Shumi Akhtar

Shumi Akhtar is Associate Professor in the Discipline of Finance at the University of Sydney Business School. Her research interests are broad, encompassing governance, ESG factors, AI and machine learning, financial and cyber-crime, corporate finance including share issuances, mergers and acquisitions, and dividends, capital markets, sustainable finance, climate risk finance, Islamic finance, and financial intermediation. She has published in leading journals such as the Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Financial Stability, Pacific Basin Finance Journal, Accounting and Finance, Abacus, and Economic Record. Key publications include "Volatility linkages and value gains from diversifying with Islamic assets" (2023), "Superannuation fees, asset allocation and fund performance" (2022), "ESG Risk Spillover Between Peers" (2026), "Multinationals' tax evasion: A financial and governance perspective" (2017), and "Dividend policies across multinational and domestic corporations - an international study" (2015). Her research has garnered over 1,500 citations according to Google Scholar.

Akhtar serves as Associate Editor for the Pacific Basin Finance Journal. She received the Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award, Alternate Australian-US Fulbright and Oxford University Fellowship, Vice-Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence, and Top PhD Supervisor Award. Her expertise has contributed to policy discussions, with submissions and expert testimony to the Australian Federal Parliament on central clearing of bonds and repos, critical minerals supply, tax evasion by multinationals, and sustainable business practices. She presents at international conferences including the American Finance Association, American Economic Association, and European Financial Management Association. Akhtar teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses in corporate finance, international finance, investment, risk management, financial statistics, corporate valuations, and mergers and acquisitions. She supervises Honours, Masters, and PhD students and participates in projects such as dealing with curses of dimensionality in research-based degree supervision. She is a member of the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre, Net Zero Institute, and University of Sydney Nano Institute.

Professional Email: shumi.akhtar@sydney.edu.au