Dr Priyantha Mudalige

Biography

Priyantha is a Senior Lecturer in Finance at the Business School of the University of New England. He holds a B.Sc. in Accountancy and Financial Management (Special) degree and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka. He later completed his PhD in Finance at the University of South Australia in Adelaide, where he commenced his academic career during his PhD candidature and gained over eight years of academic experience. He has also worked as a sessional academic at the University of Adelaide and Flinders University. Priyantha holds a Diploma in Financial Planning from Kaplan Professionals and has completed the prestigious Microstructure Course offered by the Financial Research Network (FIRN) and the Business Analytics and Data Visualisation course at RMIT, Melbourne. While at Curtin University, he served as Discipline Lead and Course Coordinator in Finance. He has also contributed to teaching, learning, and research committees at both the school and faculty levels.

With extensive expertise in curriculum design and development, Priyantha has played a key role in creating engaging and future-focused undergraduate and postgraduate programs. His experience includes designing and delivering multimodal courses, incorporating innovative pedagogical approaches, and integrating heutagogical principles, providing self-directed learning experiences. His teaching excellence has been recognised multiple times, earning commendations from the Executive Dean of his faculty. His contributions to curriculum development have also been acknowledged through Teaching and Learning grants to support multimodal teaching resources. Priyantha has been actively involved in program accreditation, including accrediting financial planning programs at the University of South Australia and Curtin University and overseeing the reaccreditation of accounting and finance programs at the University of New England. In addition to finance, he teaches accounting and financial planning courses.

An active researcher, Priyantha collaborates with domestic and international scholars, conducting impactful research in capital market microstructure, corporate finance, and environmental finance. His work has been recognised with best paper awards at prestigious finance conferences, including the Australasian Finance and Banking Conference. He has published in high-ranking finance journals such as Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, International Review of Financial Analysis, Global Finance Journal, and International Journal of Managerial Finance. With a strong background in high-frequency data analysis and programming, he is well-equipped for high-impact research collaborations. Priyantha has successfully guided higher degree research students as a registered principal supervisor, further strengthening his academic and research contributions.

Qualifications

B.Sc. Acc & Fin Mgt (Special), MBA (Sri Lanka), PhD (Adelaide), Dip. FinPlan, Cert. BusAnalytics.

Awards

Teaching Awards:

• 2024 UNE Unit Commendation Award for AFM101 (Introduction to Financial Accounting)
• 2024 UNE Unit Commendation Award for AFM406 (Introductory Accounting)
• 2025 UNE Unit Commendation Award for AFM406 (Introductory Accounting)

Research Awards:

• SIRCA Best Paper Award for 'Mudalige, P, Kalev, PS & Duong, HN, Gupta, K. 2017. Investigation of ‘the impact of timing of the release of firm-specific announcements on trade initiation' at 30th Australasian Finance and Banking Conference (AFBC), Sydney, December 2017.
• CFA Institute Asia Pacific Practical Capital Markets and Behavioral Research Award for 'Mudalige, P, Kalev, PS & Duong, HN, Gupta, K. 2017. 'Individual and institutional informed trading in competing firms around earnings announcements’ at the 6th Behavioural Finance and Capital Markets conference, Adelaide, September 2016.

• The Ian Davey Thesis Prize University of South Australia nominee, 2017.

Teaching Areas

Undergraduate:

• FPL380   Financial Advice Construction and Client Communication Simulation
• AFM104 Fundamentals of Personal Finance
• ECON203 Banking and Finance
• AFM335 International Finance
• AFM101 Introductory Accounting
• AFM406 Financial Accounting
• AFM211 Intermediate Financial Accounting

Postgraduate:

• FPL580 Financial Advice Construction and Client Communication Simulation
• AFM404 Fundamentals of Personal Finance
• ECON405 Banking and Finance

HDR supervision topic areas:

• Green bond issuance and attention
• Stock price behaviour around announcements
• Personality traits and risk tolerance
• Fiscal sustainability
• Supply chain finance
• Carbon emissions and carbon trading
• Carbon pricing and greenwashing
• Financial constraints
• Environmentally friendly practices
• ESP disclosure
• Cost of capital
• Climate change
• Political power and financial markets
• Financial risk and reporting quality
• Co-movement in return and liquidity

Primary Research Area/s

Capital market microstructure; Corporate finance; Environmental finance; Financial planning

Research Interests

Research Interest:

• Capital market microstructure: informed trading, market efficiency, individual and institutional trading, price discovery, liquidity, volatility, insider trading and market manipulation.
• Corporate finance: firm value, financial constraints, gender and board diversity, supply chain finance, fintech.
• Environmental Finance: green bond issuance, investor attention, ESG, carbon emissions, and trading.
• Financial Planning: investor personality traits, risk tolerance, financial literacy, and investor behaviour.

Grants:

• “Enhancing Student Engagement and Performance through Real-Time Feedback and Virtual Accounting Processes”. Jointly with Priyantha Mudalige and Bee Moss. SABL Faculty Teaching and Learning Grant Scheme, 2024, UNE Business School, University of New England.
• “Designing and developing fundamentals of personal finance unit appropriate to offer online block mode teaching.” UNE Business School, University of New England, 2024.
• “The design and delivery of a short course in carbon market operation and cooperative mechanisms under the Paris Agreement.” Jointly with a team from Accounting, Economics and Finance at Curtin University.  The Australia Awards Grant Scheme of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Australia, 2022.

Research Supervision Experience

Publications

Journal Articles:

• Mudalige, P. and Kalev, P. S. 2024. Under the microscope: Trade initiation activities around earnings and takeover announcements in a market with continuous disclosure, Global Finance Journal, vol. 63, 101054. ('A' – ABDC).
• Mudalige, P., Duong, H.N., Kalev, PS &, Gupta, K. 2020. Who Trades in Competing Firms around Earnings Announcements? Pacific-Basin Finance Journal vol. 59, 1-16. ('A' – ABDC).
• Banerjee, R., Gupta, K., Mudalige, P. 2020. Do environmentally sustainable practices lead to financially less constrained firms? International evidence. International Review of Financial Analysis, Article in press, ('A' – ABDC).
• Mudalige, P, Kalev, PS & Duong, HN 2016. Individual and institutional trading volume around firm-specific announcements. International Journal of Managerial Finance vol. 12, no. 4, 422-444. ('A'- ABDC).
• Pham, H., V. Nguyen, V. Ramiah, P. Mudalige, and I. Moosa. 2019. "The Effects of Environmental Regulation on the Singapore Stock Market." Journal of Risk and Financial Management vol. 12, 175.

• Pham, H., Mudalige, P., Ramiah, V., Moos, I., and Nguyen, V. 2024. The Effects of Free Trade Agreements on the Stock Market: Evidence from Vietnam, The Public Library of Sciences One.

Selected conference paper presentations:

• Hung, D, Weizu, S. Chandra, K. and Mudalige, P. 2024. EOD Market manipulation during COVID-19 pandemic, Research Symposium on Finance and Economics (RSFE), June 2023, KREA University, India.
• Girardeau, A.A.J., Durand, R., Mudalige, P. ‘May I have your attention? Investor Behaviour and Climate change’, Financial Markets and Corporate Governance (FMCG) Conference, April 2022, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
• Mudalige, P. Kalev, P.S.,  Duong, H.N. and  Gupta, K. Individual and institutional informed trading in competing firms around earnings announcements, The 8th Conference on Financial Markets and Corporate Governance (FMCG), April 2017, Wellington, New Zealand.
• Mudalige, P. Kalev, P.S.,  Duong, H.N. and  Gupta, K. Individual and institutional informed trading in competing firms around earnings announcements, The 1st INFINITI Conference on International Finance ASIA-PACIFIC, December 2016, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam.
• Mudalige, P. Kalev, P.S.,  Duong, H.N. and  Gupta, K. Individual and institutional informed trading in competing firms around earnings announcements, 5th Financial Planning and Personal Finance Symposium, November 2016, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia.
• Mudalige, P. Kalev, P.S.,  Duong, H.N. and  Gupta, K. Individual and institutional informed trading in competing firms around earnings announcements, 6th Behavioural Finance and Capital Markets conference , September 2016, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia.
• Mudalige, P., Kalev, P.S., Duong, H.N. and Gupta, K. ‘An investigation of the impact of timing of the release of firm-specific announcements on trade initiation, The 31st Asian Finance Association Conference, July 2019, The University of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
• Mudalige, P., Kalev, P.S., Duong, H.N. and Gupta, K. ‘An investigation of the impact of timing of the release of firm-specific announcements on trade initiation, 6th Financial Planning and Personal Finance Symposium, November 2017, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia.
• Banerjee, R., Gupta, K., Mudalige, P.  ‘Do environmentally sustainable practices lead to financially less constrained firms? International evidence, International Conference on Energy Finance (ICEF), April 2018, Institutes of Science and Development, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
• Banerjee, R., Gupta, K., Mudalige, P.  ‘Do environmentally sustainable practices lead to financially less constrained firms? International evidence, Financial development and inclusion workshop, December 2017, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia.
• Mudalige, P., Kalev, P.S.,  and Duong, H.N. ‘Individual and institutional trading volume around firm-specific announcements, 30th Spring International of the French Finance Association Conference,  May 2013, Emlyon Business School, France.
• Mudalige, P., Kalev, P.S.,  and Duong, H.N. ‘Individual and institutional trading volume around firm-specific announcements, 11th INFINITI International Conference, June 2013, SciencesPo Aix, Aix-en-Provence, France.
• Mudalige, P., Kalev, P.S.,  and Duong, H.N. ‘Individual and institutional trading volume around firm-specific announcements, 26th Australasian Finance and Banking Conference (AFBC), June 2013, UNSW, Sydney, Australia.
• Mudalige, P., Kalev, P.S.,  and Duong, H.N. ‘Individual and institutional trading volume around firm-specific announcements, 3rd Behavioural Finance and Capital Markets conference, August 2013, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia.

Journal Reviewer:

• Journal of Economic Survey-ABDC ranked A
• International Review of Financial Analysis- ABDC ranked A
• Financial Planning Research Journal
• Quality and Quantity

Memberships

• Member of the Microstructure Exchange
• Financial Advice Association Australia- FAAA
• Member of the Financial Planning Academic Forum of Australia- FPAF
• Associate Professional Member of the Financial Planning Association of Australia- FPA
• Member- Financial Research Network-FIRN

External Profiles

• Google Scholar Profile
• ORCid Profile
• LinkedIn Profile

Further Information

External Thesis Examination:

• “A Market Microstructure Theory of Relativity: Towards A Theory of Everything for Financial Markets”-Macquarie University, NSW, 2020.
• “MiFID II: Impacts on Market Quality, Fragmentation, and Price Discovery”, Macquarie University, NSW, 2021.