Professor Gbenga Ibikunle was elected to the Fellowship of the Academy in autumn 2025. He is a Professor and Chair of Finance at the University of Edinburgh and, as the Director of the Edinburgh Centre for Financial Innovations, he leads on strategic FinTech and Financial Services initiatives at the university.
Professor Gbenga IbikunleFAcSS
Gbenga’s research is driven by both economic theory and computational analyses of big economic, financial and alternative data (hundreds of billions of observations). His work on trading by autonomous AI-based algorithms reconciles the conflicting evidence on the economic implications of high-frequency trading. Passionate about research informing practice, regulation and policy, Gbenga’s research has been published and cited by various organisations, including the Financial Conduct Authority, Bank of England and the European Securities and Markets Authority, UK Government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. His outputs have also been cited in leading international media outlets, such as The New York Times, The Economist, Financial Times, Forbes, and Bloomberg.
Gbenga is Co-Director for the NatWest Group-funded Centre for Purpose-Driven Innovation in Banking. He was also the Founding Director of both the University of Edinburgh’s PhD in Financial Technology programme and its flagship postgraduate taught FinTech programme, the MSc Finance, Technology and Policy.
Gbenga is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh; a Fellow at Australia’s Rozetta Institute (formerly Capital Markets CRC); a Member of the Bank of England and HM Treasury’s Central Bank Digital Currency Academic Advisory Group; and a Council Member of the of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on the Future of Resilient Financial Systems for the 2023-2024 term.
Why do the social sciences matter?
In the known history of our planet, there has been no species that has impacted its natural habitat as negatively as we have. The actions we are capable of are complex and often contradictory to our self-interests, consequently, we are now faced with a plethora of challenges that require understanding and influencing human nature and societies to address. The social sciences originate, often in collaboration among its many disciplines and with the arts, humanities and physical sciences, many of the frameworks that help us navigate these challenges and our responses to them.
What do you enjoy most about your work?
At its core the work my colleagues and I do is the microstructure of markets – not just financial markets, but also environmental and energy markets. Often, we focus on characterising the data generation processes, which, at their base, are the result of consumption decisions made by people, and the trading decisions made by economic agents active in the market. Those agents used to be just people, but now, in modern markets, they are mostly autonomous trading engines who consume information and act on them within fractions of one second – microseconds and nanoseconds. This complex fusion of consumption and trading decisions is very interesting to me and offers an opportunity to use market systems to address the biggest challenges facing society today. That possibility is what inspires me.
What is the most urgent issue social scientists need to tackle today and within the next three years?
Our global society faces many challenges that require urgent attention. However, I think there is none more so than treating climate change as the global emergency it is – especially because it is implicated in many of the other global challenges we currently face. For example, it can exacerbate existing tensions, thus making conflict and mass displacement of populations more likely. There are no easy answers; however, we do know that collective action is needed to meaningfully address the seemingly relentless growth in emissions.
The UK’s Climate Change Committee calculates that about two-thirds of the actions needed to reach the country’s net zero targets will require some form of societal behavioural change. This includes how we heat our homes, travel, and shop. Changing consumer behaviour – reflected in the hundreds of millions of spending decisions made each day – is therefore essential. When we choose emission-intensive products, we signal to markets that high emissions are profitable, reducing the perceived risk of running carbon-heavy businesses.
Despite good intentions, people are unlikely to consistently choose low-emission alternatives unless economic conditions make them the more attractive option. This reflects the classic tragedy of the commons: individuals acting in their own interest undermine collective outcomes. As such, economic incentives are critical to driving the behavioural shifts needed to combat climate change. Social science disciplines, such as economics and psychology, can help design effective people-centric tools to encourage society to work collaborative to address this challenge.
What does being a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences mean to you?
To be elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences is a privilege and a call to service. For me, it is a humbling experience to join such a distinguished network of scholars and practitioners. I look forward to continuing to focus my work on issues that address the needs of society today and in the future.