Dr Konstantinos (Kostas) Nikolopoulos is the founder and director of the IHRR Forecasting Lab. He is the Professor in Business Information Systems and Analytics in Durham University Business School. Dr Nikolopoulos studied Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens (ΕΜΠ) in Greece, (DEng 2002, BEng 1997) and completed the International Teachers Programme (ITP) at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (2011). His research interests are Forecasting, Analytics and Information Systems. Dr Nikolopoulos was Professor of Business Analytics/Decision Sciences at Bangor University (2010-2020), and the College Director of Research for the College of Business, Law, Education, and Social Sciences (2011-2018). Before that he was Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Decision Sciences at the University of Manchester, and Senior Research Associate at Lancaster University (2004-05) and the National Technical University of Athens (1996-2004).
Dr. Vasileios (Vassilis) Bougioukos is the lab manager, working as a research associate at IHRR Forecasting lab. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Bangor University (Wales, UK). His research focuses mainly on social investments, labour market reforms and judgmental forecasting. Moreover, he holds an MSc in European Political Economy from the London School of Economics and earned a bachelor's degree from the Athens University of Economics and Business in the field of International and European Economic Studies. Vasileios has offered teaching and research support in various institutes around the UK, such as Bangor University, SOAS, the London Business School and the London School of Economics. He is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor at Notre Dame University, London Campus. Vasileios also has international experience, as he has spent time working in China in various academic positions.
Alexandros Kalantzopoulos has lived and worked in London since 2014. He has two MSc degrees from Bayes Business School and Athens University of Business and recently has been accepted into the Durham PhD Program. Alexandros has been working in the banking industry from 2015 and has worked in various positions as a quantitative researcher/developer. For the last four years, he has worked as a VP - Model Validator for Barclays Bank.
Amine Salame is a postgraduate researcher in the Durham DBA programme, where his research focuses on improving bidding processes and workflows in consulting companies and contributing to professional and academic knowledge in this field.
He is an experienced bidding professional and water-sector technical leader, with more than 25 years of civil engineering experience. He is a Chartered Engineer registered with the UK Engineering Council and the Institute of Water.
Amine is also committed to giving back to the industry through research and professional service. As a volunteer with the American Water Works Association, he contributes to manuals of practice, reviews conference submissions and water strategies.
Mohammed Alzuhair is a researcher and DBA candidate in the Durham-emlyon Global Doctor of Business Administration (GDBA) programme. His research focuses on food security from a business and organisational perspective, with particular focus on how organisations and governments forecast supply chain disruptions and how artificial intelligence is reshaping decision-making processes. With more than 20 years of professional experience across the GCC and Europe, he has worked with governments, corporates, and institutions on strategy, capability building, and organisational performance. He also runs his own consultancy, working with clients across the MENA region.
Farah is a doctoral candidate in the Durham-Emlyon Global Doctor of Business Administration (GDBA) programme. Her research focuses on organisational resilience and AI adoption, exploring how organisations adapt, govern themselves well and become more resilient, with a particular interest in how AI in forecasting is reshaping strategic decision-making.
With fifteen years of experience across enterprise technology, ICT education, BBBEE and aviation, Farah sits on the Executive Leadership Committee of fastjet Zimbabwe, where she leads strategic project management and commercial development for the cargo business. She also serves as a Non-Executive Director, bringing expertise in airline IOSA certification, aircraft entry into service and board governance.
Farah holds a Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com) in Marketing and a B.Com Honours in Logistics Management from the University of Johannesburg, and a Master of Arts in Fashion Retail and Luxury Management from Uninettuno University and the London College of Contemporary Arts.
Bader Samir Tayeb Alawadhi is a doctoral researcher in the Durham–emlyon Global Doctor of Business Administration (GDBA) programme. His research examines the drivers and outcomes of green product innovation in the United Arab Emirates' construction industry, with particular emphasis on organisational resources, green organisational culture, regulatory support, and financial performance.
He serves as Executive Director of Leader Group, a diversified UAE-based business group with operations spanning retail, real estate, hospitality, food and beverage, technology, and investments. His professional experience encompasses corporate strategy, business development, organisational leadership, and the management of diversified business operations.
With an extensive academic background and numerous qualifications from internationally renowned institutions, Bader combines executive leadership experience with a strong commitment to academic research and professional development.
He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Harvard Club of the UAE and is the founder of YaHalla Global Technologies.
His broader research interests include strategic management, innovation, organisational resilience, sustainability, and the relationship between organisational capabilities and business performance.
An economist from the National University of San Marcos, holding an MBA in Strategic Business Administration from CENTRUM PUCP and a Master’s degree in Finance from ESAN. He is a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) candidate at Durham University Business School and emlyon Business School, currently working on his doctoral dissertation.
He has over 20 years of professional experience in public administration, corporate management, agricultural policy, and economic development.
He currently serves as Minister of Agrarian Development and Irrigation of Peru. Previously, he held positions as Executive Director of AGRO RURAL, Director General of Agricultural Business at the Ministry of Agriculture, Head of AGROIDEAS, and Member of the Board of Directors of AGROBANCO.
In academia, he served as Director of the School of Government and Director of the Master's Program in Agribusiness Administration at ESAN, where he also teaches. Additionally, he has extensive experience as a general manager and board director of agricultural export companies.
His primary academic and research interests focus on agricultural economics, finance, productivity, technological innovation, and forecasting models applied to the agricultural sector.
Muthu is a doctoral researcher on the Durham-emlyon Global DBA. His research asks how organisations in high-accountability settings convert AI potential into sustained realised value. Buying a treadmill is potential; running on it is value. Most organisations have now bought the AI, yet the same investment works in one and stalls in another. Drawing on absorptive capacity theory, Muthu looks at human judgment in AI-informed decisions, where someone must answer for the outcome: who may challenge an AI output, whether people still do, and whether they remain able to. As he puts it, the right to judge is not the ability to judge. His work connects to the Lab's interest in how people judge and adjust the outputs of models.
Muthu is Vice President for Innovation and Emerging Markets at Tata Elxsi. For three decades he has worked with organisations in regulated industries, including healthcare and life sciences, where the question of who answers for a decision is never theoretical. He holds a Master's in Computer Science and Engineering from Jadavpur University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Jolly is a doctoral candidate in the Durham Fudan DBA programme. Her research focuses on green supply chains and sustainability, developing and validating the GrSCOR maturity framework to assess and advance Green Supply Chain Management (GrSCM) capabilities across industries.
With twenty years of international supply chain and operations leadership experience, Jolly has worked across the FMCG, healthcare, and luxury goods sectors in Grate China and Southeast Asia. She currently serves as Associated Supply Chain Director at Pernod Ricard, leading supply chain operations and transformation initiatives in Hong Kong. Notably, she led Pernod Ricard's at-scale circular business launch in Hong Kong, delivering significant reductions in packaging waste and supply chain emissions while creating a scalable model for sustainable distribution. Previously, she held leadership roles with Procter & Gamble.
Jolly holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Fudan University and an MBA from Maastricht School of Management. Her professional interests include sustainable supply chains, digital transformation, organisational resilience and the future of supply chain management in a low-carbon economy.
With over 20 years of experience in project management and a proven track record of successful project delivery, Chris is a Project Director aspiring towards a future C-suite role. His extensive expertise spans various industries both in public and private sectors.
Chris is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Business Administration (Global DBA) at Durham University Business School. His research topic is in Artificial Intelligence (Bias Mitigation in AI Algorithms for Fair Decision-Making )Past qualifications include a BSc (Hons) and an MSc, further solidifying my foundation in business administration and management.
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