Entrepreneurship Centre faculty & researchers

Before joining Cambridge Judge Business School, Dr Aghasi held a research fellow position at University of Sussex, where he joined Intrapreneurship Hub, a collaborative research initiative between the School of Business, Management and Economics at the University of Sussex, Renmin University of China, and SDA Bocconi School of Management in Italy. Hub provides a platform to share the latest research findings and offers industry partners customised research projects, confidential analyses and metrics to assess corporate entrepreneurial performance. In his position, he developed a survey aiming at understanding how established companies adopt and apply different mechanisms such as startup programmes (accelerators and incubators), corporate venturing, and acquisition to support innovation, and growth, and instigate self-renewal.

Dr Aghasi obtained his PhD from a double degree programme funded under the Erasmus Mundus programme by the European Commission hosted at Politecnico di Milano, Italy, and the Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, in 2016. In his thesis, he investigated the determinants behind the turnover of the acquired top managers in acquisition of small high-tech firms which are mainly entrepreneurial ventures. In addition, he worked at the European Commission and national funded projects related to understanding the challenges of growth for European entrepreneurial ventures as the driver of innovation in various sectors including high-tech, knowledge intensive, and cultural creative industries.

Keivan is a research associate at the Entrepreneurship Centre. He received his PhDs from Politecnico di Milano (Italy) and Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden). His areas of research revolve around unravelling and alleviating the challenges of growth and transformation of startups into viable businesses as well as measuring the impact of structured support programmes (e.g. accelerators and incubators) in the startup ecosystem. Keivan has participated and been consulted in several European Commission and national funded projects related to understanding the challenges of growth for SMEs as the driver of innovation in various sectors including high-tech, knowledge intensive, and cultural creative industries.

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Monique's research includes the study of entrepreneurial teams, entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurship and gender; and the use of sociological approaches to broaden our understanding of entrepreneurial activity. Monique leads the EVER project which is a longitudinal qualitative study of the teams within Accelerator Cambridge. This project aims to understand the strategic decision-making of early ventures and how teams pivot over time. She is also currently working on a project exploring the impact of gender on entrepreneurship in the gaming industry. 

Previously, she worked on the design and implementation of a survey-based tool to measure the impact of entrepreneurial education (as part of multiple EU-funded projects) and remains passionate about understanding how research can improve the delivery and impact of entrepreneurship education to educate the next generation of entrepreneurs.  

Her original background is in Archaeology having completed a BA and MA in Archaeology at the University of Nottingham and taken part in excavations across Europe. Monique also has a PhD from the University of Cambridge and her thesis focused on applying philosophy to archaeology to look at the nature of knowledge creation of the past. This has given her the opportunity to bring new insights into the field of entrepreneurship and she is particularly interested in issues around gender, social theory and philosophy. Alongside her research, Monique is also a tutor and teaching associate on the Postgraduate Diploma in Entrepreneurship. 

Her research interests include entrepreneurial teams, entrepreneurial strategy, gender, entrepreneurship education and application of sociological approaches.

Dr Ghina Halabi joined the Education Team at the Entrepreneurship Centre as a consultant to re-design EnterpriseWOMEN, an entrepreneurship programme for women founders and CEOs. She is an astrophysicist and the first person to receive a PhD in astrophysics from a Lebanese institution, the American University of Beirut. She holds a Junior Research Fellowship from Wolfson College, University of Cambridge.

Her astrophysics research has covered various areas of stellar evolution, particularly the structure of stars, their contribution to the chemical enrichment of the galaxy and their interactions with nearby companions. She has published and co-authored numerous research articles, conference papers and a book chapter in these areas.

A perennial seeker of opportunities for social impact, Ghina is the founder of She Speaks Science, a science storytelling platform that makes science accessible and promotes the visibility of women in STEM. The platform was awarded the University of Cambridge Public Engagement Starter Fund in 2018. She strongly advocates gender equality in STEM through policy advisory roles and as a member of the United Nations Space for Women project. She is an invited speaker at international astronomy conferences and global interdisciplinary forums including the United Nations and TEDx. She coaches and consults on science communication and differentiation strategies using storytelling.

Previously, Ghina worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, where she continues to hold a visiting position. Alongside her research, she was a mathematics supervisor at Churchill College and a masters project supervisor at the Institute of Astronomy. She has a long and broad teaching experience and worked as a lecturer at the American University of Beirut before moving to Cambridge.

Ghina brings to the Education Team an understanding of the barriers facing women professionals, and a fresh perspective on ways to address them. Being an astrophysicist, her perspective is inevitably a cosmic one and allows her a broader view of the surrounding entrepreneurial ecosystem and its resources.