Dr James Bowden
Senior Lecturer
Accounting and Finance
Personal statement
Since joining Strathclyde Business School in 2019, my research and teaching activities have focussed on different areas of financial technology (fintech), primarily concerning the application of unstructured datasets to address financial theory and practice. I have co-authored papers that have been published in a number of journals such as Economics Letters, Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Journal of Comparative Economics, and the European Journal of Finance.
Alongside research, my commentary on financial events has been published by The Conversation UK, the World Economic Forum, MarketWatch and Business Insider.
I am actively engaged in teaching and have twice been shortlisted for the "Best in Faculty - Business" award at the Strathclyde Teaching Excellence Awards. I have co-directed the MSc Financial Technology programme, and deliver the Financial Innovations, Applications and Considerations module. I have led the honours year Corporate Financing module since joining Strathclyde, and supervise both undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations.
Before starting my PhD, I worked for four years as a Senior Stock Research Analyst and Index Supervisor at Russell Investments (now FTSE Russell), and undertook an internship at Merrill Lynch in Illinois, USA. I have also worked as a Knowledge Transfer Associate at Bangor University. Outside of academia I enjoy athletics and am a keen road, cross-country and hill runner.
Qualifications
PhD in Accounting and Finance, University of Dundee
MSc in Investment Analysis, University of Stirling
BA (Hons) in International Business, Nottingham Trent University
PG Cert in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education
Publications
- Generative AI for Simplified ESG Reporting in Financial Services
- Zhang Hao, Bowden James, Cummins Mark
- Financial Regulation Innovation Lab White Paper Series Financial Regulation Innovation Lab White Paper Series (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.17868/strath.00089574
- Large Language Model Application for Regulatory Horizon Scanning : Case Study on Anti-Greenwashing Regulations
- Zhang Hao, Dao Daniel, Bowden James, Cummins Mark
- Financial Regulation Innovation Lab White Paper Series Financial Regulation Innovation Lab White Paper Series (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.17868/strath.00092580
- Fairness and Discrimination in Lending Decisions : Multiple Protected Characteristics Analysis
- Jain Kushagra, Bowden James, Cummins Mark
- Financial Regulation Innovation Lab White Paper Series Financial Regulation Innovation Lab White Paper Series (2024)
- Open Finance and Carbon Neutral Banking : Leveraging Financial Transaction Data for Consumers Carbon Footprint Measurement
- Bowden James, Cummins Mark, Tetteh Godsway
- Financial Regulation Innovation Lab White Paper Series Financial Regulation Innovation Lab White Paper Series (2024)
- Promoting Fairness and Exploring Algorithmic Discrimination in Financial Decision Making through Explainable Artificial Intelligence
- Jain Kushagra, Bowden James, Cummins Mark
- Financial Regulation Innovation Lab White Paper Series Financial Regulation Innovation Lab White Paper Series (2024)
- ESG Greenwashing and Applications of AI for Measurement
- Dao Daniel, Chu Ngoc Anh, Bowden James, Cummins Mark
- Financial Regulation Innovation Lab White Paper Series Financial Regulation Innovation Lab White Paper Series (2024)
Teaching
I have been co-director of the MSc Financial Technology at Strathclyde Business School since 2019. I am also responsible for delivering the Corporate Financing module for honours year students and the Fintech Innovations, Applications and Considerations postgraduate module. Each year I supervise end-of-year financial technology projects for postgraduate students, and finance-related undergraduate honours year dissertations. I deliver the Financial and Financial Management module to students at our Dubai campus, and I previously taught the Future of Fintech module for the MSc Strategic Fintech in Bahrain.
I have been shortlisted for "Best in Faculty - Business" at the Strathclyde Teaching Excellence Awards in 2021 and 2022.
Research Interests
My research explores various aspects of financial technology and includes working with novel unstructured datasets such as text, audio and images in a finance context. However, I also conduct research in more traditional areas of corporate finance and financial markets.
As a co-investigator within the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL), funded by the UK Government via Innovate UK, I am responsible for the joint coordination of research activities undertaken by four Research Associates (Daniel Dao, Godsway Tetteh, Hao Zhang and Kushagra Jain) and a Senior Research Fellow (Steve Owens). FRIL produces industry-relevant research and white papers on the topic of financial regulation and regulatory technology.
I am first supervisor for three doctoral students. Andrew Todd is conducting research into mu.ltimodal sentiment analysis of corporate earnings calls. Phindu Lipenga is investigating the determinants of fintech adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa. Ngoc Anh Chu is evaluating the application of explainable AI and text-audio analysis for transparent ESG reporting.
I am also second supervisor for two PhD Students. Martin Kemmitt is investigating the hedging activity of firms listed on the AIM submarket of the London Stock Exchange. Zihong Chen is conducting research into the effectiveness of machine learning algorithms for the detection of money laundering.
I have acted as reviewer for manuscripts submitted to the European Journal of Finance, Business Strategy and the Environment, Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management and Qualitative Research in Financial Markets.
Professional Activities
- Truth Social, introduction en Bourse… comment Trump compte éponger son amende record
- Interviewee
- 24/3/2024
- Truth Social : la planche de salut financier surprise de Donald Trump?
- Interviewee
- 21/3/2024
- SDSN UK - Going green: Debating the socio-economic impacts of achieving Net Zero
- Participant
- 24/1/2024
- DBA External Examiner
- External Examiner
- 15/1/2024
- Business Strategy and the Environment (Journal)
- Peer reviewer
- 8/1/2024
- BAFA Corporate Finance and Asset Pricing SIG 2023
- Participant
- 13/12/2023
Projects
- Reaching New Heights: Strengthening the Scotland Ireland Partnership with Satellite Data (Strathclyde UCD research feasibility study)
- Owens, Steven Robert (Principal Investigator) Bowden, James (Co-investigator) Cummins, Mark (Co-investigator) Macdonald, Malcolm (Co-investigator) McKee, David (Co-investigator) White, Chris (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2024 - 31-Jan-2025
- Fintech. Centre of Innovation in Financial Regulation (Innovation Accelerator)
- Cummins, Mark (Principal Investigator) Basu, Devraj (Co-investigator) Bowden, James (Co-investigator) Revie, Matthew (Co-investigator) Shaw, Eleanor (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2023 - 31-Jan-2025
Contact
Dr
James
Bowden
Senior Lecturer
Accounting and Finance
Email: james.bowden@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 3899