Juan Camilo Giraldo Mora

Juan Camilo Giraldo Mora is a Scholar of information systems who is appointed as assistant professor (lecturer) of financial technology and digital transformation at Alliance Manchester Business School—The University of Manchester. He carried out his academic training in information systems at The London School of Economics and Political Science (postdoctoral fellowship and MSc), and at Copenhagen Business School (PhD). Before his career in academia, he led financial and infrastructural developments as part of the executive team in a global payment innovation initiative related to a large money transfer company and bank. 

Thus, for over a decade, Juan Camilo has worked in and studied the development of global financial technology and infrastructures, addressing how they relate to and drive implications for organisations, societies, and environments around the world. His most detailed study reviews the digitalisation of global payment infrastructure, dating back to correspondents in the 1200s. Since 2013, he has also studied distributed ledger technology, engaging with international associations, such as SWIFT, IAMTN, and DLT Science Foundation, as well as FinTech companies and Central Banks across Europe, the United Kingdom, and Latin America.  

In his research, Juan Camilo is particularly interested in reconceptualising technology—how it is and what it does—to account for its participation in sustainable development. He draws inspiration from continental philosophy and Latin American thinkers, but performs phenomenon-focused qualitative research. His analyses tend to complement situated approaches (e.g., observations) with longitudinal ones (e.g., historical documentation and narrative interviews). Following this background, he currently advances three research projects:

1. The Digitalisation of Global Payment Infrastructure: This project continues ongoing empirical and theoretical work that reinterprets the digitalisation of infrastructure and its associated change.
2. Digital Finance & the Development of Countries: This is an early-stage project aiming to shed light on how digital finance relates to socioeconomic development and the digital sovereignty of countries.
3. The role of Technology in Sustainability Challenges: This long-term project continues ongoing theoretical work that strives to reconceptualise technology’s instrumentality—temporally and ecologically—to account for its role in issues related to sustainability.

His PhD monograph—Giraldo Mora (2023)—titled “It is Along Ways: Global Payment Infrastructure in Movement” best exemplifies Juan Camilo’s research.