Our team
jean Monnet CHAIR Leader
Judith Clifton
Full Professor and Founding Director of the Jean Monnet Chair of EU Economic Policy for Business & Civil Society at the Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences, University of Cantabria and Principal Investigator on one of the largest projects to date on the development of effectives policies on Green Transition, GreenPaths (Horizon2020, 3 Mill EUR, 2023-2026). Her areas of expertise are public services and their transformation, whilst she is also interested in public banks, especially, the European Investment Bank, most recently, its role during the COVID-19 pandemic...
She serves as Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Economic Policy Reform and am Co-Editor of Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy & Society and Cambridge Elements in Public Policy. I also serve on Policy & Society, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, Utilities Policy, and Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics editorial boards. She has held several prestigious appointments, including Jean Monnet Chair (2017-2020), Fulbright Fellow (Cornell 2014-15), Mario Einaudi Fellow (2015), Ramón y Cajal Fellow (Oviedo), British Council Fellow (CSIC) and CONACYT Fellow (Colegio de México). She has lectured and conducted research in leading European and US universities, including University of Oxford, Cambridge University, Cornell University, Leeds University, Oviedo University and most currently, Cantabria University.
She received a DPhil in Political Economy from the University of Oxford (St. Antony’s) in 1998 after completing a Masters in Contemporary International Studies (Distinction) at the University of Leeds. She have served as consultant for the World Bank, United Nations, OECD, European Commission, European Public Service Trade Unions, the Greek government (during negotiations with ECB/EC/IMF), CIRIEC and CEEP. She has consulted international media and have been cited in The Financial Times and The Economist. She regularly serves as Vice-Chair or Expert for Horizon 2020 research evaluation and Marie Curie Fellowships.
Daniel Díaz-Fuentes
Daniel received his PhD in Economics in 1992 from University of Alcala, Madrid, Spain. He is currently Full Professor in Economics at the Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences, Santander, Spain. He became an Associated Professor at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in 1992, a Visiting Scholar at University of Michigan in 1992, a Senior Associated Member at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford in 1993, a Visiting Researcher at London School of Economics and Political Science in 1996, a Visiting Researcher at University of Manchester in 1999, a Senior Research Fellow at European University Institute, Florence Italy in 2006, a Visiting Professor at University of Cornell in 2014 and a Visiting Fellow at University of Oxford in 2019-20. ..
His current research interests concentrate on the transforming potential of Regional Development Banks and Innovation and Internationalization in Public Services with particular focus on Europe and Latin America.
Prof. Diaz-Fuentes has been principal investigator in several European Union and International research projects such as VII FP COCOPS (Coordination for Cohesion in the Public Sector) from 2011 to 2014, H2020 CITADEL (Empowering Citizens to Transform Public Administrations) from 2016 to 2019, and H2020 TOKEN (Transformative impact of distributive Technologies in Public Services) since 2020. He has a long-term publication trajectory with more 100 articles in journals such as Journal of Common Market Studies, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, and Public Management Review. He is elected vice President of the World Economy Society and serves as Associated Editor of the Journal of Economic Policy Reform.
Marcos Fernández-Gutiérrez
Associate Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Cantabria.
MA in Public Policy from the University Pompeu Fabra-The Johns Hopkins University, PhD in Economics from the University of Cantabria. He has also been Visiting Research Fellow at Universidad de Barcelona (Spain), Università degli Studi di Milano (Italy), University of Exeter (UK), Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam (the Netherlands) and Bangor University (UK)....
Marcos has participated in international (Seventh Framework Programme, Jean Monnet and Horizon 2020) and national competitive research projects. He has published his research in journals as Public Administration Review, Computers&Education, Journal of Economic Policy Reform, International Review of Administrative Sciences, Regulation&Governance, Regional Studies , World Development, and Journal of Regulatory Economics, among others, as well as in several books and book chapters.
He was the coordinator of the Inter-university Master in Economics at the University of Cantabria, and the director of the Jean Monnet Module in Economic and Financial System and Regional Development (EUFIREG). He is currently the Vice-Dean of Quality, Research and Knowledge Transfer at the Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences, University of Cantabria.
Ana Lara Gómez
Associate Profesor of Applied Economics at the University of Cantabria.
Ana Lara has a degree in Economics (specialization in International Economics), a master’s degree in Economics of International Trade and European Integration, a second Master’s in Economics and PhD with international mention in Economics. ...
She has won the ‘Enrique Fuentes Quintana Award’ (FUNCAS) to the best doctoral thesis in the area of social sciences for the year 2018/2019, and the Social Council of the University of Cantabria Award to the best doctoral thesis in the area of economic and social sciences for the year 2019. She obtained a competitive postdoctoral scholarship by the Cantabria Parliament and the University of Cantabria. In 2018 Ana was a visiting researcher at the University of Costa Rica, one of the most prestigious institutions in Central America in the field of the social sciences, where she collaborated with prominent academics and professionals specialized in international financial institutions.
Likewise, she has participated and participates in competitive research projects, such as a project financed by the European Investment Bank, an H2020 project (CITADEL), a Santander Financial Institute project or a project funded by the Foundation for European Progressive Studies. In addition, she was member of the Jean Monnet Module and Chair of EU Economic Policy for Business & Civil Society at the University of Cantabria. Previously Ana enjoyed a PhD scholarship by the Lombardy Advanced School of Economic Research. Additional experience includes working for the Economic and Foreign Trade Department of the Spanish Embassy in Morocco or the French journal of economics, Futuribles.
As a researcher, she is specialized in International Financial Institutions and the European integration; specifically, on issues related to the evaluation of those institutions and the analysis of the economic policy implications of the different alternatives in the provision of funding. Other areas of her specialization include cohesion policy, the effect of international financing and the effects of the 2008 economic crisis. As a result of the development of these lines of research, she has published several articles in international journals specialized in European politics and applied economics, and several book chapters in recognized academic publishers.
Alejandro Bedia
Predoctoral Researcher in the Department of Economics at the University of Cantabria.
Bachelor’s Degree in Economics, with a specialization in Development Economics, from the University of Cantabria (2022), and Master’s Degree in Economics: Instruments of Economic Analysis from the Universities of Cantabria, Oviedo and the Basque Country (2023). His Master’s Thesis was awarded the Prize of the Ilustre Colegio de Economistas de Cantabria (2024)....
Alongside his master’s studies, he was awarded a collaboration scholarship in the Department of Economics at the University of Cantabria, granted by the Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional (2022–2023).
He has participated in competitive research projects, both European —related to green transition policies, such as Greenpaths (2023–2026)— and regional, within contracts for the preparation of economic outlook reports for Cantabria with the Ilustre Colegio de Economistas de Cantabria (2023–2026).
He is currently enrolled in the PhD programme in Economics: Instruments of Economic Analysis at the Universities of Cantabria, Oviedo and the Basque Country, with an Ayuda para la Formación del Profesorado Universitario (FPU) granted by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. His research interests include Economics of Education, Regional Economics, and Green Transition Policies.