. Ronald started his academic career in 2011 starting as a teaching assistant in the School of Economics at USP where he taught courses in microeconomics, macroeconomics, economic statistics and development economics, and later on, joined the School of Accounting and Finance at USP. Prior to this, he worked as economist for the Reserve Bank of Fiji, and as project analyst for ANZ Pacific Operations. Before joining RMIT Vietnam, Ronald was working as an associate professor in the School of Accounting and Finance at USP from January 2019 to May 2022.

Teaching

Ronald taught several courses in economics and finance. In economics, Ronald has taught and coordinated courses on economics (macroeconomics, microeconomics, business statistics, development economics), Finance (financial mathematics, investment analysis, international finance, corporate finance and development finance), Banking (banking management). 

Research

Ronald's research interest intersects between economics, finance and development. In the field of economic growth, Ronald's research examnined country-relevant sources and development processes supporting economic growth, mainly invoking new growth theories. Ronald's research interest is in both theoretical and empirical analysis, mainly focusing on small and development economics. His research interest are in the following domains and his research has appeared in the outlets/journals: 

• Tourism economic analysis: Tourism Management, Tourism Economics, Tourism Management Perspectives, Tourism Analysis, Applied Economics, Social Indicators Research, Applied Economics, Metroeconomica, Economies, Journal of Asia Pacific Economy.
• Migration and Remittances: Quality and Quantity, Economic Systems, International Migration, Applied Economics, African Journal of Economic and Sustainable Development. 
• Energy and economic growth: Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Energy Policy, Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology
• Technology, Researcg and economy: Telecommunications Policy, Economic Change and Restructuring, Quality & Quantity
• Peace economics: Peace and Defence Economics, Journal of Economic Studies
• Pension and demographic analysis: Pension Economics and Finance Journal, Metroeconomica, Panoeconomicus
• Investment and banking sector analysis: Journal of Risk and Financial Management, Accounting Research Journal, Risks, PlosOne, Quality & Quantity, Physica A
• Market Structure and macroeconomy: Annals of Economics and Finance, Metroeconomica, Sustainability, Journal of Economics, Bulletin of Economic Research.

As of January, 2026, based on Scopus, and GoogleScholar, Ronald's H-index is 24 and 35, respectively. For more information on research activities, please refer to Ronald's ResearchGate profile. 

Professional interests/membership:

• Member of Post Keynesian Economic Society (since 2024)
• Member of Australian Economic Society (since 2024)
• Guest Editor, Special issue on Financial Development and Economic Growth, Journal of Risk and Financial Management (MDPI, Switzerland) (2020-2022)
• Editorial Board member: Green Finance Journal (AIMS Press) (2019-current)
• Guest Editor: Journal of Risk  and Financial  Management (2019-current),  and Sustainbility (2019-2020)
• Associate Editor, Journal of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, Fiji (2018-2020)
• Regular member, CFA Institute (2021-2025)

Vicki is an active member of RMIT’s Sustainable Development & Consumption research cluster. She is an entrepreneurial macromarketer, supporting the UNSDGs and PRME. Macromarketers take a systems view; focusing on the relationship between marketing and society.  

Responding to growing calls for epistemological justice and work embedded in communities of enquirers, she favours naturalistic enquiry and participatory logics (ethnographic case study and action research). Working with collaborators in the US, UK, Malaysia and the Pacific, three streams of research are directed at furthering social and environmental sustainability: 

1. The marketing discipline and climate change; 
2. Markets, women and sustainable livelihoods; 
3. Sustainability-oriented innovation. 

Current empirical projects include net-zero carbon marketing education practice, nature-based solutions, food systems resilience, women microentrepreneurs, and biomaterials innovation. Her work has appeared in top international journals including the Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of Cleaner Production, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Technology Transfer, and Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing (JBIM). She is an active member of the Macromarketing Society, and mentors an ECR subgroup. She is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Macromarketing, on the review boards of the Australasian Marketing Journal and JBIM and an ad hoc reviewer for Marketing Theory. 

Marian Makkar is an Associate Professor of Marketing. She is also an award-winning researcher and educator. To foster change, she engages with industry, government, and communities.

Marian’s research program focuses on understanding and promoting consumer diversity and market inclusion at the intersection of identity, technology, branding, and institutions. She is deeply committed to making a difference by empowering communities and individuals to realise their potential and create sustainable impacts, which is evidenced by her 2024 College of Business & Law Research Excellence Award in Social Impact. Her passion lies in fostering positive change that transforms lives and strengthens communities, whether through academic research, collaborations with not-for-profits, or personal volunteer work.

Her research falls under consumer behaviour, specifically consumer culture theory (CCT), employing qualitative methodologies such as ethnography, netnography, in-depth interviews, observations, and projective techniques. She has published in leading international journals, including the International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Business Research, European Journal of Marketing, Current Issues in Tourism, Journal of Fashion Marketing & Management, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, and Marketing Intelligence & Planning. Her work has also been presented at premier academic conferences such as the Association of Consumer Research, Consumer Culture Theory Consortium, and Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conferences.

Marian is driven by the belief that targeted actions can drive significant shifts at individual, group, and societal levels. She finds fulfillment not only in research outcomes but also in the process of building relationships and contributing to something larger than herself.

Non-academic experience

Before transitioning to academia, Marian worked with luxury brands as the Marketing Manager of Alfred Dunhill Limited in Dubai. Her career also includes public relations experience, managing FMCG, beauty, and luxury automotive brands across the Middle East, Africa, and New Zealand.

Beyond academia, she actively volunteers in community housing and food banks in Melbourne, and drives initiatives to supply donated clothes and food to orphanages in Fiji.

Ankita Mishra is an Associate Professor at RMIT University’s School of Economics, Finance, and Marketing (EFM). Previously, she was an Assistant Lecturer at Monash University and a Research Associate at Morgan Stanley Advantage Services Ltd., India.

Her research interests lie in Applied Development Economics and Applied Macroeconomics. Ankita’s research is interdisciplinary, solution-focused, and closely aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities). She has published extensively in internationally recognized peer-reviewed journals, supervised numerous PhD students, and secured external research funding.

Ankita has significant teaching experience, both as an instructor and in academic governance. She has designed, taught, and managed a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Additionally, she has served as the Program Manager for Economics at the School of EFM at RMIT, where she oversaw a team of economics course coordinators.

Dr. Trinh Nguyen is a Lecturer in Economics at RMIT University Vietnam, with an integrated academic profile spanning research, teaching, and academic leadership. His research focuses on Economics, FDI, productivity, and economics of digital transformation, with publications in leading journals, including an A* paper in Research Policy (FT50, ABS 4*) and a strong pipeline of Q1 outputs.

He is recognised for innovative, research-informed teaching, particularly in authentic assessment and simulation-based learning, improving student engagement and outcomes in large cohorts, and awarded the ADVC EdTech Encouragement Award 2025.

Prior to joining RMIT, he held roles as a Senior Quantitative Analyst and Research Consultant at Standard of Proof (New Zealand), where he conducted rigorous impact evaluations for public sector programs using advanced quantitative methods. He also brings extensive academic leadership experience from Vietnam, having served as a Program Manager in Business and Management (2006–2017), where he led curriculum development, program delivery, and academic coordination.

Awards & recognition:
- August 2019. Best Paper Award. New Zealand Agricultural and Resource Economics Society
- August 2019. Flower Agribusiness Conference Participation Award (New Zealand)
- ADVC EdTech Encouragement Award 2025 (RMIT)

- Research Excellence Awards for Top 1% publication 2024, Top 2-5% publication 2025 (RMIT)

Professor Tra Pham holds a PhD in Economics from University of Groningen (the Netherlands). Prior to joining RMIT Vietnam, she held various academic positions in University of Groningen and Vietnam National University and served as a Senior Economist to USAID projects advising the government of Vietnam on international economic policy issues. She has published in Economics of Transition, Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Journal of Emerging Market Finance, and Topics in Theoretical Economics. Her current research interests span over financial inclusion, applied development economics, applied economics of innovation and entrepreneurship, and blockchain economy.

Awards & recognition
2020. College of Business & Law Research Impact Award
2017. Teaching excellence recognition, School of Business & Management, RMIT Vietnam. 
2017. Top 5 inspiring teachers in 2017 nominated by RMIT Vietnam students
2016. Teaching excellence recognition by School of Business & Management, RMIT Vietnam. 
2012. Best lecturer award, School of Business, International University (Vietnam National University HCMC)

Industry experience
4 years experience as Senior Economist for a USAID project providing advice and consultancy to the government of Vietnam on economic issues

Dr. Richard Ramsawak is a Senior Lecturer of Economics at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) – University, Vietnam, and former Head of the Center of Strategy and Competitiveness – at Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business, University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago. He has lectured at the undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral levels in research methods, applied economics, micro and macroeconomics, mathematical methods in economics, data visualization, and business analytics.

He is also a Director of Competitive Insights and Data Analytics Services Limited (CIDA). Dr. Ramsawak has significant experience coordinating the development and implementation of national-level strategic plans and competitiveness initiatives domestically and internationally.

Awards & recognition:
- Skills Award Fellowships Graduate Student Council, Clark University, 2017
- LASPAU Fulbright Scholarship - Ph.D. Economics USA, 2013-2015
- Overall Winner - Graduate Research Awards , Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, UWI 2007
- First Citizens Bank Graduate Scholarship in Economics, University of the West Indies, 2000

Industry experience:
- Mohan, Preeya, Ramsawak, Richard and Mc Fee, Deborah (2021) “A Gender Responsive Private Sector Scoping Study to explore investment opportunities to enhance NDC implementation in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines”, Awarded by: United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
- Pricewaterhouse Coopers Trinidad and Tobago (2019), “Strategic Plan for the Guyana Land and Surveys Commission” Awarded by: The United Nations - Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
- Ramsawak, Richard and Miguel, Dindial (2020) – “Assessment of Secondary Markets for Movable Assets in the Jamaica Manufacturing Sector”, Awarded by: The International Financial Corporation Washington D.C.
- Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business, UWI and Nordicity (2019), “National Strategic Plan for the Development of the ITeS Industry of Trinidad and Tobago” Awarded by: The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)

Janet Roitman is a Professor at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.  

She is the founder-director of The Platform Economies Research Network (PERN). She is also an Associate Investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-making and Society (ADM+S) and serves on the Council of Advisors for the Platform Cooperativism Consortium.  

Her research focuses on financial practices, digital technologies, and emergent forms of value. 

She is the author of Fiscal Disobedience: An Anthropology of Economic Regulation in Central Africa (Princeton University Press) and Anti-Crisis (Duke University Press).  

Professor Roitman serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Cultural Economy, Cultural Anthropology, Finance & Society, and Platforms & Society.
Her research has received funding support from the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the United States Social Science Research Council, Agence française du développement, The Institute for Public Knowledge, and the United States National Science Foundation.  

Preety joined RMIT University in 2013. Prior to this, she was a Senior Research Fellow at Monash University. She has a PhD in Econometrics from Monash University. Her research and publication interests have focused on applied microeconomics and econometrics, with applications in areas such as recreational drug consumption, health and the labour market.

Preety is the recipient of two ARC/NHMRC grants. She has published in high-ranked journals including the Journal of Health Economics, Health Economics, and the Journal of Royal Statistical Society (A). She is currently an Associate Editor for the Bulletin of Economic Research.

Her recent pieces in the media are:

• Are tobacco and cannabis economic substitutes or complements? New research suggests it changes with age, The Conversation, December 2024. (https://theconversation.com/are-tobacco-and-cannabis-economic-substitutes-or-complements-new-research-suggests-it-changes-with-age-245155)
• Australia’s system of taxing alcohol is ‘incoherent’, but our research suggests a single tax rate isn’t the answer, The Conversation, April 2023.
  (https://theconversation.com/australias-system-of-taxing-alcohol-is-incoherent-but-our-research-suggests-a-single-tax-rate-isnt-the-answer-195907)
• Children whose parents smoke have lower test scores and more behavioural issues than kids of non-smokers, The Conversation, January 2022. (https://theconversation.com/children-whose-parents-smoke-have-lower-test-scores-and-more-behavioural-issues-than-kids-of-non-smokers-172601)

I am a lecturer in the School of Economics, Finance and Marketing at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. I did my PhD in economics from the University of Melbourne.

Dr Longfeng Ye is an economist specializing in economic growth and development, Chinese Economy and trade. Her research seeks to understand why some countries remain poor or less developed by examining growth dynamics of current middle-income countries to shed light on the “middle income trap”; constructing the growth trajectories of European countries in pre-industrial era to shed light on the debate on “The Great Divergence”; modelling the structural change from an agriculture to non-agriculture dominated economy. She is also interested understanding the impact of climate change on Agriculture and adaption strategies; and the impact of automation on firms’ offshoring decision and growth opportunities for developing countries.  Her research appears in both leading Economics journals including European Economic Review, Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organization and policy outlets such as VOXEU and The Conversation.