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 
Senior Teaching Fellow - Academic Ambassador
Lee McMillanRaised and educated in the UK, Lee holds a TEFL, PGDBJ and an MA Degree in History from the University of Glasgow. Lee moved to Vietnam in 2015 working as an IELTS teacher, examiner and VTV4 presenter before starting her role at BUV in 2018 under part time employment as an English teacher. In 2020 […]
Senior Lecturer
Dr. Shashi ChaudharyShashi, born and raised in Nepal, completed a Bachelor’s degree (BA) in Economics and Mathematics and a Master’s degree (MA) in Economics from Tribhuvan University, Nepal. He started his career in higher education as a Lecturer in Economics at the School of Business, Pokhara University, Nepal, where he worked for two years before moving to […]
Vice Chancellor and President
Professor Raymond GordonProfessor Dr. Raymond Gordon is an experienced academic leader, teacher and researcher holding positions at universities throughout the world including the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), the University of Sydney, University of Warwick (UK), Reitaku University Japan, New Mexico State University (USA), Copenhagen Business School Denmark and others. He has an esteemed research and publication […]
Senior Lecturer
Dr. Viju PrakashRaised and educated in India, Viju Prakash completed a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Anna University. Following graduation, in 2005, he completed a Master of Computer Science and Engineering from Anna University. He later completed his PhD titled, “A Power Aware Routing Protocol in Wireless Sensor Networks” in Computer Science and Engineering. […]
Distinguished Visiting Professor (Art & Design)
Professor Paul GoughAn academic leader with over 40 years’ experience in higher education in UK, Europe and Australasia. Professor Paul Gough is a painter, author and broadcaster who has exhibited his paintings and drawings globally, and has authored over 10 books and 100 research papers on art history and cultural memory. With extensive experience in higher education […]
Lecturer
Dr. Aiwa RomyHailing from Kerala, South India, Aiwa completed her Bachelor’s degree in Travel and Tourism from Pazhassiraja College, Calicut University, Kerala in 2014. Following graduation, she moved to Malaysia to pursue her MSc. in Tourism by research from Taylor’s University (2014-2017) , and continued there until the completion of her Doctoral studies in 2021. During her […]
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, […]
Teaching Fellow
Sandra SchneidermanSandra is Student Success Lead and a Teaching Instructor. She liaises with faculty and students to develop individualised success lessons and learning plans. Raised in New Zealand and educated in Australia, Sandra received her Bachelor of Education and Master of Education at The University of Melbourne. She also has a Post-Graduate Certificate in Gifted Education […]
Lecturer
Dr. Valentina GorchakovaValentina is an experienced academic and marketing professional with a strong background in tourism, hospitality, and events. She holds a PhD from AUT University, New Zealand, and is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy. Dr. Gorchakova has extensive experience in higher education leadership and programme management, overseeing academic provision, quality, and student learning […]
Teaching Fellow
Nguyen Ngoc QuyNguyễn Ngọc Quý is a 3D artist, educator, and researcher based in Hanoi. He completed his undergraduate studies in Contemporary Creative Practice at Staffordshire University and later finished a Master of Research in the Arts at Arts University Bournemouth, where his work explored generative art as an approach to documenting Vietnam’s intangible cultural heritage. Quý […]
