Lerong (Lara) is a PhD candidate, Teaching Associate, and Research Associate in the Department of Accounting at Monash University. She holds a Master of Commerce in Finance from the University of Auckland, a Master of Commerce in Accounting and Finance from the University of Sydney, and a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance and Management from the University of Auckland. Her current research uses textual analysis to study firms’ earnings conference calls, with a particular focus on understanding labor frictions and their implications for corporate financial decision-making.

Her research interests center on corporate governance, labor finance, angel investing behavior, and the state-of-the-art use of artificial intelligence in financial settings. She is an ad hoc reviewer for Economic Modelling and has served in several student representative roles for the PhD community.