Valerio Ficcadenti

Associate Professor

London South Bank University (LSBU) - Business School

Biography

Hi there! I am Valerio Ficcadenti — welcome to my corner of the web!

I teach research methods mostly, working with around 500 students each year as they approach the end of their academic journey, writing their theses. Together, we explore socio-economic phenomena through cool datasets, fostering curiosity in business and management science.

My journey spans academia, industry, and local level policy making, where I have learned that even small data-driven decisions can make a big difference.

I am especially proud to have studied Informatics at the Technical Industrial Institute “G. and M. Montani”, a place that shaped me and introduced me to friendships that have lasted a lifetime.

Outside work, you will find me cycling 🚴, kickboxing 🥊 (black belt!), diving into geopolitical news 📰, or battling it out in board games 🎲 like Catan.

And yes — this website was entirely unnecessary. I built it to learn and showcase new skills. It is powered by a bootstrapped Hugo Blox template, the code is on GitHub, and, of course, AI agents were invaluable companions throughout the journey.

Interests

Finance and Economics
Politics
Rank-Size Laws
Computational Linguistics
Text Mining
Information Science

Education

Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Administration, 2022
University of London (UK)
PhD in Quantitative Methods for Economic Policy (Cum Laude), 2018
Dep. of Economics and Law, University of Macerata (Italy)
MSc in Finance and Banking, 2014
Dep. of Economics and Finance, University of Rome Tor Vergata (Italy)
BSc in Economics and Finance, 2012
Faculty of Economics, Polytechnic University of Marche (Italy)
High School Diploma in Informatics and Coding, 2007
Industrial and Technical Institute G. & M. Montani (Italy)

Career Highlights

Recent professional positions

Key roles in academia and industry. View full experience →

Associate Professor in Business Research Methods

London South Bank University (LSBU)

August 2023 – Present London, UK

Leading business research methods teaching, PhD supervision, and REF coordination.

Pricing Specialist in Derivatives Evaluation

Deloitte’s Pricing Centre (UK)

January 2018 – December 2019 London, UK

Priced complex financial derivatives, ensuring compliance with IFRS 9 standards.

Postdoctoral Researcher in Quantitative Finance

Faculty of Economics, Polytechnic University of Marche (Italy)

January 2018 – December 2018 Ancona, Italy

Research in quantitative finance, published in peer-reviewed journals, taught maths for finance.

Funded Research Projects

Major research grants and innovation initiatives

Current and recent funded projects focusing on business innovation, supply chain inclusivity, and economic development. View all projects →

Last updated on Aug 23, 2025 Community Wealth Building, Inclusive Business, Procurement, SME Development

Inclusive Supply Chain Project

A £1 million programme supporting 300+ London SMEs with procurement readiness, focusing on underrepresented entrepreneurs through Community Wealth Building principles funded by the Greater London Authority.

Last updated on Aug 23, 2025 Training, Supply Chain, Community Wealth Building, SME Development

BIG Integrate Programme

A £100,000 supply chain management training programme for South London-based businesses and third sector organisations, funded by the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames through the BIG South London partnership, focusing on procurement and social value through Community Wealth Building principles.

Last updated on Jul 31, 2025 Research Projects, Innovation, Community Development

BIG South London Innovation Voucher: Exploring the need for the Crystalisr Platform Stack

A project to explore the need for a platform hosted by Crystalisr cooperative and based on text mining and AI to connect local SMEs with procurement opportunities from Anchor Institutions in South London.

Featured Talks

Highlights from recent presentations

Selected presentations from international conferences and academic seminars. View all talks →

Vincenzo Scardigno, Valerio Ficcadenti

Last updated on Mar 10, 2026

Analysis of the International Mobility of Researchers through a Markov Chain model

EURO 2025 (Leeds, UK) • A Markov chain analysis of academic mobility patterns revealing how university reputation influences researchers’ career trajectories and institutional barriers to mobility.

Valerio Ficcadenti, Alessio Di Paolo, Prof. Francesco Cesarone, Prof. Roy Cerqueti

Last updated on Mar 8, 2026

Rank-Size Analysis of Optimal Portfolio Weights Across Portfolio Optimization Models

EURO 2025 (Leeds, UK) • A novel rank-size analysis approach to systematically characterise optimal portfolio weight distributions across different portfolio optimization models.

Valerio Ficcadenti

Last updated on Mar 10, 2026

One Method, Many Systems - A rank-size approach to socio-economic modelling

IE 2025 Keynote (Bucharest, Romania) • Exploring the universal application of rank-size analysis across diverse socio-economic systems and modelling frameworks.

See all