People

Claudia De Fuentes is a Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary’s University (SMU) and the Program Coordinator of the Master of Management in Cooperatives and Credit Unions (MMCCU). Her research focuses on science, technology, and innovation policy, innovation in organizations and contributions to place-making, systems of innovation, and new forms of academia–industry collaboration. She is currently working on impact assessment of innovation policy, urban coalitions for gateway development, the role of the craft wine industry in Nova Scotia on innovation and place-making, and immigration in the agri-food industry. Her work has received international attention, with publications receiving over 1,000 citations (Google Scholar). She has researched and lectured internationally in Mexico, Canada, Sweden, Vietnam, and Peru.

Joniada Milla is Associate Professor of Economics at Saint Mary’s University, Research Fellow at IZA - Institute of Labor Economics, and Research Fellow at LIES - Interdisciplinary Lab of Social Statistics. Her research focuses on using causal inference to evaluate policies and programs that target human capital accumulation, social mobility, labor market regulation, and innovation. She has published in several highly ranked journals including Journal of Human Capital, Review of Income and Wealth, Journal of Development Studies, Education Economics, and Journal of Educational Measurement. Currently, her research focuses on two main streams: (1) Impact evaluation of policies targeted to improving the quality of teachers and factors impacting their retention and attrition, and (2) Impact evaluation of policies that support innovation in Canada, particularly innovation on clean technologies.

Dr. Hao Lu is an Assistant Professor at the Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary’s University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Calgary. Dr. Lu had almost ten years of working experience in various industries, mostly in insurance and related industries, including as a senior Property and Casualty insurance agent and resource manager at TD Insurance. He holds the Chartered Insurance Professional (CIP) designation and the Canadian Risk Management (CRM) designation. Dr. Lu’s research is interdisciplinary, focusing on creating a theoretical angle by integrating corporate risk management into strategic management. His research interests involve corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability, social entrepreneurship, business ethics, enterprise risk management, and risk management practice. His research has been published in various reputable journals including Strategic Organization, Business & Society, Journal of Business Research, and Review of Corporate Finance.

Joseph Jung is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Economics & Management Department at Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary’s University, and also serves as an International Junior Consultant at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). He earned his PhD in Economics from Dalhousie University in May 2023, with a dissertation focused on industrial policy, income inequality, and economic development. His research primarily explores the dynamics of firms, economic growth, and income inequality across different economic contexts and policy regimes, employing causal inference techniques and agent-based modeling.