Research profile

Kristian Nielsen is Associate Professor at Aalborg University Business School and is also currently serving as Head of the Study Board with responsibility for the bachelor’s programme in Economics and Business Administration and eight master’s programmes: International Business; Marketing and Sales; Finance; Business Data Science; Management of Technology, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation; Management Accounting; Organisation, Strategy and Leadership; and Accounting.  

His research explores the relationship between founder characteristics – with special focus on human capital measures - and successful new venture formation and performance in different environments based on comprehensive longitudinal register data. He has published in leading journals (AJG level 4 and 3) such as Regional Studies, Academy of Management Discoveries, Industrial and Corporate Change, Small Business Economics and Journal of Technology Transfer.

Kristian teaches microeconomics, including entrepreneurship and economic evaluation, at the full-time study programmes at Aalborg University Business School as well in the executive MBA and HD programmes. He has co-authored book chapters on applied economic evaluations – including productivity analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis and cost-benefit analysis – which is used in different master’s programmes at Aalborg University, ranging from Economics, Criminology, Sociology and Political Science.

He was awarded Teacher of the Year by the students within Economics and Business Administration in 2017 and 2021 and received Aalborg University Business School Teaching Distinction in the Autumn 2020. In 2009, Kristian received the Tuborg Foundation’s Economics and Business Administration Award, which was used on a vising scholarship at Darden School of Business (University of Virginia). In 2014, he participated in the first edition of the ECUI Masterclass on Entrepreneurial Teaching and Learning for outstanding educators in the Netherlands.

Kristian has participated in evaluations of entrepreneurship policy initiatives for external stakeholders, including the local municipality and region, and he is an active part of the management of the Danish Centre for Entrepreneurship Research (DCER) and a member of the Danish Research Unit for Industrial Dynamics (DRUID).