Dr. Daromir Rudnyckyj (Co-Project Director) is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Victoria. He is a globally-recognized leader in the comparative study of money, finance, and economic behavior. He has 21 years of experience in conducting ethnographic and archival research on these topics in Indonesia, Malaysia, and British Columbia. He also has 15 years of experience in the training and mentoring of undergraduate and postgraduate students, a total of over 20 students. As co-PD, he will co-chair the Project Management Team responsible for the planning, implementation, and management of our work. In addition, he will conduct ethnographic fieldwork on local and alternative currencies in the Comox valley. He will also play a primary role in the teaching and mentoring of postgraduate and undergraduate students at the University of Victoria.
Dr. Chris Vasantkumar (Co-Project Director) is a Lecturer in Anthropology at Macquarie University. He is an internationally-recognized economic anthropologist with particular expertise in the anthropology of cash and cashlessness and the history of money. Since 2002 has conducted ethnographic research in China, India, and Zimbabwe. He is an award-winning teacher with 17 years of experience in training and mentoring. He also has extensive experience in supervising student independent work at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. As co-PD, he will co-chair the Project Management Team responsible for the planning, implementation, and management of our work. He will conduct ethnographic fieldwork on emergent forms of mobile money in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. He will also play the lead role in the teaching and mentoring of the PDG-supported postgraduate student at Macquarie.
Dr. Eve Vincent (Collaborator—Researcher, Teacher and Mentor) is a Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at Macquarie University. She is a well-known authority on the politics of Indigeneity in contemporary Australia and has published widely in both popular and scholarly venues. Her current research is focused on the social impacts of the Australian government’s proposed cashless welfare card on marginalized communities. She has extensive experience in conducting research in regional and remote Australian communities as well as in the training and mentoring of postgraduate students. She will conduct research on the trial implementation of the cashless welfare card in regional Queensland and play a supporting role in the in the teaching and mentoring of the PDG-supported postgraduate student at Macquarie. Additionally, she will participate in the research committee that will oversee the progress and outcomes of research undertaken over the course of the grant.
Dr. Horacio Ortiz (Collaborator—Teacher and Mentor, Expert Advisor) is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at East China Normal University in Shanghai and a Research Associate at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). He is a leading global expert in the anthropology of money and finance and has published widely on these topics in English, French, and Spanish. His current research project explores theories of money to analyse digital payment systems, financial institutions, and related social practices using big data in China. He will serve as an expert advisor to the project, participating in online knowledge exchanges and the Capstone Workshop as well as mentoring the UVic PhD student conducting research on state cryptocurrency in China.
Dr. Elizabeth Ferry (Collaborator—Expert Advisor) is a Professor of Anthropology at Brandeis University. She is an economic anthropologist with particular expertise in the anthropology of precious metals. Her research interests include value, materiality, mining, and finance. She has conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Mexico, Colombia, the United States, as well as with the leaders of central banks. She will serve as an expert advisor to the project.
Dr. Emily Gilbert (Collaborator—Expert Advisor) is a Professor of Canadian Studies and Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto. She is a Cultural Geographer with extensive research experience and wide publication on the social, cultural and political dimensions of money and general theories of money and exchange. She is also a globally-recognized expert on the politics of currency arrangements, in particular, the formation of national and regional currencies. She will serve as an expert advisor to the project.
Dr. Bill Maurer (Collaborator—Expert Advisor) is Dean of the School of Sciences and and Director of the Institute for Money, Technology, and Financial Inclusion at the University of California, Irvine, where he is also a Professor of Anthropology; Criminology, Law and Society; and Law. He is one of the pre-eminent economic anthropologists globally and has extensive experience in ethnographic field research, training and mentoring, as well as in consulting and collaborating with industry and non-profit stakeholders. He has research interests in new forms of payment and in the social significance of local, alternative, and crypto-currencies. He will serve as an expert advisor to the project.
Dr. Gustav Peebles (Collaborator—Expert Advisor) is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the New School for Social Research. He is an expert on the emergence of the Euro and post-national monetary forms. He has conducted extensive field research in Scandinavia and the European Union and has published widely on the history of monetary policy and banking, as well as on jurisdictional battles over credit and debt morality and regulation. His current research interests include cashlessness in contemporary Sweden and the relationship between currency and empire. He will serve as an expert advisor to the project.
Dr. Noam Yuran (Collaborator—Expert Advisor) is a Senior Lecturer in the Graduate Program in Science, Technology & Society at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv, Israel. He is an internationally-recognized expert in the history and philosophy of economic thought, the history of capitalism and media theory. His work focuses on the history of economic thought as a way to explore alternative conceptualizations of the relations between economy and society. His current research focuses on the unique forms of desire and eroticism embedded in money and commodities. He will serve as an expert advisor to the project.