Julian's current interests involve: 

1. business sustainability (financial, social, intellectual, human, manufacturing, and environmental);

2. social capital;

3. value creation.

Julian is keen on supervising research in the field of business sustainability, SMEs, social capital, value creation, entrepreneurship, and strategy with the aim to contribute to the UN sustainable development goals framework. 

Julian has supervised a number of undergraduate theses as well as business plans part of graduation requirements. 

Julian's teaching activity spans across different levels from first year undergraduate (level 4) to master's students (level 7) and also in different subjects such as strategy, entrepreneurship, research methods, and international business. He earned the status of 'Fellow' in the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) in 2019.

His lectures are usually developed with an interactive mindset where theory is examined, then discussion and idea-generation time is given to either contribute, expand and or contradict preset conceptions in the theory. Seminars are mostly student-centered where participants are able to engage in different activities either to watch a video, work on a set of questions based on a case study or group work with more complex tasks where students learn from, with and through others.

Julian's sessions require preparation, self-study, and commitment. It is expected to see motivation and willingness to participate, from students.

Some of my recent publications:

Riano, J. (Accepted for publication) Governance Structures in Cooperative Strategies. In: Soltanifar, M. Encyclopaedia on Cooperative Strategies. Edward Elgar. 

Jones, A., Laing, T., Majik, I., Farache Aureliano Da Silva, F. & Riano, J., (2025) Creating a sustainability toolkit for restaurants. Tourism and Hospitality. 6, 2 , p. 70

Chavarro-Miranda, F., Grautoff-Laverde, M., Riano-Cruz, J.D. (2020) Social Capital, The Lesser-Known Victim of Crime in Bogota – Colombia (Forthcoming).

Pérez-Sánchez, E.O., Chavarro-Miranda, F., Riano-Cruz, J.D. (2020) Challenge-Based Learning: A ‘Entrepreneurship -Oriented’ Teaching Experience. Management in Education. November 2020.

Riano JD, Yakovleva N. (2019) Corporate Social Responsibility. In: Walter Leal Filho, Anabela Marisa Azul, Luciana Brandli, Pinar Gökcin Özuyar, Tony Wall, ed. Responsible Consumption and Production. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Switzerland: Springer, 2019. ISSN: 2523-7403.