Research output per year
Research output per year
United Kingdom
Accepting PhD Students
PhD projects
Innovation; Intellectual Property; Technology Adoption; Standards; Business Performance; Productivity; Applied Microeconomics
Cher Li joined Aston Business School in 2023 as a Professor of Economics. She has an extensive background in higher education, having previously worked at Nottingham University Business School, Imperial College Business School, the University of Strathclyde, and the University of Glasgow.
A recognised expert in the economics of innovation, Cher serves as a member of the UKRI Interdisciplinary Assessment College (IAC), the BEIS Expert Peer Review Group as well as the Council of Experts of UKRI Innovation and Research Caucus (IRC) - a leading think tank to provide thought-leadership as well as inform innovation policy and practice. Cher is also a member of the Innovation Growth Lab (IGL) Research Network - a global policy initiative led by Nesta, Innovate UK, BEIS and other partners.
As an economist by training, Cher's research primarily centres on innovation, intellectual property (IP), technology standards, and productivity. She has successfully secured funding for her research projects from organisations such as the ESRC, UK government departments (e.g., BEIS, UK Trade and Investment now the Dept for International Trade, Scottish Enterprise), and international organisations. Most recently, Cher is a Co-investigator on the 2 million GBP UKRI project - Transforming Productivity: Coordination and Evidence Hub (2020-2023, funded by ESRC). This project aims to convert academic insights on productivity into practical solutions and designs interventions to address the UK's productivity challenges.
Cher's expertise has led her to consult widely for various government offices, independent agencies, and private businesses, often serving on steering groups for many UK government projects in innovation, IP, internationalisation, and productivity. Her policy reports have contributed to the evidence base used in shaping the UK's industrial policy, including the 2014 BEIS Foresight initiative on the Future of Manufacturing. In 2019, Cher received the prestigious BSI Standards Makers Awards for Education about Standardisation from the British Standards Institution, in recognition of her exceptional teaching and research in standards, innovation, and productivity. Recently, Cher has provided in-depth advice on the evaluation of the following programmes -
Cher's primary areas of research focus on innovation, digital economy, technology standards, intellectual property, and firm performance indicators such as productivity. Consequently, she would welcome PhD applications in these areas.
PhD, Economics, University of Glasgow
Award Date: 15 Jun 2009
MSc, Financial Economics (Distinction), University of Leicester
Award Date: 1 Mar 2005
Expert Peer Review Group (PRG), Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
Innovation Growth Lab (IGL) Research Network Member, NESTA
Interdisciplinary Assessment College (IAC), UKRI
Research Fellow at Nottingham Centre for Research on Globalisation and Economic Policy (GEP), University of Nottingham
Research output: Preprint or Working paper › Working paper
Research output: Unpublished contribution to conference › Unpublished Conference Paper
Research output: Preprint or Working paper › Working paper
Research output: Unpublished contribution to conference › Unpublished Conference Paper
Research output: Unpublished contribution to conference › Unpublished Conference Paper
Li, Cher (Recipient), 2019
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Li, Cher (Recipient), 2018
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Li, Cher (Recipient), 2011
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Nicholas Bloom, Cher Li, Paul Mizen, Rebecca Riley & John Van Reenen
20/09/21
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Other