Min Zhang
Professor Thomas Conlon & Professor John Cotter
Thesis Title: Essays on Sustainability and Firm Performance
Research Interests: Sustainable Finance, ESG Investing and Greenwashing, Climate and Economic Policy Uncertainty, Carbon Emissions and Environmental Disclosure, Asset Pricing and Emerging Markets
Biography:
Min Zhang is a PhD candidate in Finance at UCD Smurfit Graduate Business School (2021–2025). Her dissertation, Essays on Sustainability and Firm Performance, investigates how institutional uncertainty, ESG credibility, and ownership structure jointly shape corporate sustainability behaviour and financial outcomes. Her working papers examine (i) the dynamic effects of policy uncertainty on corporate carbon emissions, (ii) the mediating role of greenwashing in the relationship between economic policy uncertainty and stock returns, and (iii) ESG factor pricing in emerging markets.
She has an interdisciplinary background in economics, mathematics, and computer science, with strong skills in quantitative analysis (Python, R, Stata, SQL) and experience working with large financial datasets (Bloomberg, Refinitiv, FactSet, CRSP). Before her doctoral studies, she also gained practical industry experience as a fraud data analyst, where she applied statistical modelling and data-driven tools to detect abnormal patterns, develop SQL-based monitoring systems, and support compliance reporting.
This combination of academic research, data analysis, and applied problem-solving equips her to bridge sustainable finance research with practical challenges in markets and institutions.
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