Dr. Giovanni Merola
Raised and educated in Rome, Italy, Giovanni completed a double major Bachelor degree in Statistics and Economics from the university La Sapienza in Rome. He completed his Masters and Ph.D. in Statistics at the University of Waterloo in 1994 and 1998, respectively. He was associate professor at the Polytechnic University of Catalunya in Spain, then moved to work in the area of Privacy Protection first at the National Statistics Office (ISTAT) in Rome and then at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in London, UK. He was employed for several years at a large hedge fund based in London, UK, researching systematic trading strategies for Futures. He returned to Academia in 2010, first at RMIT Vietnam and then at Xian Jiaotong-Liverpool University in China and later in India.
Giovanni’s research interests span from Multivariate Analysis to Privacy Protection and Statistical Learning, with a strong interest in computation, data analysis and visualization. He authored several refereed publications. He is proficient in programming, favouring the statistical language R and C++0, among others.
ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS
- Tertiary Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning (2012)
RMIT, Australia
- Ph.D. in Statistics (1998)
University of Waterloo, Canada
- Masters in Mathematics (Statistics) (1994)
University of Waterloo, Canada
- Bachelor Degree (Laurea) double major in Statistics and Economics (1992)
University “La Sapienza”, Roma
PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS
- British University Vietnam (BUV)
Senior Lecturer (2025 – Present)
-
Alliance University & MIT World Peace University (India)
Professor (2022 – 2023)
-
Xian Jiaotong-Liverpool University (China)
Lecturer V (2016 – 2022)
-
RMIT University (Vietnam)
Senior Lecturer (2010 – 2016)
-
Winton Capital Management
Quantitative Analyst ( 2006 – 2009)
-
ISTAT (Italy) & ONS (UK)
Senior Methodologist (2002 – 2006)
-
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Spain)
Associate Professor (1999 – 2001)
RESEARCH AREAS
-
Multivariate Analysis
-
Computational Statistics
-
Machine Learning
RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS
-
Merola, G. M. & Chen, G. (2019). Projection sparse principal component analysis: An efficient least squares method. Journal of Multivariate Analysis, 173, 366–382.
-
McCauley, B., Gumbley, S., Merola, G. M. & Do, T. (2016). Facebook in Vietnam: Uses, Gratifications & Narcissism. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 4(11), 69–79. Link
-
Merola, G. & Abraham, B. (2002). Dimensionality Reduction Approach to Multivariate Prediction. Computational Statistics and Data Analysis, Special Issue on PLS.
RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS & EXHIBITIONS
-
62nd ISI World Statistics Congress, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2019)
Topic: Improved estimation of wealth indices from asset counts -
61st ISI World Statistics Congress, Marrakech, Morocco (2017)
Topic: High-frequency financial time series, pattern recognition and volatility -
International Symposium on Business and Industrial Statistics (ISBIS), Bangkok, Thailand (2012)
Topic: A new framework for measuring disclosure risk for tabular data
RESEARCH GRANTS
-
2019 – Summer Undergraduate Research Framework Grant, Xian Jiaotong-Liverpool University
Project: Analysis of Chinese stock prices with respect to risk reward – 5,000 RMB -
2019 – Research Development Fund, Liverpool University
Project: Reducing the effect of data clumping in the estimation of wealth indices – 60,400 RMB
Collaborators: Dr. Bob Baulch (IFPRI, Malai), Prof. Marco Bonetti (Bocconi, Italy), Dr. Yang Chen (XJTLU) -
2012 – Personal Grant, Italian Institute for Commerce, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Project: Analysis of the perception of “Made in Italy” in Vietnam – 20,000 USD
Collaborator: Dr. Mattia Miani
- Share
Read more 
Lecturer
Dr. Chris KirraneChris, originally from the UK, has built a distinguished career abroad, specializing in economics, international political economy, and education. He holds a Ph.D. focused on the Asian Currency Crisis, along with a Master’s in International Political Economy, a PGCE in Tertiary Education (Economics), and a B.A. (Hons.) in Politics and Economics. With extensive experience in […]
Senior Teaching Fellow
Hoang Bao LongBao Long is a lecturer, researcher, entrepreneur and interaction design expert specializing in game design, interaction design, user experience and psychology. He is also interested in entrepreneurship and startups, applying human-centered design to developing products to solve modern social life problems. Outside of teaching, he also is co-founder of LacBird Co. – a game company […]
Academic Ambassador and Teacher, Corporate Training & Pathway
James McMillanJames was born in England, but spent his formative years not far from Vietnam, in Brunei. In 1986 James moved back to the UK with his family, where he remained until 2015. Following graduation in 1996, he embarked on a career in the financial industry, working for HBOS and then Lloyds Banking Group. Before leaving […]
Associate Professor
Programme Lead - Tourism Management
Originally from Germany, Maren gained her PhD from Edinburgh Napier University in the UK in 2016 with a thesis exploring commemorative narratives of the anniversary events of the fall of the Berlin Wall. She also holds an undergraduate degree in International Hospitality Management from Stenden University in the Netherlands and an MSc in Tourism and Events from the University of […]
Teaching Fellow
Julien PsomasAs Julien was studying for his BA Hons in Marketing in bonny Scotland, he discovered hospitality, its rhythm, its multicultural pool of talents, its long shifts, and the passion behind all this. Beside his studies, he worked in banqueting in St Andrews and later as a bartender. Julien quickly became team leader and got the […]
Teaching Practitioner
Bui Hoang Ha ChauChau is a seasoned professional in software development, particularly in game development, with over 10 years of experience. He graduated from FPT University with a Bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering in 2017 and later earned a Master’s degree in Software Engineering from FSB (FPT School of Business & Technology). With a deep passion for technology […]
Head of School, The Business School
Dr. Dong Manh CuongDr. Dong Manh Cuong is currently the Head of The Business School at British University Vietnam (BUV). He has many years of teaching experience at both domestic and international universities, delivering international programmes offered by institutions such as RMIT, San José State University, Troy University, St. Francis University, etc. His research focuses on applied econometrics […]
Lecturer
Dr. Dang Quang VinhVinh graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Vietnam National University – Hanoi in 2009. He earned his PhD in Computer Science from Université de Lorraine in 2018, completing his thesis under the supervision of Prof. François Charoy and Dr. Claudia Ignat at Inria Nancy Grand-Est, France. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree […]
Associate Professor
Head, Centre for Research and Innovation
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mike Perkins is the Head of the Centre for Research & Innovation at British University Vietnam, Vietnam. He holds a PhD in Management from the University of York, where he explored performance management in local policing services. His current research focuses on performance management, academic integrity, and the impact of Generative AI […]
Head of School, School of Computing & Innovative Technologies
Assoc. Prof. Ali Al-DulaimiAn instructor with a Ph.D. and around 25 years of cross-disciplinary experience, with a long list of skills and certificates. Throughout his international career, Assoc. Prof. Al-Dulaimi held different roles: teacher, lead teacher, head of department, lead instructor, research team leader, and Quality & Project manager. Using his solid academic foundations and extensive professional experience, […]
