Nova SBE published its 2020 Research Report, which showcases a selection of the projects and accomplishments of our research community. For the first time, it demonstrates how each research activity contributes to the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Research at Nova SBE focuses on three primary disciplinary areas – Economics, Finance, and Management – across Nova SBE Knowledge Centers (KCs) and Nova SBE Labs. Each unit has a specific approach and uses research to support society in improving public policies, markets, business, and management practices.

We aim to be at the forefront of research impact among the top ten European schools. To achieve this goal, we significantly developed our research capabilities, and we continued to publish in top academic journals. In 2020, we also were able to attract relevant international and national funding by securing an ERA Chair, a grant on management services for agriculture and forestry, and another one on ocean fishing and aquaculture earth observation services.

A committed research community

At the end of 2020, the Nova SBE Research Unit counted 213 researchers from more than 41 countries. We hired on the international job market four full professors and 12 assistant professors, coming from top universities around the world, including Copenhagen Business School, Queen Mary University of London, Rotterdam School of Management, Stanford University, Tilburg University, University of California-San Diego, and the University of Mannheim.

Top peer-reviewed publications

Our research has achieved high-quality standards with 23 articles published or forthcoming in top academic journals in 2020 according to the Association of Business Schools ranking (rating 4 or 4*) or the Financial Times ranking.

As an example, we highlight the following research:

• Does information break the political resource curse?

Published in the American Economic Review by the Nova SBE NOVAFRICA Knowledge Center team: Alex Armand, Alex Coutts, Pedro Vicente, and Inês Vilela

• Competition and cooperation in mutual fund families

Published in the Journal of Financial Economics by Melissa Prado with Richard Evans (University of Virginia) and Rafael Zambrana (Nova SBE)

• Legacy of the state: Prior shared experience and the survival of spin-offs from restructured state enterprises

Published in the Journal of Management by Ilya Okhmatovskiy with Olga Suhomlinova (University of Leicester) and Laszlo Tihanyi (Texas A&M University)

PhD students’ placements

In 2020 we had 13 students on the international job market. Despite the difficult condition to be on the market due to the pandemic, they all obtained jobs in excellent institutions, such as Royal Holloway University (UK), Stockholm School of Economics (Sweden), and Universidad Carlos III (Spain). The Nova SBE international research network has grown, and we now have PhD alumni around the world.

Knowledge Centers, Labs, and the school's project highlight

Each Knowledge Center and Lab present their best research produced in 2020 by highlighting studies, impactful research projects, top peer-reviewed articles, and achievements.

As a highlight, we present the Social Equity Initiative (SEI) – a partnership in cooperation with the ”la Caixa” Foundation and BPI. This project aims to promote the social sector in Portugal and involves six Knowledge Centers. In 2020, SEI produced results with several projects, among them the country social portrait, a database of the social sector, a report on fintech and financial literacy, developing research and empowering programs to support Portuguese social organizations.