Research Interests

Corporate Finance, FinTech

Awards & Grants

  • Queens’ College Cambridge Weil Awards (£1,000), 2025–2026
  • Keynes Fund PhD Awards Scheme (£2,000), 2025–2026
  • CJBS Dean’s Research Excellence Prize (~£17,000), 2025–2026
  • AFA PhD Travel Grant ($800), 2026
  • AFA PhD Travel Grant ($800), 2025
  • EFA PhD Travel Grant (€400), 2025
  • Travel Grant for PhD Workshop in Governance and Sustainability (HK$4,000)
  • Honourable Mention, CJBS Winter Doctoral Conference, 2021
  • Outstanding Academic Achievement Award (£1,000), 2019

Working Papers

For the most up-to-date list, see my Google Scholar profile.

  1. [JMP] Managerial Attention to Financial Markets: Evidence from Managers’ Own Discussion (2025) Zhenkai Ran. [SSRN]

    • Presentations: University of Cambridge, University of Guelph, Wilfrid Laurier University, Monash Business School, HKUST (GZ), Fudan University, University of Macau, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, CEAM Cavalcade, 2025 Durham Finance Job Market Paper Conference, Swiss Finance Institute “Rising Scholar Conference in Finance 2025” at UZH, CEPR Paris Symposium 2025, AFA 2026 (Poster Session), Junior Academics Research Seminars (JARS) in Finance, 21st Annual Olin Finance Conference at WashU (PhD Session), Applied Young Economist Webinars (AYEW) Season 11, PhD-Economics Virtual Seminar (EVS)

  2. Value versus Values: Does Stock Liquidity Affect Corporate Environmental Policies? (2025) Zhenkai Ran and Mao Ye. [SSRN]

    • Presentations: Cornell University, China International Conference in Finance (CICF), Adam Smith Sustainability Conference, 8th SAFE Market Microstructure Conference, University of Cambridge, International Corporate Governance Conference, 5th Annual Boca-ECGI Corporate Finance and Governance Conference, AFA 2025 (Poster Session), the Microstructure Exchange seminar, 6th Annual Conference of the Canadian Sustainable Finance Network (CSFN), Edinburgh Corporate Finance Conference

  3. To Match or Not to Match: Financial Constraints and Corporate Pension Matching Policies (2024) Zhenkai Ran, P. Raghavendra Rau, and Joshua Rauh. Preliminary Draft Upon Request.

  4. Peaks and Pitfalls: Stock Price Highs and Corporate Investment (2025) Zhenkai Ran. Preliminary Draft Upon Request.

    • Presentations: 7th QMUL Economics and Finance Workshop for PhD & Post-doctoral Students

Publications

  1. Sometimes, Always, Never: Regulatory Clarity and the Development of Digital Financing (2025) Zhenkai Ran, P. Raghavendra Rau, and Tania Ziegler. Management Science, 71(9), 8027–8071. [DOI]

Pre-PhD Projects

  1. An Empirical Investigation on Risk Factors in Cryptocurrency Futures (2023) Yeguang Chi, Wenyan Hao, Jiangdong Hu, and Zhenkai Ran. Journal of Futures Markets, 43(8), 1161–1180. [DOI]

  2. Strategies for Responsible Investing: Emerging Academic Evidence (2020) Vaska Atta-Darkua, David Chambers, Elroy Dimson, Zhenkai Ran, and Ting Yu. The Journal of Portfolio Management, 46(3), 26. [DOI]

  3. MiFID II: The Impact of Double Volume Cap Mechanism on Market Quality (2021) Zhenkai Ran. [SSRN]

  4. Financial Literacy, Internet Dependency, and Internet Finance (2020) Zhenkai Ran. [SSRN]

Refereeing

  • Journal(s): International Review of Finance
  • Conference(s): ARCS Annual Research Conference