Chiara Pia D’Ambrosio: From Business Finance to Climate Resilience
- Miguel Virgen, PhD Student in Business
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
Chiara Pia D’Ambrosio is a doctoral researcher who brings together rigorous business training and a passion for environmental sustainability. She earned a BSc in Finance and an MSc in Accounting, Financial Management and Control from Bocconi University in Milan, graduating top of her class (london.edu). Her master’s thesis explored “Gender Differences in Communication… S&P 500 Earnings Conference Calls,” reflecting her analytical focus (assets.london.edu). In September 2022 D’Ambrosio began a PhD in Strategy & Entrepreneurship at London Business School (LBS) (assets.london.edu), where she is now developing research that bridges corporate strategy with climate and sustainability challenges. These credentials establish her as a scholar with deep expertise in business finance and governance, setting the stage for her contributions to climate-related policy and collaboration.
International Education and Collaboration
D’Ambrosio’s education is marked by international exposure. She participated in exchange programs at the Rotterdam School of Management (Netherlands) and Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business (USA) (assets.london.edu). This global experience broadened her perspective, allowing her to collaborate with peers and professors from diverse backgrounds. Such international collaboration is also reflected in her research network: working in Milan, London and beyond, she partners with colleagues at institutions like SDA Bocconi (Milan) and Imperial College London. Her exposure to different business and academic cultures informs her approach to environmental issues, underscoring the importance of cross-border perspectives in climate policy.
Research Assistantships and Industry Roles
Before entering the PhD program, D’Ambrosio built solid professional experience in both academia and industry. From 2020 to 2022, she served as a Research Assistant at SDA Bocconi School of Management (assets.london.edu), contributing to studies on corporate governance and sustainability. In this role she worked under the Corporate Governance Lab, where she co-authored reports on how governance structures affect firm performance in crises (unibocconi.itunibocconi.it). In the corporate sector, D’Ambrosio held controller roles at Luxottica Group (2018–2020) (assets.london.edu), gaining practical finance experience at the global eyewear company. She also had an early internship at PwC (2018) in financial audit (assets.london.edu). These positions gave her a front-line view of business operations, informing her later analysis of how companies manage risk – including climate risk – in their strategies.
Focusing on Climate Risk in Corporate Governance
D’Ambrosio’s most notable contributions lie at the intersection of governance and environmental risk. She was a co-author of an influential report by SDA Bocconi’s Corporate Governance Lab, which analyzed 5,398 Italian companies over 2018–2020. That report – produced with partners such as PwC TLS and Banca General examined how corporate governance strength impacted firms during the pandemic and in international operations. Crucially, the analysis included climate risk as one of three key “risk categories” (alongside political and credit risk) in measuring firm resilience. The team found that companies with stronger governance were better at assessing and mitigating climate-related uncertainties. This work, which D’Ambrosio helped produce, is often cited to show that good corporate governance can lessen a firm’s exposure to climate shocks and related regulatory pressures.
Communities grappling with climate extremes – such as flooding – highlight the real-world stakes of D’Ambrosio’s research. She examines how robust business strategies can reduce vulnerability to events like these. For example, her co-authored study showed that firms with higher governance scores had a far lower likelihood of heavy exposure in risky environments, including those defined by climate instability. In practical terms, this means her work helps explain why some companies survive severe weather disruptions better than others. By analyzing corporate actions (like separation of CEO/Chair roles and board diversity) in the context of climate risk, D’Ambrosio contributes to both climate science (understanding impacts) and policy (guiding corporate response).
Teaching, Publications, and Industry Projects
While focused on her PhD, D’Ambrosio has also gained teaching experience and published her ideas in conferences. She has served as a teaching assistant at Bocconi on subjects from entrepreneurship to corporate governance, training future business leaders in sustainable management. As a doctoral student, she presented papers at academic gatherings: for example, she authored “Temporal Framing and Audience Responses Under Uncertainty,” which was scheduled at the 2025 Academy of Management conference. Though not specifically about climate, this research indicates her interest in how firms communicate under uncertain conditions – a skill relevant to explaining climate strategy.
In terms of publications and partnerships, the Bocconi report is her most notable work to date. It was disseminated through SDA Bocconi and cited in news releases (e.g. Andrea Costa’s article). Collaborators included academics and industry experts (PwC, Nuovo Institutional Investors). Through these partnerships, D’Ambrosio has engaged with regulators and practitioners, effectively bridging academic insight and policy needs. Her work feeds into discussions on environmental policy by providing evidence-based recommendations: for instance, regulators might use these findings when considering rules on climate risk disclosure, knowing that some firms already.
Bridging Climate Policy and Business Strategy
Chiara Pia D’Ambrosio’s career exemplifies how business scholars can advance climate policy and science. By applying financial and strategic analysis to environmental issues, she helps translate climate challenges into the language of boards and investors. Her academic profile is unique: while she is trained in finance, her ongoing research addresses sustainability. For example, the corporate governance study she co-authored explicitly notes climate impact, and she emphasizes international collaboration (studying and working in Italy, the UK, Netherlands and USA to tackle global problems. In presentations and events (such as the Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Research Day at Imperial Collegel, she brings together students and faculty from around the world to share findings on such grand challenges.
D’Ambrosio’s fieldwork and projects – though mostly data-driven – align with on-the-ground environmental action. She recognizes that real solutions require both corporate leadership and community engagement. Efforts like local clean-up drives and youth climate workshops (pictured) are reminders of the grassroots dimension of sustainability. In her writing and teaching, D’Ambrosio advocates policies that encourage businesses to be the change While still early in her academic career, she is clearly carving out a niche as an “environmental researcher” who emphasizes international collaboration and robust climate policy in the corporate world.
In sum, Chiara Pia D’Ambrosio’s profile combines high academic achievement with practical experience and a dedication to climate resilience. She exemplifies the modern scholar-activist. Her work reminds us that understanding and planning for climate change is not just a scientific or technical task, but also a strategic and policy-driven endeavor – one that she continues to advance through research and collaboration.
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Keywords:
Chiara Pia D’Ambrosio climate science, environmental researcher international collaboration, climate policy academic profile.
