Dr Marta Fernandez De Arroyabe Arranz

Marta F. Arroyabe is the Deputy Director of the Institute for Analytics and Data Science (IADS) and a Reader at Essex Business School. She is a Senior Fellow at the Research Institute for Sociotechnical Cyber Security (RISCS). She also serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies and the Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, and on the Editorial Board of R&D Management. Marta is also a member of the Bank of England and HM Treasury’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Academic Advisory Group and a former member of the Eastern Cyber Resilience Centre’s Advisory Group, where she advises on issues around the digitalisation and cybersecurity of UK small and medium enterprises (SMEs). She additionally acts as an Academic Mentor for HMRC’s Open Innovation Policy Fellowship and regularly contributes to policy discussions and expert roundtables with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). Previously, she held the Deputy Head, Undergraduate Programme Director and Q-Step Lead positions at the Strategy, Operations and Entrepreneurship (SOE) Group.

Marta’s research examines the intersection of cybersecurity, digital transformation, innovation, and strategic decision-making in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Her work explores how organisations adopt digital technologies, manage cyber risks, and build resilience in the face of technological and organisational change. Positioned at the crossroads of business organisation and sociotechnical cybersecurity, her research investigates cybersecurity not simply as a technical issue, but as a strategic and managerial challenge shaped by organisational capabilities, institutional pressures, and decision-making processes.

Her research journey began in innovation and strategy and progressively evolved towards digital transformation and cybersecurity as organisational challenges for SMEs. Through this work, she has developed an interdisciplinary research agenda connecting entrepreneurship, innovation, AI adoption, Industry 4.0, cybersecurity resilience, and sustainability transitions. She also studies eco-innovation and circular economy strategies, examining how firms integrate sustainability and digital transformation to improve organisational and societal outcomes.

Her work combines empirical research with strong policy and industry engagement. She has developed applied research projects and practical tools to support SME cybersecurity resilience, including CyberSecurityAId, an AI-powered cybersecurity self-assessment tool for small businesses, and CyberQuest, a simulation-based learning tool designed to improve cybersecurity awareness and decision-making capabilities. Her research has informed UK policy debates and parliamentary inquiries on cybersecurity, AI, and SME resilience. She works closely with industry, policymakers, and public-sector organisations through collaborative research, innovation initiatives, and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) focused on cybersecurity resilience and digital transformation in SMEs.

She has published around 40 peer-reviewed journal articles in leading international journals including Strategy Science, British Journal of Management, Journal of Business Research, R&D Management, Technovation, Business Strategy and the Environment, Public Management Review, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Computers & Security, Technology in Society, Journal of Computer Information Systems, and Journal of Environmental Management. Her publications have received international recognition, including a Most Downloaded Paper award in 2025 for her work on AI adoption in European SMEs. Her research has also been published as written evidence by the UK Parliament.

Marta has successfully attracted over £1.1 million as Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator in externally funded research and innovation projects, with funding from Innovate UK, UKRI, the

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Leverhulme Trust, the British Academy, DSIT, the British Council, and the Society for the Advancement of Management Studies. She has also been Co-Investigator in a €4.7 million European Commission project. Her recent projects focus on AI adoption, cybersecurity resilience, digital transformation, and circular economy innovation in SMEs. She has participated in the Cyber Security Academic Startup Accelerator Programme (Innovate UK), supporting the translation of research on SME cybersecurity into commercially oriented and impact-driven innovation initiatives.

Marta is a permanent member of the scientific committee of the International Conference on University, Enterprise, and Society (UES) and an extramural research fellow at the University of Luxembourg. She is an EUREKA expert and a reviewer for the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). She has also served as reviewer for the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland and as a member of the Peer Review College of the British Academy of Management. Marta is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), a Certified Management & Business Educator (CMBE), and an external examiner at the University of Glasgow. As Deputy Director of IADS, she plays a strategic role in fostering interdisciplinary collaboration across STEM, social sciences, and humanities, and co-leads initiatives focused on AI, cybersecurity, and data science.

Marta has received the EBS Teaching Leadership Award in 2022, the Best Reviewer Award at Industry and Innovation in 2022, and has been nominated for the Outstanding Early Career Researcher Award for three consecutive years at the University of Essex. She has also received the Best Developmental Paper Award at the 2023 British Academy of Management Conference (HRM Track).

Marta is currently a visiting researcher at Copenhagen Business School (Denmark) and the University of Luxembourg (Luxembourg).