The International Conference on Sustainability, Environment, and Social Transition in Economics and Finance

OVERVIEW

The 2025 International Conference on Sustainability, Environment, and Social Transition in Economics and Finance (SESTEF 2025) jointly organized by the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris School of Business, Ecole Polytechnique, University of Montenegro & University of Paris Saclay with the support of CRECC Research Center (Paris School of Business), Centre d’Economie de la Sorbonne, Arco (Saudi Arabia), and OneHealthAI (France) will take place on December 10 to 12, 2025, Podgorica, Montenegro. The event aims to provide academics, policymakers, and practitioners with a valuable forum for discussion and critical analysis of the major issues and challenges that interrelate energy, environment, sustainability, social transition, economics and finance.

CONFERENCE PROGRAM

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Leila Dagher

Dr. Leila Dagher is the Founding Director of the Center for Policy Action and Associate Professor of Economics and Policy at the Lebanese American University and has been an adjunct lecturer at the George Washington University since 2016. She currently serves as an editor for Energy Policy, as well as on the editorial board of four other journals. Dr. Dagher is a regular participant in academic and policy debates. She has previously served in various capacities such as Economic Adviser to several public officials, Director of the Institute of Financial Economics and Chairperson of the Department of Economics (AUB). Her research focuses on economics and policy issues related to the areas of energy, environment, and financial crises, among others. She has published more than 30 peer-reviewed articles and was ranked among the Top 2% Scientists worldwide for 2024 (Stanford/Elsevier list). Her work has appeared in leading academic journals and in more widely accessible forums. Dr. Dagher received her Bachelor of Engineering from the American University of Beirut and her Ph.D. in Mineral Economics from the Colorado School of Mines. Before joining the LAU, Dr. Dagher had taught for 15 years at the AUB with several visiting stints including Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Sadok El Ghoul

Sadok El Ghoul is a Professor of Business Administration at Campus Saint-Jean of the University of Alberta, where he teaches finance, international business and econometrics. He received his M.B.A. and Ph.D. from Laval University. Before joining the University of Alberta, he taught international financial management at Laval University.

His research interests include corporate finance, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, international finance, financial institutions, and the role of culture in financial markets. His work has been published in finance, management, international business, business ethics and accounting journals such as Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Review of Finance, Management Science, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Business Ethics, The Accounting Review and Contemporary Accounting Research.

Prof. El Ghoul received the McCalla Professorship at the University of Alberta in 2013-2014. He has won several awards including the Moskowitz Prize for the Best Paper in Socially Responsible Investing in 2011, the best paper award in financial institutions at the Southwestern Finance Association conference in 2012, the Korea Development Bank outstanding paper award at the Conference on Asia–Pacific Financial Markets in 2013, the best paper award at the World Business Ethics Forum in 2016, and the best paper award in emerging economies research at the Academy of International Business meeting in 2018.

He is an associate editor at the Journal of Banking & Finance, a subject editor at Emerging Markets Review, and an editorial board member of several other academic journals. In 2017, he received the Martha Cook Piper Research Prize, which recognizes two University of Alberta faculty members in the early stage of their careers.