Conferences | Governance and Accountability Research Group

UWE Bristol academics present their research at influential conference on Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies

governance-and-accountability | 20 October 202514 November 2025

Professor Ismail Adelopo and Dr Xiaojun Luo from GARG joined other world leading academics at the recent 8^th Cryptocurrency Research Conference held at the University of Athens between 29and 30 September 2025. They presented their paper entitled: Tailored LSTM models for predicting prices across diverse cryptocurrency types.

The conference which included panel discussions on the pace of Crypto developments compared to regulation featured high profile participants from the financial market including Yannis Stournaras (Governor of the Bank of Greece), Vassiliki Lazarakou (Chair of the Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC)) amongst others.

Discussions touched on the most recent thinking on the subject including on the issue of regulations, fair competition, role of institutional investors, quantum computing their potential impact on finance and accounting and especially on personal finance.

Participants highlighted the need for open mindedness on the role of regulation in such a way that does not stifle innovation whilst ensuring that consumers are adequately protected.

The conference recognised the leading role of the UK in the space especially with the recent government initiatives around legislation and consumer protection.

UWE Bristol co-host the 9th International Conference on Finance and Economics with Ton Duc Thang University

governance-and-accountability | 15 October 202525 October 2025

With active participation from members of the Governance and Accountability Research Group (GARG), UWE Bristol co-hosted a very successful cross-university international research conference on finance and economics between 23 to 25 September 2025 with Ton Duc Thang University (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam).

Professor Ismail Adelopo and Dr Xiaojun Luo were part of the Scientific Committee of the conference as well as part of the International Organising Committee. They helped the local organising committee to shape the call for papers, the planned sessions and review submissions to the conference.

The theme of the conference was: Innovating Business Analytics for a Sustainable Future. ICFE 2025 has become a prestigious academic forum, bringing together over 300 participants from various countries and regions, with nearly 50 high-quality research papers accepted at the conference.

The conference coincided with Ton Duc Thang University’s anniversary celebration and we at UWE Bristol are delighted to contribute to the success of the conference.

Conference website

GARG event: Blockchain technology – use cases, opportunities and challenges

governance-and-accountability | 20 June 202520 June 2025

On 19 March 2025, Professor Ismail Adelopo (Professor of Accounting, UWE Bristol) and Dr Xiaojun Luo (Senior Lecturer in Financial Technology, UWE Bristol) organised a workshop on blockchain technology exploring its use cases, opportunities, and challenges. The one-day event held at UWE Bristol attracted over 20 lecturers and students.

Blockchain technology (BT) is rapidly evolving, enabling decentralised, transparent, and borderless processes in industries such as healthcare, logistics, finance, and education. It holds vast potential to foster financial inclusion, open access, and innovation. However, challenges such as misuse for fraud and money laundering highlight the need for balanced regulatory frameworks and further research.

This workshop explored cutting-edge decentralised business models, discussed benefits and challenges, and addressed the employability gap in blockchain technology.

Steve Nicholls from ApdA (Association for Professionals in Digital Assets) discussed real-world blockchain applications and its future potential, while Lloyd Nethercott from the South West Cyber Crime Unit shared insights into cryptocurrency-related law enforcement investigations.

Dr Christopher Carr from the University of Exeter presented his work on blockchain-hub and OpenDAG, and Ben Bonner from Zero Citizen shared his industry experience on leveraging blockchain to revolutionize renewable energy accessibility.

Professor Ismail and Dr Xiaojun also presented their latest research on the relationship between cryptocurrencies and the stock market.

The workshop sparked engaging discussions and generated valuable ideas, making it a highly insightful event.

GARG Introduction

governance-and-accountability | 3 June 202520 June 2025

Governance and Accountability Research Group (GARG) was formed in 2020 as a spin out from the then Bristol Centre for Economics and Finance (BCEF). For a while, research in Accounting and Finance was under BCEF until it became necessary to have our own research group and to provide a platform for us to maintain our research identity and to galvanize research within our cluster. GARG remains the home for many researchers within the Accounting and Finance cluster in the Business School, College for Business and Law.

Our research spans corporate disclosure, accountability, ESG and sustainability, addressing salient issues within that space including but not limited to the green financial option, sustainability and financial performance, socially responsible investment options and behavioural finance research. Researching ESG and sustainability has been underpinned by corporate disclosure requirements and increasing focus on the role of organisational governance in ensuring assurance and compliance to regulation and meeting ethical standard across industries and jurisdictions.

Our core finance research experts focus on asset pricing and stock valuation. Within these areas, we are renowned for our cutting-edge research on advancing the Fama and French CAPM model with creative conditional higher moment and conditional switching regimes. Behavioural finance addressing managerial optimism and investment decisions. We are also well known for our ground breaking research into herding behaviours, blockchain and cryptocurrencies within the financial market and the use of these technologies in fighting financial crimes.

Our research in these areas have led to important collaborations with the industry and the criminal justice system. We have maintained close relationships with the Regional Organised Crime Unit in manpower development, research informed practices and thought leadership around accounting and finance expertise that enhances their work. Our Blockchain and cryptocurrencies research has gained momentum, and we are now pivoting new horizon in digital assets their disclosure, ethical issues associated with them and their increasing prudent use in several sectors of the economy.

We are a agile group and are open to new opportunities including collaboration, knowledge exchange arrangements and joint funding applications.

For more information about our research group, members, themes and members, visit our website.