Doctoral School of Economics and Business Administration, Babeș-Bolyai University
We’re proud to announce that Ștefana Cioban (married Belbe), PhD candidate in Cybernetics and Statistics at the Doctoral School of Economics and Business Administration (FSEGA), Babeș-Bolyai University, participated in the 11th edition of ERMAS – the Annual Scientific Conference of Romanian Academic Economists from Abroad, held between July 30th–August 1st, 2025, in Iași, Romania.
Hosted by “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași, in partnership with the National Bank of Romania and Babeș-Bolyai University, ERMAS 2025 brought together Romanian economists affiliated with prestigious international institutions, including keynote speakers from Oxford, UCLA, McGill, and University of Pennsylvania.
Ștefana presented the paper:
“Does Spatial Clustering and Dispersion Persist? A Study on the Latent Spatial Processes Upon Romania’s Economical Indicators” (co-authored with István Gere and Codruța Mare)
Her research investigates hidden spatial autocorrelation patterns across Romania’s administrative territorial units (ATUs), using advanced spatial statistical techniques. By comparing high-resolution data with aggregated county-level indicators, the study reveals how latent spatial processes can persist even after smoothing dominant clusters.
Ștefana was awarded the Best Paper of the ERMAS PhD Session, a distinction granted annually since 2023 to recognize outstanding doctoral research.