Teacher: Lurion de Mello (pictured) is a senior lecturer in finance, course director of the Bachelor of Applied Finance and Bachelor Commerce (Finance), in the Department of Applied Finance and co-chair of the Australasian Commodity Markets Conference.
Groundwork: Lurion has a Bachelor of Commerce, Economics and Marketing from Curtin University, a Masters in Finance from Edith Cowan University and a PhD in Economics from Macquarie University.
Gold stars: Lurion won the MQBS 2020 Learning and Teaching Award and was a finalist for the Macquarie University Vice Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Award in the highly competitive Educational Leader category, also in 2020. In recent years he has convened Capstone units for the Master of Banking and Finance Degree and facilitated students on an international study tour to Malaysia.
How Lurion’s students describe him: Hard-working, generous, hands-on, helpful and approachable.
What Lurion says:
I started off teaching economics then accidentally switched to finance. One of the lecturers was sick and I was asked to do a lecture for about 300 students. I was only 23 at the time. I literally had three days to prepare, but I really enjoyed it. And that got me interested in pursuing finance, so I ended up doing a Master's Degree in Finance.
My goal is to always put students first. I'm always on the lookout for any opportunities, like internships, or any career-focused opportunities that come up. I try to equip my students with skills that are highly relevant to the industry, particularly getting to know all the financial databases and how to use them. It’s important to expose students to practical case studies to enhance their employability and showcase that demonstrable experience.
I try to use real-world data in my teaching as much as possible. When I taught a unit about the stock market I'd actually open the stock market trading app on my phone. I would go through the whole process of what a trading platform looks like – the mechanics of it and how it’s structured, and some of the procedures used to buy and sell shares and execute the orders.
I try to equip my students with skills that are highly relevant to the industry,
particularly getting to know all the financial databases and how to use them.
The best part of teaching is seeing students grasp a complex concept. I get great satisfaction when I try to explain a complex concept in a very simple way. And then students just have that expression on their face. And they say, 'Wow, I get it. I know exactly what you're talking about.'
It’s really important for students to be well-rounded. I tell them while they might graduate with a finance degree, they’re going to end up working in an industry. So they need to have good industry knowledge. Employers are not just looking for good grades but whether you do work in the community, have leadership skills, and have been involved in mentoring and student clubs. This is what gives you an edge over others.
During COVID-19 I wanted to engage with students for their mental wellbeing. I hosted regular ‘Ask me anything’ Zoom sessions to get students to interact with staff at a very casual social level while still making it academic and practical. I just thought ‘I’ll give it a go’ and one session turned into around 10 sessions. It brought my colleagues together as well. We talked about everything from cryptocurrencies to sustainability, to climate change and energy security – a whole range of topics.
How would I like students to view me? I want students to see me as someone who is approachable and always willing to help.
Who is the perfect student? The perfect student is someone who asks a lot of questions and is vocal and engaging. And students who go from that initial stage where they might have been shy or not too certain about their views, and watching them grow. I’ve had students who uttered zero words in the first class and went on to become public speakers. The perfect student would be someone who has tried extremely hard to become a better communicator.
