oikos Young Scholars Finance Academy 2017
in collaboration with the University of Zurich’s Department of Banking and Finance
September 4-6, 2017, Zurich, Switzerland
oikos and the Department of Banking and Finance at the University of Zurich will convene the 7th oikos Young Scholars Finance Academy from September 4-6, 2017, in Zurich, Switzerland.
The academy provides an intensive experience of learning and academic exchange on research topics around finance and sustainability. Participants will benefit from presenting and discussing their work with leading academics who will provide structured feedback and advice. The event will also include workshops by faculty members on the most recent developments of sustainable finance research, social activities as well as a roundtable with practitioners in the field.
Participants and Topics
The academy welcomes the submission of working papers addressing topics related to sustainability and finance. To allow for in-depth discussions, places are limited to 15 PhD and post-doctoral researchers from universities worldwide.
The submission of studies adopting multidisciplinary approaches is strongly encouraged. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Behavioural barriers and solutions for the development of sustainable financial markets
- Speculation and systemic risks
- Ethics and business culture in finance
- Environmental finance
- The relevance of Corporate Social Responsibility and environmental, social and governance issues in banking
- Finance and inequality: causes and remedies
- The role of private wealth in sustainable investing
- Impact investing, microfinance and green bonds
- Environmental and social accounting
Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions you might have at finance@oikos-international.org.
The faculty members of the oikos Finance Academy 2017 are:
Prof. Timo Busch, University of Hamburg
Timo Busch is Professor at the School of Business, Economics and Social Science at the University of Hamburg. He teaches courses on corporate sustainability, business strategy & the environment, and sustainable finance. His research interests include corporate strategies towards a low-carbon economy, corporate eco-efficiency, and the business case for corporate environmental sustainability.
Prof. Fabrizio Ferraro, IESE Business School
Fabrizio Ferraro is Professor of Strategic Management at IESE Business School. He holds a PhD in Management from Stanford University. His current research explores the emergence of responsible investing in the financial sector, aiming to understand the dynamics of different investment practices and the organisational implications of this shift for asset owners and asset managers.
Prof. Sébastien Pouget, Toulouse School of Economics
Sebastien Pouget is Professor of Finance at the University of Toulouse Capitole and member of the Toulouse School of Economics and IDEI. Professor Pouget studies financial markets with a multidisciplinary approach combining insights from economics, psychology and history. He is co-director of the research center on Sustainable Finance and Responsible Investment, “chaire FDIR”.
The selected participants to the 2017 edition are:
Ambrogio Dalò is currently working as teaching assistant at the Department of Economics and Finance, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. Ambrogio obtained a M.Sc in Quantitative Finance and a Ph.D. at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. During the PhD program, Ambrogio spent eight months as a visiting doctoral student at University of Groningen. His main research interests are focused on responsible investments, asset pricing and financial econometrics. The title of his PhD thesis is “Corporate Social Responsibility in Financial Markets” and it is divided into three chapters. The first chapter is already published in the Journal of Applied Economics. The second chapter is under review in the Journal of Financial Stability. For the third chapter, he has recently won the Best Paper Award at the Green Summit – Sustainability Forum held by the University of Liechtenstein.
Arjan Trinks is a PhD candidate in Sustainable Finance at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. As part of his PhD, he spent four months as a visiting scholar at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. He holds a MSc Finance (cum laude) and a MA Philosophy (cum laude) from the University of Groningen, focusing on the financial and ethical aspects of responsible investing. His main research interests are (environmentally) responsible investing, energy finance, and business ethics. His PhD research looks at how climate change is accounted for in financial markets, whether climate risks are priced, and how climate policy design affects investments in the energy industry. Besides his research, he is involved in organizing student activities within IAEE and BAEE.
Florian Egli is a Ph.D. candidate in the Energy Politics Group at ETH Zurich. As part of the EU Horizon2020 project Innopaths, he is investigating investment decisions into new technologies and renewable energy with a particular focus on financing conditions and de-risking. In 2015/16, Florian was a Mercator Fellow on International Affairs. He has worked for think tanks, governments (Switzerland and Senegal), a Silicon Valley start up and a foundation – all in the area of finance, climate change and access to energy. Florian has also worked and published with the OECD in Paris and Ecoplan AG in Bern and he is the vice president of foraus – the Swiss Foreign Policy Think Tank. Florian holds a Master’s degree in International Economics from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Bern. Since the start of his studies, he is a scholar of the Swiss Study Foundation for academic excellence.
Helen Toxopeus is a Ph.D. candidate at the Impact Centre Erasmus at Erasmus University Rotterdam and a postdoc at the Sustainable Finance Lab (Utrecht University). She holds a Master degree in International Economics and Business from the University of Groningen. Previously she worked at ABN AMRO as a strategy analyst and as an innovation manager. Her PPh.D.focuses on how to finance sustainable innovation, in particular through banks and crowdfunding. In her postdoc position she studies finance and business models for nature-based innovation in cities (as part of the European project NATURVATION). She has two children aged 3 and 5 and lives in Amsterdam. She likes to do sports and walk outside in the green.
Kwame Ohene Djan holds an M.Sc. degree in International Management from the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway. Besides, he holds a B.Sc. Accounting degree from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana. Currently, Kwame is in his second year on the Ph.D. International Management programme at the University of Agder, Norway. His research interest is in Corporate governance, ownership and the performance of microfinance institutions. Kwame’s current research papers have so far focused on how different ownership characteristics among microfinance organizations translates into differences in governance design and its ultimate influence on firm performance.
Maximilian Schnippering is a research assistant and Ph.D. student at the School of Business, Economics and Social Science of the University of Hamburg. In addition, he is employed at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, where he is engaged in analyzing the social and environmental impacts of suppliers during the life cycle of a wind turbine.
He holds a Bachelor in Business Administration from the Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University and a Master’s Degree in International Business and Sustainability from the University of Hamburg. Prior to his current occupation, he worked for the Siemens AG in different divisions and gained further international experience while studying and working in China, Ireland and Spain.
Nora Pankratz is a Ph.D. Candidate in Finance at Maastricht University School of Business and Economics. She holds a Master degree in International Business from Maastricht University, graduating as part of the first generation of students specializing in Sustainable Finance, as well as a Bachelor degree in Business Administration from Mannheim University. Her research focuses on corporate governance and responsible investing. Next to her research, she is teaching the courses “Institutional Investors” as well as “Ethics, Organisations and Society”.
Patrick Jahnke is a part-time Ph.D. researcher at the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Edinburgh and works full time as a mutual fund manager at Deka Investment in Frankfurt. Patrick holds a joint-Masters degree in Politics and Economics from the University of Edinburgh and completed the Advanced Studies Programme in International Economic Policy Research at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. His research interests lie on the boundary of politics and finance, particularly the effects the Financialisation of capital markets is having on the corporate to investor dialogue. The focus of his Ph.D. is the proxy voting process of institutional investors and the role proxy advisors play within the decision-making process.
Pietro Guarnieri is a Ph.D. Candidate at the Ph.D. Programme in Economics of the Universities of Tuscany (Siena, Pisa, Florence), Italy. He holds a bachelor and a master degree in philosophy. His research interests include behavioral and institutional economics, economics philosophy, and experimental economics. His Ph.D. thesis focuses on the epistemology of morality, with the purpose to highlight the role played by normative deliberation in economic decisions. From this perspective, the thesis discusses epistemic and psychological conditions of social preferences and norms, of rule-following behaviors, and of risk-taking decisions.
Posi Olatubosun is a fellow member of the ACCA, and a PhD researcher in UK Shareholder Activism at the Sheffield University Management School under the supervision of Professor Jill Atkins. His main aim is the investigation of the role of UK Shareholders Associations and Proxy Agencies and Proxy Solicitors in deepening ESG shareholder engagement in the UK. He has published various working papers on the Investigation of Institutional Investor Activism in the UK. He has previously worked in accounting practice, stockbroking, and investment banking, prior to taking up his lecturing role at Henley Business School, University of Reading. His other research interests include: responsible investment, forensic accounting, and integrated reporting.
Sara Stühlinger is a Ph.D. candidate at the Center for Philanthropy Studies (CEPS) at the University of Basel. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business and economics and a master’s degree in sustainable development. Her research interests include nonprofit finance and investments. Her research focus lies on nonprofit organizations as investors and investees. For one research project, she explores how nonprofit organizations can contribute to the evolvement of social impact investing. Besides her research, she is involved in teaching, consulting and executive education on nonprofit management. In addition to her work at the University, she volunteers in three boards of associations which promote more sustainable food systems. In her spare time, she gardens and plays field hockey.
Stephen Zamore is a Ph.D. candidate in International Management at the School of Business and Law, University of Agder (UiA), Norway. His Ph.D. dissertation focuses on the sustainability of microfinance institutions. Specifically, his research interests lie in credit risk management and efficiency in microfinance. He is currently a visiting scholar in Ghana where he is a part-time lecturer at the University for Development Studies where he previously worked prior to his enrollment in the Ph.D. programme. His visit includes the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology where he got his Bachelor’s degree in Accounting. He holds a master’s degree in International Management from UiA. Professionally, he is a qualified Chartered Accountant, from the Institute Chartered Accountants, Ghana.
Tariq Almontaser is a Ph.D. student in Department of Business Informatics and Accounting in Henley Business School at the University of Reading, UK. He holds a Master degree in Accounting from Libyan Academy of Higher Studies – Tripoli, Libya. His research interest is on Fraud Detection, Tax evasion (reasoning, verification), Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development Goals. Currently, he is working on the Ph.D. thesis entitled “The Impact of Management Reconstructions on Online Corporate Social Responsibility by Libyan Oil Companies in the Wake of the Arab Spring”. He is working currently in two papers; one of them is in collaboration with Head of BISA in Henley Business School (Professor Keiichi Nakata as co-author). He works as financial advisor, taxation expert and senior auditor in “Almontaser Office”. He has a CPA membership in Libya, and regional tax advisor at Corp Tax Alliance based in Netherlands.
Trude Myklebust is a Ph.D. candidate at the Law Faculty of Oslo University, Department of Private Law. She holds a Master of Law from Oslo University and is licensed as a Norwegian Lawyer. She holds an MSc (Res) from Oxford University, with a dissertation focusing on stock exchanges and sustainable financial markets. She has worked for several years in the Norwegian Ministry of Finance, first on financial market regulation and thereafter with the management of the Norwegian Government Pension Fund, especially the Fund’s strategies for responsible investment. She is currently a member of the Fund’s Council on Ethics which is tasked with monitoring whether the Fund’s investment is in line with its Ethical Guidelines. Her Ph.D. work focuses on the regulation of high-frequency trading, especially in terms of impact on market quality. She is has written a textbook on Norwegian financial market regulation, teaches on the subject and has also worked in the Norwegian judicial system.
Valentin Jouvenot is a Ph.D. candidate in finance at the Geneva Finance Research Institute. He holds a Master degree in Wealth Management from the University of Geneva and a Bachelor degree in Economics from the French University of Savoie-Mont-Blanc. Valentin’s research interests lie in the sustainable and corporate finance. His dissertation focuses on the impact of water management on the firm’s performance. The ultimate goal is to find ways to conciliate shareholders and stakeholders’ interests and to highlight the finance contribution to the society. Apart from work, he enjoys traveling and philosophical readings.
About oikos
oikos is an international student-driven organisation for sustainability in economics and management. Founded in 1987, it today comprises more than 40 chapters at universities worldwide with the mission to integrate sustainability into teaching and research.
About the DBF
The Department of Banking and Finance of the University of Zurich is placing sustainability at the core of its research activities and educational programmes, and has been at the forefront of sustainability integration into finance for many years. It hosts important research centres in different areas of sustainable finance, including the Center for Responsibility in Finance (CRF), the Center for Financial Networks and Sustainability (FINEXUS) and the newly established Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth (CSP).
Some pictures from the 2017 edition:
