Istemi Demirag is professor of accounting at the School of Management, Queen’s University Belfast, in Northern Ireland and was previously a reader in accounting at the University of Sheffield. He also draws on substantial international experience of teaching various aspects of accounting and finance to undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students on executive programmes worldwide, e. g. at University of Greenwich (England), University of Bath (England), University of Koc (Turkey), University of Utara (Malaysia), University of Sabanci (Turkey), University of Aalborg (Denmark) and several other leading universities.

As a researcher, Professor Demirag has international reputation in a number of fields, including performance evaluation, accountability and governance in the public and the private sectors. His current research focuses on case studies and narrative studies, using critical approaches, such as the middle range theory. He also uses grounded theory, contingency theory, political economy, historical analysis, and more recently network governance theory. His research areas have significant synergies with his current teaching in Accounting and International Financial Management as he continues his research on the assumed relationships between accountability, accounting performance and governance issues. Professor Demirag is particularly interested in the further enhancement of the interdisciplinary research and has consistently generated substantial external research funding. E. g., Prof. Demirag’s edited textbook „Corporate Governance, Accountability and Pressures to Perform: An International Study" (Elsevier 1998), was a by-product of a successful international research project, funded by the European Commission, over a period of three years. He continued with these international research partners in his last book, „Social Responsibility, Accountability and Governance: Global Perspectives”, which was published by Greenleaf Publishing in 2006.

Besides more then 180 articles in academic journals, Prof. Demirag is also an Associate Editor of two major international journals: „The European Journal of Finance” and „Accounting Forum”; both of which are quality international academic journals (3 Star) in their fields. He also serves on the editorial boards of a number of other publications, e. g. „European Journal of Finance", "International Journal of Accounting, Auditing, and Performance Evaluation (IJAAPE)", "Journal of Management and Governance", "Accounting and Business Reserch", "British Accounting Review", "European Accounting Review", "Scandinavian Journal of Management", and "European Journal of Finance". In particular, he is also on the editorial board of "The Journal of Management and Governance (JMG)" which is a relatively recent journal but with growing international importance in the field of governance and accountability research. Prof. Demirag is currently working on several papers which are already under consideration for publication in other top quality journals, e. g. the "Journal of Financial Accountability and Management (FAM)" as well as "Public Money and Management (PMM)".

Professor Demirag was the founding member and Chairperson of the British Accounting Association's Special Interest Group on Corporate Governance for eight years. Under his and the executive board members’ leadership, the group developed strong links with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and other corporate governance related European groups plus obtaining regular funding from ACCA. At Queen’s University he served also as Director of Research for the accounting unit and actively sought out the development of colleagues through joint research projects and publications as well as offering academic leadership to junior members of academic staff. He has well developed and emerging international links within the international academic community and has extensive experience at university administration. On top, he makes positive contribution to the local community by his research in Public–Private Partnership (PPP) projects in the healthcare, transport and education sectors.

Ph.D. in Accounting and Finance (University of Glasgow, United Kingdom)

M.Sc. (University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom)