Centre for Personal Financial Wellbeing

Prof Andy Lymer, Centre Director and Professor of Taxation and Personal Finance

Andy’s research interests lie in the areas of taxation, and personal and small business financial wellbeing. Andy is a member of the UK Money and Pension Service’s Research and Evaluation Board, was leader of the Tax Development Programme for HM Treasury from 2008 to 2011 and is the current chair of the global academic and practitioners' Tax Research Network (TRN). He also holds academic positions in personal finance related areas in South Africa (UNISA) and in New Zealand (Massey University).

Dr Hayley James, Senior Research Fellow

Hayley James is Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Personal Financial Wellbeing at Aston Business School. Hayley’s research interests concern sociological perspectives on money, finance and value, and how they intersect with ageing and the lifecourse.

Dr Lin Tian, Research Associate

Lin is Research Associate in the Centre for Personal Financial Wellbeing at Aston Business School. Her research interests focus on household finance, labour economics and health economics.

Dr Halima Sacranie, Research Fellow

Halima’s research is focussed on housing and communities - an important arena for current policy and practice challenges in relation to housing supply, quality, affordability and insecurity, as well as neighbourhoods and place-making, and the role of councils and third sector housing organisations in the provision of housing and related services.

Thea Raisbeck, Visiting Research Fellow

Thea is a skilled qualitative researcher with extensive experience of participatory and co-production methods. With 17 years’ experience in a range of advocacy, research, and strategy roles within the housing and homelessness sectors, Thea specialises in homelessness, supported housing, and gendered approaches to policy, practice and provision. Currently Head of Research and Best Practice at Spring Housing, a housing charity based in the West Midlands, Thea is working on a research project around young people living in high cost supported housing who enter employment, focussing on the impact on their personal and financial wellbeing.

Dr Hannah Gregson, Research Associate

Hannah is a Research Associate at the Centre for Personal Financial Wellbeing at Aston Business School. Her research interests include sociological perspectives related to medical harm, gender, and health and illness, and how these issues intersect with financial wellbeing and shape everyday life. 

Dixon Wong, Centre Manager

Dixon has a varied career across Asia, Africa and Europe serving both private and public organisations in roles of communications, stakeholder engagement and project management. Dixon manages the day-to-day coordination and communication of CPFW’s activities, including event coordination, digital presence, HR and procurement.

Sedinam Ameku, Research Student

Sedinam Ameku is a research student at the Centre for Personal Financial Wellbeing, Aston Business School. She has over five years of experience in financial well-being and literacy advocacy. Her research interests include the conceptualization, measurement, and interventions of personal financial wellbeing.

Shuayb Mohamed, Research Student

Shuayb is a research student at the Centre for Personal Financial Wellbeing. His current DBA thesis in Business Administration focuses on financial inclusion, particularly in disadvantaged communities in Africa.

Tobiloba Afolabi, Research Student

Tobiloba studied Urban and Regional Planning and is part of a professional group for town planners and serves on the Board of Directors with a charity that helps young people. An empathetic person who wants to make a difference in people's lives especially the marginalised, she has worked with vulnerable groups like IDPs, orphans, and the poor. Tobiloba believes that service to humanity is the best work of life and is currently researching how migration affects older people's finances. 

Dr Amir Allam, Senior Lecturer in Accounting

Amir is a Senior Lecturer in Accounting at Aston University. He holds a PhD in Accounting from the University of Birmingham and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His research focuses on corporate governance, board composition, and their impact on disclosures. In addition to his academic roles, his work with the centre includes exploring financial inclusion, such as access to financial services and advice, the implications of the cost-of-living crisis, and the broader dynamics of financial wellbeing. Through these initiatives, he aims to contribute to addressing key challenges affecting economic resilience and equitable access to financial opportunities.

Dr Anne Angsten Clark, Lecturer in Design Thinking and Innovation, University of Bristol

Anne is a lecturer and graduate researcher at the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship of the University of Bristol and the Nest Insight research lead for Real Accounts – a mixed method financial diaries project following the financial lives of 50 UK households. Her research and teaching focuses on social innovation and participatory research and design, particularly related to increasing financial resilience. Anne has 10 years’ experience within financial inclusion, social entrepreneurship and community innovation, primarily across West and East Africa. Anne is working with the Centre on the Real Accounts project.

Dr Ariane Agunsoye, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Goldsmiths, University of London

Ariane is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at the Institute of Management Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. Prior to joining Goldsmiths, she was a visiting lecturer in Germany and worked several years in the private sector. Her research interests are centred on the intersection between political economy and personal finance, exploring how people across different social and demographic groups respond to the rising pressure to manage financial risk. Ariane is working with the Centre on projects around gender and financial services.

Prof Bernadene de Clercq, Professor, University of South Africa

Bernadene is a Professor in the Department of Taxation at the University of South Africa. Her research explores mechanisms to improve economic and financial well-being in a personal finance ecosystem. Given the complexity and scope of this domain her research approaches includes both quantitative and qualitive of nature. She is working with CPFW exploring how best to develop financial education approaches within South Africa, and beyond. Bernadene is working with the Centre on financial literacy and wellbeing projects in South Africa.

Carla Hoppe, Founder, Wealthbrite

Carla is the founder of Wealthbrite, a workplace financial wellbeing company. Wealthbrite's mission is to transform the way we learn about money in work. 

Carla qualified as a lawyer having completed a double law programme in English and French Law from King's College London and Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. She also spent over a decade working in two of the Big Four accounting practices; PwC and EY where she specialised in international tax. Carla is work with the Centre on projects around young adults and money skills.

Dr Emily Christopher, Lecturer in Sociology

Emily is a sociologist working in the field of families and relationships with a particular interest in the reproduction of gendered inequalities in paid and unpaid work. She is currently working on a project which explores fathers financial decision making in the context of childcare costs in the UK with Dr Hayley James.

Dr Gary Burke, Associate Professor of Strategy and Organisation, University of Bristol Business School

Gary is an Associate Professor of Strategy and Organisation at the University of Bristol Business School. His research draws on insights from organisation theory to study strategic responses to wicked problems and new forms of organising to tackle grand societal challenges. Recent and current projects include studies of public-private partnerships, sustainability and transformation partnerships, crisis community organising and poverty alleviation strategies. Gary is working with the Centre and various Councils on projects around poverty alleviation strategies.

Dr David Hayes, Independent Research Consultant, Hayes Research Services

David is an analyst and researcher with over 15 years’ experience of policy research, strategy, evaluation and analysis. Currently working as an independent consultant (while also holding honorary positions with both Aston Business School and University of Bristol), he has previously held positions at the University of Bristol as a Senior Lecturer and as a senior researcher with the Personal Finance Research Centre.

Dr Heather Kappes, Associate Professor (Education) in Marketing, London School of Economics and Political Science

Heather is a social psychologist by training, and has been part of the marketing faculty group at the LSE for more than a decade. She studies adults' and children's decisions to spend versus save money, and other issues related to motivation and goals. She previously was a Fellow with the Office of Evaluation Sciences, part of the United States General Services Administration. 

Dr Hussan Aslam, Assistant Professor Research, Coventry University

Hussan's research focused on financial exclusion and inclusion of consumers, particularly within sub-prime credit markets. Hussan is currently working on projects that explore the effectiveness of financial education and capability initiatives. Some of Hussan’s most recent work looked at reducing the financial vulnerability of Muslim communities in the UK and exploring the financial decision making of ethnic minority entrepreneurs, the Aviva funded EMPOWER project with the Centre. 

Jo Phillips, Director of Research and Innovation, Nest Insight

Jo leads Nest Insight’s research and innovation programme, with a focus on finding ways to support low- and moderate-income households to be financially secure, both today and into retirement. Working collaboratively with industry and academic partners, Nest Insight conducts research to better understand the challenges people face, and to develop and test practical, real-world solutions to those challenges. Jo has over 15 years’ experience in social and commercial research across the public, private and third sectors and has led innovation work addressing a range of future opportunities in personal finance and pensions. Jo is working with the Centre on the Real Accounts project.

Dr Juan J. Fernández, Associate Professor of Sociology, University Carlos III of Madrid

Juan is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University Carlos III of Madrid in Spain. He specialises in researching the causes and consequences of pension policies and attitudes toward European integration. To study these topics, his research primarily employes quantative approaches. Juan is currently collaborating on a project with Hayley James examining the causes of retirement income fear from a comparative perspective. 

Dr Kanimozhi Narayanan, Lecturer in Organisational Behaviour

Kanimozhi is a member of the Centre for Personal Financial Wellbeing at Aston Business School and a lecturer in Organisational Behaviour working within the area of International Human Resource Management and Organisation Behaviour. Kani’s research interests in CPFW focuses on taking a psychological perspective of the harms of addictive behaviours on individual’s financial wellbeing along with understanding how they intersect with their life course and work. Kani is working with the Centre on a project around the financial effects of harmful gambling.

Dr Katie Tonkiss, Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Policy

Katie is a sociologist working in the field of critical citizenship studies, with a particular interest in the lived experience of noncitizenship and statelessness. She is currently working on research exploring the embodied impact of noncitizenship status, including in relation to personal financial wellbeing. Katie is working with the Centre on a project around non-citizens and personal finance.

Dr Mahmoud Elmarzouky, Associate Professor of Accounting, University of St Andrews

Mahmoud's research interests cover the areas of SDGs, textual analysis, narrative disclosure, and Sustainability. Currently an associate editor at Business Strategy and the Environment, his work on topics such as carbon emission, modern slavery, corporate governance, extended audit report, and financial reporting quality has been published in leading international journals His contributions to the centre include advancing research on financial inclusion, examining access to financial services and advice, investigating the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, and analyzing the broader dynamics of financial wellbeing. These efforts aim to address critical challenges in fostering economic resilience and promoting equitable financial opportunities.

Prof Monder Ram OBE, Professor of small businesses

Monder is a professor of small businesses at Aston University and the founder-director of the Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME). A leading scholar and impactful researcher shaping the field over the past 3 decades, Monder has been awarded fundings from ESRC, NERC and Low Pay Commission as well as national and regional public bodies. Monder has held visiting Professorships at Lund University and Turku University in Finland. He serves as an advisor to the All Party Parliamentary Group for BAME Business Owners and is currently working on the Aviva funded EMPOWER project with the Centre. 

Dr Ngoc Dieu Linh Vi, Lecturer in Economics

Linh is a Lecturer in the Economics, Finance and Entrepreneurship department at Aston University with expertise in Labour Economics, Public Economics, Behavioural Economics, Emerging Market Economies and Big Data Analytics. She is working with the Centre on the the local area deprivation exploring how macro-level factors shape UK population's financial wellbeing.

Prof Olga Biosca, Professor of Economics, Glasgow Caledonian University

Olga is a Professor of Economics and lead researcher on financial inclusion at the Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health. She is interested in the connection between personal financial management and health and wellbeing in vulnerable groups and, also, in the financial diaries methodology which she has extensively used in the UK. She is a co- founder and member of the Iberoamerican Network of Development Studies and a research associate at the Centre for European Research in Microfinance. Olga is working with the Centre on the Real Accounts project.

Dr Omid Omidvar, Associate Professor, University of Warwick

Omid is an Associate Professor in Organisation Studies, University of Warwick where he specialises in researching strategy in complex contexts and uses research approaches including qualitative and ethnographic methods. Omid is working with the Centre and various Councils to explore how poverty alleviation strategies are developed in UK city and district wide settings as an example of wicked problem strategizing.

Dr Saidul Haque Saeed, Lead Organiser, Citizens UK

Saeed is the Lead Organiser for Citizens UK, supervising it’s work in the West Midlands & Greater Manchester. He is currently overseeing the founding of a new civil society alliance in the Black Country and the strengthening of Greater Manchester Citizens, supporting the training of more professional community organisers and local leaders. Mentioned in the Birmingham Post’s Power list of the top ten campaigners in the region, Saeed has trained hundreds of local leaders to win notable social justice campaigns on youth mental health, community safety, the real living wage, refugee resettlement and housing. Local to Birmingham, Saeed is currently working on the Aviva funded EMPOWER project with the Centre. 

Prof Sally Dibb, Professor of Marketing and Society, Coventry University

Sally is a social marketer with over 30 years’ experience in community-based research and consumer behaviour change. Sally’s research focuses on addressing financial and digital vulnerability, addressing the structural issues underpinning these challenges. She works across disciplines and collaborates with community, public, and private stakeholders to develop effective solutions. Sally serves as Co-Chair of the UKRI REF 2029 People, Culture and Environment panel for Business and Management (B&M), having previously been Deputy Chair of the REF 2021 panel for B&M and a subpanel member for REF 2014. Sally is currently working on the Aviva funded EMPOWER project with the Centre.