Dr Ullas Rao

Currently serving as Assistant Professor of Finance, School of Social Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Dubai, Dr Ullas earned his doctorate in finance for his work on 'Posterior Analysis of Mergers & Acquisitions in International Financial Scenario during the Last Decade' from the University of Mysore, India, under the guidance of Dr. M. R. Suryanarayana Murthy (PhD Birmingham, UK).

His research makes significant theoretical and empirical contributions by proposing robust approaches for capturing the impact of M&A activity on the wealth status of shareholders. 

With more than 12 years of teaching, consulting and research experience, Ullas has made significant contributions in disseminating financial education through high-impact educational programmes for a wide audience of undergraduate, postgraduate and management students.

His passion for excellence in teaching is evidenced by the exceptionally high student feedback scores received for his courses over the years. He has also conducted a significant number of training and consulting programmes on finance for some leading Indian and multi-national corporations, which have been rated highly by their participants. Demonstrating strong organisational skills, he has conducted numerous high-impact and influential conferences and seminars on finance in India and UAE. 

Ullas has published extensively in journals of international repute and presented papers at leading International conferences including the 22nd Australasian Conference on Banking & Finance, held in Sydney, Australia in 2009. 

Areas of Interest

Mergers and acquisitions, Investment and portfolio management, Corporate valuation, Market efficiency with special interest in digital assets, Islamic finance, ESG and responsible investment, Micro-finance.