1. Landscape Change in Dutch Payments: Analysing the Transition to Global Card Rails
2. Diffusion of Innovation Theory: Lessons from Online Banking for AI
3. Mobilising the Future: How ‘Sociotechnical Imaginaries’ Shape Innovation Trajectories
4. Literature Review: Academic Research on the Fintech Sector
5. Innovative Product Development: Lessons from Fintech
6. Field Notes: Takeaways from the European Space Agency and Metochi Summer School
In 2024, after seven years as a fintech investor, consultant, and operator, I returned to academia to complete a Master’s in Science and Technology Studies (STS).
This transition followed five years at Augmentum Fintech plc, Europe’s leading publicly-listed fintech fund, where I led research on emerging technologies and the evolving policy environment in financial services.
Having been at the center of industry innovation, and recognising the accelerating impact of AI, I wanted to add to my market view by investigating the critical societal questions and governance challenges that accompany rapid technological change.
I chose Science and Technology Studies (STS) because the field unpacks the entangled relationship between innovation and society - investigating how technologies shape the social world and how social values shape technological development in return.
STS is also interdisciplinary by design, drawing from sociology, philosophy, history, and economics to highlight the human dimensions often obscured within complex, "black-boxed" technological systems.
By analysing why our increasingly technical realities take the shapes they do, STS researchers engage with emerging ethical dilemmas and help to develop practical strategies and policy recommendations in support of responsible innovation.
I joined a unique Master’s programme, ESST, co-delivered by a network of 12 leading European universities, each teaching a distinct specialism within STS.
Building on my fintech industry background and first degree in economics from the University of Edinburgh, I specialised in Innovation Policy and Responsible Research and Innovation.
This path took me first to Maastricht University in the Netherlands for the core of my studies, and then to the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Greece, to complete my Master’s thesis under specialised joint-supervision.