CEARC Team
Meet Our CEARC Research Team
Fiona Duguid: Fiona Duguid (PhD) is a researcher based out of Chelsea, Quebec. She is a Research Fellow with the Centre of Excellence on Accounting and Reporting of Co-operatives, Saint Mary’s University (SMU). She previously worked for the Co-operatives Secretariat for the Government of Canada and the Canadian Co-operative Association. She currently conducts research focusing on co-operatives, social economy, sustainability and community economic development, is an instructor in the SMU Co-operative Business Management program, as well as the MBA program (CED) at Cape Breton University. She is past President of the Canadian Association for the Study of Co-operation (CASC).
Daphne Rixon:
Daphne Rixon is Associate Professor of Accounting, Saint Mary’s University. She has a PhD from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom and is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA). Daphne has three degrees from Memorial University (BA, BCom (Hons), MBA). Dr. Rixon has a very productive research program which has resulted in over 50 peer-reviewed publications and 100 conference presentations. She has won several research awards including the Emerald Literati Network 2018 Award for Excellence her paper co-authored with Larry Corrigan: “A dramaturgical accounting of cooperative performance indicators. It was published in Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management.
Daphne is Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Co-operative Accounting and Management. In addition to her position of Associate Professor, she is also the Executive Director of the Centre of Excellence in Accounting and Reporting for Co-operatives (CEARC). Dr. Rixon teaches managerial accounting in the undergraduate program as well as Accounting and Reporting in the Masters of Management for Co-operatives and Credit Unions (MMCCU) program.
Maureen McCulloch: Senior lecturer in Accounting in the Oxford Brookes Business School, UK for six years and is also an instructor in the Co-operative Management Education Programme at Saint Mary’s University. Her research focuses on accounting for non-profit and social enterprises including co-operatives. Prior to joining the staff at Oxford Brookes Business School, Maureen was finance director for a number of non-profit organisations, consultant for several others and a visiting lecturer at several UK universities covering accounting for purposes other than profit. Maureen is a Chartered Accountant (UK) and is currently completing her PhD at Sheffield Business School.
Josée Charbonneau: Josée collaborates in various research projects led by the IRECUS, a research and education institute for cooperatives and mutuals located at the University of Sherbrooke, as a research professional. She holds a master's degree in management and governance of cooperatives and mutuals as well as a master's degree in environment. Her interests lie in the contribution of cooperatives to sustainable development.
Elisavet joined Birmingham Business School (BBS) in September 2016. Elisavet has professional experience as an accountant and has worked as an auditor in a ‘Big Four’ audit firm.
Elisavet’s research is broadly concerned with developing an understanding of the changing roles of accounting within the context of shifting societal values, ideological demands, and power relations in the international arena. She is interested in the everyday use of accounting information by practitioners and the public more broadly, and has been involved in research projects related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) theory and practice, both in the UK and internationally. Central to her current research activities is the exploration of accountability in the context of cooperatives and the role of critical accounting praxis. Elisavet has presented papers at research conferences both in the UK and overseas and is currently in charge of organising the research seminars for the BBS accounting group.
Ruth Buchanan
Ruth joined Co-operatives UK as Head of Finance early in 2023, with responsibility for Co-operatives UK’s finances as well as our operational unit. Ruth is a member of our Leadership Team (LT). Ruth is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales who qualified in 2009 in a mid-sized audit firm, before moving on to work in-house at a number of financial services firms in the North West. As part of her role, Ruth represents Co-operatives UK on the Board of Co-operative and Community Finance, and outside of work she volunteers as the treasurer of a Liverpool based charity.
Emma Dutton
Emma joined Co-operatives UK in November 2024 to conduct research projects and develop insights to inform our strategies. She has 2:1 degree in Applied Social Sciences and 14 years' experience of working in local government in research and performance improvement roles. Emma also has 10 years' experience of marketing within a large firm of business advisors, organising business growth events and delivering projects to support small businesses and not-for-profit organisations.
Francesca Gagliardi
Francesca Gagliardi is Reader in Institutional Economics and Doctoral Research Tutor at Hertfordshire Business School. She is Operational Co-Lead for the University’s £1.25 million ESRC Impact Acceleration Account and a member of the Research Degrees Board. Francesca joined the Business School in 2006 as a Visiting Lecturer while she was a doctoral candidate. In 2009 she was appointed as Lecturer in Finance and later that year as Senior Lecturer in Finance. Francesca holds a BSc in Economics and Social Disciplines from the University of Calabria (Italy), an MSc in Economics from the University of York (UK), and a PGCE and a PhD from the University of Hertfordshire, which was awarded the Chancellor’s Medal for Outstanding Achievement in a Doctoral Research Programme in 2010. Francesca’s research applies comparative institutional analysis to the study of how the entrepreneurial ecosystem influences the creation, growth, performance, and survival of small and medium enterprises, particularly social enterprises and cooperatives. Her work in this area, published in leading international journals, is widely cited. It has been awarded the Horvat-Vanek Prize (International Association for the Economics of Participation, 2008) and has been included in the University’s REF 2014 and 2021 submissions. Francesca is a co-founder and the current Treasurer of the World Interdisciplinary Network for Institutional Research, as well as the Secretary of the UK Society for Co-operative Studies and Deputy Editor of the Journal of Co-operative Studies.