An expert in entrepreneurship from the Business School has been named among the world’s top 40 academics under the age of 40.

Dr Harveen Chugh, a Senior Teaching Fellow in Entrepreneurship at Imperial College Business School was recognised for her outstanding teaching by Poets & Quants, a leading US based title that covers news about the latest developments in the world of business education.

The “Top 40 Under 40” which is published annually, is a list of the world’s best MBA professors under the age of 40 from business schools around the world, as nominated by students, faculty and alumni. The nominations must include concrete examples of why an academic should be nominated based on the strength of their teaching. The final selection is based solely on recommendations from the nominee’s institution.

This year’s list was chosen from over 2,000 nominations for 200 business school professors from across the world.

Dr Chugh, who was nominated by Imperial staff, students and alumni, is an Imperial graduate with 16 years’ experience in the field of entrepreneurship as an academic, consultant and entrepreneur. She completed her PhD in Entrepreneurship at the Business School in 2007 before returning in 2017 as a Senior Teaching Fellow. She currently teaches entrepreneurship modules to MBA, Masters and undergraduate students and supports early stage start-ups.

She introduced the Imperial Business Pitch competition, where MBA students pitch their business ideas in a bid to win a prize of £5,000 and also leads the Idea Marketplace, an interdisciplinary initiative connecting MBA students with students from the College and the Royal College of Art to develop new business ideas. She also teaches entrepreneurship and strategy to engineers and scientists both face-to-face and online and received an Engineers in Business Fellowship grant to empower engineering students to become industry leaders.

Beyond her work at the Business School, Dr Chugh has also been a Coach with Oxentia on the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Leadership in Innovation Fellows programme for the last 3 years, working with Fellows from South Africa, the Philippines, Turkey, Brazil and Colombia.

Aside from her teaching duties, she also supports students with pastoral care as a Senior Tutor.

"Harveen is a passionate teacher, coach and mentor and greatly inspires her students to succeed in their entrepreneurial ambitions." Professor Francisco Veloso Dean of Imperial College Business School

Reacting to the news, Dr Chugh said: “I’m honoured to receive this recognition for my work by Poets & Quants and would like to thank all my incredible students, colleagues and alumni from across the Business School and wider College who nominated me for this opportunity. I hope this achievement will highlight the great work we’re doing at Imperial to support students on their entrepreneurship journey and to help them turn their start-up dreams into reality. I’ve greatly enjoyed being part of my students’ learning experience and helping them achieve their career goals.”

Professor Francisco Veloso, Dean of Imperial College Business School said: “Congratulations to Harveen for this incredible achievement. Harveen is a passionate teacher, coach and mentor and greatly inspires her students to succeed in their entrepreneurial ambitions. She makes a valuable contribution to our teaching on entrepreneurship and to the life of the School.”

The is the second year Imperial College Business School has been included in the Poets & Quants’ “Top 40 Under 40” following last year’s success with Dr Ileana Stigliani and Dr Paolo Taticchi, who were the first Business School academics to be profiled in the list.

You can read the full Poets & Quants article, including an in-depth interview with Dr Harveen Chugh.