Farida Akhtar

Dr Akhtar research interests are diverse including Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), Asset Pricing, Corporate Finance, Behavioural Finance, Sustainability, Portfolio Management, Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence. She has worked at the Commonwealth Treasury, Department of Defence and Private equity corporations prior to joning academia. Dr Akhtar is an active researcher and her work has been published in international and local Journals [ABDC A*/A ranking] spanning multidisciplinary fields. She has published in Journal of International Business Studies (Top tier), Journal of Corporate Finance, Critical Finance Review, Journal of International Money and Finance, International Journal of Consumer Studies (forthcoming), Accounting and Finance and Australian Journal of Management. Dr. Akhtar is a regular reviewer of Australian Research Council (ARC) grants and journals listed in ABDC/ABS [A-A* catagory]. She was awarded number of grants related to teaching: Teaching Excellence (ANU), Innovation in Teaching (MQ) and Teaching engagement (MQ).

Dr Akhtar is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) UK.

Grants and Scholarship Awarded 
- ARC Discovery Grant [DP200102935]
- AFAANZ Grant 
- American Finance Association (AFA) scholarship 

Research Interest
Corporate Governance, Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), Asset Pricing, Behavioural Finance, Sustainability, Investment, Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence. 

Conference Organiser
Western Economics Association International
The Centre for Risk Analytics -Digital Finance

Teaching
ACST6003 Principles of Finance
BUSA3015 Business Forecasting
ACST1001 Finance 1A
AFIN310 Issues in Applied Finance
AFIN250 Investments
AFIN328 Financial Risk Management

Research Supervision
Sophie Howard (Honours Student, primary supervisor MQ, joined industry)
Jake Gorman (Honours Student, co-supervisor Curtin, joined industry)
Lachlan Hall (Honours Student, co-supervisor, University of Sydney, joined industry)
Maryam Laeeq Ali (PhD Student, primary supervisor MQ, current)
Nhu Tung (Henry) Nguyen (Mres student, primary supervsior MQ, current)
Quoc Phong (Leo) Nguyen (Mres student, primary supervisor MQ, commence 2026)
Zexi Wang (TBC)


Intership and Community connection
Diana Blazevska (Research Internship Program, joined industry)
Melisa Yerlikaya (Research Internship Program)
Aluel Nyarnhom (Research Internship Program)
Luong Phuong Anh Pham (Community connect)

Media Engagement 
Dr Akhtar contributed to national and international mainstream media outlet including Australian Financial Review, The Conversation, FMCG CEO Magazine, Macquarie's The Lighthouse. 

I am available for supervision of PhD, Masters and Honours students.