Biography：Dr. Rui Zhong is Senior Lecturer in finance, Master of Applied Finance Program Coordinator, Principle Contacts of the University Affiliated Program with CFA Institute and Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) at UWA Business School at University of Western Australia in Australia. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM). He obtained his Ph.D. degree in finance from the joint Ph.D. program (with McGill University, HEC Montreal and UQAM) at John Molson School of Business at Concordia University, Master in Financial Risk Management at Simon Fraser University and Bachelor in Economics at Nankai University. Before joining UWA, he was an associate professor in finance at Central University of Financial and Economics and Scholar-in-residence at Concordia University in Canada.

His research interests focus on sustainable finance, ESG, energy finance, credit derivatives, financial risk management, investments and corporate finance. His has published more than 20 articles, including the Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Financial Markets, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Financial Stability, European Financial Management, International Review of Finance, and Quantitative Finance, etc. His research article on mandatory ESG disclosure around the world was ranked as the 3rd most read articles on business school sustainability research by Financial Times in 2023, and was cited in final SEC rules regarding mandatory climate risk disclosure in March 2024. His research work also won the Best Paper Award in 2021 Global Research Alliance for Sustainable Finance (GRASFI), 2019 Best Paper Award in Finance in 2019 AFAANZ Annual Conference and UWA Business School 2024 Mid-Career Research Award Commendation.

He has been invited to present his research work at more than 60 academic conference, universities, financial institutions and government agencies around the world, such as United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) China, Federal Deposit and Insurance Company, Bank of Canada, Annual Meeting of American Finance Association, China International Conference in Finance, etc.

As chief investigator, he has been awarded numerous external grants with total amount more than $1 million, including National Foundation of Australia-China Relation, National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC), Canadian Derivative Institute (CDI), Climateworks Foundation and Montreal Institute of Structured Products and Derivatives (IFSID).