by ESSEC Knowledge Editor-in-chief
, 29.01.26
As we kick off a new year, it’s time to highlight the ESSEC professors who received major grants in 2025! Five ESSEC professors, including Dean and President Vincenzo Vinzi, received funding from European and international agencies. Read on to see what they’re working on!
*Projects are listed in alphabetical order by professor surname.
Pierre Jacob & Kamélia Daudel: Importance Weighted Variational Inference for State Space Models: Theory and Methodology
Funding body: Eutopia
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About Pierre Jacob
Pierre Jacob is a professor of statistics at ESSEC Business School. He develops methods for statistical inference, time series analysis, Monte Carlo, methods to compare models or to estimate latent variables.
About Kamélia Daudel
Kamélia Daudel is an assistant professor of statistics at ESSEC Business School. Her current research lies in the field of Approximate Inference. She is particularly interested in Variational Inference methods using flexible families of divergence measures.
Felix Papier, Enabling Green Finance For Circular Economy Business Models
Funding body: Hubert Curien Program
Dr. Papier organized a workshop that aimed to explore the crucial link between the circular economy and green finance, two emerging dynamics essential for achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. The circular economy, focused on resource efficiency (creating "more" economic value with "less" resources), is increasingly adopted, notably through Circular Business Models (CBMs) in Europe (Netherlands, Italy, Germany, France) and Hong Kong. Concurrently, green finance is gaining prominence in both regions to channel investments into sustainable projects, with the development of taxonomies to define what qualifies as "green." Green finance instruments (green bonds, green loans) are vital for funding CBMs and incentivizing companies to adopt circular practices. The workshop, held on June 4–6, 2025, brought together academics, practitioners, and policymakers from France and Hong Kong to address scientific gaps and develop a future research agenda. Key themes included integrating the circular economy into green finance taxonomies, expanding these taxonomies to encompass the strategic objectives of circular business models, the capacity of circular business models to measure resource efficiency indicators, and the design of green finance instruments tailored for the circular economy. The event's organization involved presentations and roundtables with academic experts, as well as targeted discussions with practitioners and specialists in Hong Kong, allowing for the local experiences to be contrasted with those of France. The objectives are to consolidate the state of research, gather practical insights on the interconnection (and failures) between GF and CBMs, and integrate this knowledge to formulate a research agenda for GF in the CE, fostering synergies between France and Hong Kong. Workshop proceedings will ultimately be published by Springer.
About Felix Papier
Felix Papier is a Supply Chain Management Professor in the Operations Management Department at ESSEC Business School since 2011 and holder of the ESSEC Global Circular Economy Chair. His research and teaching focuses on supply chain and operations strategy, sustainable and socially-responsible operations, circular economy, supply chain due diligence and information sharing in supply chains, and humanitarian operations.
Vincenzo Vinzi, Dean and President of ESSEC Business School: A Series Of Workshops "Generative Ai Systems And Their Implications In Teaching And Research In The Social Sciences."
Funding body: Villa Vigoni
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The use of generative AI systems has fundamental implications for the role of independently generated scientific work in the social sciences and humanities. In the context of the scientific cultures of Germany, Italy, and France, this project aims to use an interdisciplinary perspective to find responsible uses for generative AI systems in research and teaching and to assess their potential for strengthening European scientific culture.
About Vincenzo Vinzi
Vincenzo Vinzi has been the Dean and President of ESSEC Business School since 2018. He holds a Doctorate in Computational Statistics and a Master’s in Business and Economics from the University of Naples Federico II, where he previously served as a professor of statistics. He has also been a visiting professor at several universities across Europe, the United States, and Asia. A full professor of statistics, he joined ESSEC in 2007 and later served as Dean of Faculty and Dean of Academic Affairs. His research covers big data, business analytics, and computational statistics.
Lauren Waardenburg, ARC Centre of Excellence for Quality Work in a Digital Age (QWIDA)
Funding Body: Australian Research Council (ARC)
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The QWIDA Centre aims to bring together leading experts from the social and technical sciences to shape the future of quality work in the era of AI and automation. By harnessing emerging technologies, the Centre will develop practical tools and actionable insights to enhance human performance, foster collaboration across boundaries, and equip workers with the skills needed to thrive in a digital world. In doing so, it will contribute to improved wellbeing, inclusion, and productivity across both government and industry. Project stakeholders are Sharon K. Parker, the director of the Centre, at Australia’s Curtin University, and Lauren Waardenburg, the ESSEC representative.
About Lauren Waardenburg
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Dr. Waardenburg is Assistant Professor of Management. She obtained a PhD in Management (cum laude) from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. In her research, she is mainly interested in the role of technology in occupational emergence and change, the reconfiguration of work and organizing due to intelligent technologies, and the duality of the physical and the digital.
