The first Maynooth University Sustainable Finance Webinar hosts three scholars of sustainable finance and enterprise who will present on their recent research projects and findings. There will be an opportunity for questions towards the end and we invite professionals, researchers and interested parties. The seminar is hosted by Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute.
Overview
Dr. Edana Richardson, Dept of Law, Maynooth University: Green, Social and Sustainability Sukuk – a value-based approach to finance?
Dr Emmanuel Kypraios, Maynooth University School of Business: Employing Finance In Pursuit Of the Sustainable Development Goals: The Promise and Perils Of Catastrophe Bonds.
Ali Sheridan, Sustainable Business, Sustainability Consultant: The Readiness of Business Leaders for the Sustainability Transition
Topics:
Edana’s presentation, Green, Social and Sustainability Sukuk – a value-based approach to finance? explores legal aspects of the responsible finance sukuk market and offers a primer on this growing market sector. It considers areas of overlap between Islamic finance and responsible finance and discusses the current shape and potential future developments in the market.
Emmanuel’s work on Catastrophe Bonds has received much attention in the finance media in recent months for reasons that are obvious! The UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) present a formidable funding challenge. Financial innovation is one way through which resources can be secured, while also providing business opportunities for market actors. The insurance sector, in particular, has been at the forefront of such innovation, developing financial instruments to manage the flooding, fire, and storm risks that characterize an increasingly unstable world. The research he has conducted with colleagues examines one such financial instrument—the catastrophe bond—which transfers extreme risk from insurers and reinsurers to capital markets. Using a comprehensive database of all catastrophe bonds issued through March 2016, they found that the modeling, which underlies catastrophe bonds is not demonstrably better than guesswork at predicting the financial consequences of extreme events. Moreover, secondary data reveal that market actors are under no illusion about the level of precision and accuracy provided by the models. Some cautionary notes for harnessing financial tools in support of the SDGs are explored.
Ali has commenced research to investigate the preparedness of business leaders for the sustainability transition and will provide both a contemporary overview of the expectations of sustainable business leaders and create valuable outputs designed to aid business leaders to move from theory to practice. While much has been written about sustainability from a business perspective, limited attention has been given to the topic of sustainability leadership and responsible management education, particularly from an impact and deliverable perspective.
About the presenters:
Dr Edana Richardson is a Lecturer / Assistant Professor in the Maynooth University Department of Law, having previously worked as a solicitor in the London and Abu Dhabi offices of an international law firm. As a solicitor, Edana advised issuers and bookrunners on capital markets issuances, including green bonds and sukuk. Edana now lectures in Islamic finance law, company law and capital markets law at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, where she completed her undergraduate law degree (2006) and PhD (2012), and the University of Cambridge where she undertook a taught master’s degree (2007). Edana’s research interests include Islamic finance, capital markets law and sustainable finance and she has published in peer reviewed journals and edited collections both in Ireland and internationally.
Dr. Emmanuel Kypraios is an assistant professor/lecturer of management at the School of Business, Maynooth University. He received his PhD in management at the Universit`a della Svizzera italiana/University of Lugano, Switzerland. His research interests lie at the intersection of organization theory, sociology of finance, and strategic management, with particular focus on sustainable finance, the SDGs and the socio-cognitive mechanisms that underlie decision-making processes. His work is under consideration for the 2020 Moskowitz Prize for Outstanding Research in Sustainable and Responsible Investing. Before joining academia, he spent 12 years in the financial markets as senior trader and broker of equity derivatives working for financial institutions such as BNP Paribas, Hypovereinsbank, hedge fund groups such as Integrated Asset Management and wealth management companies in Munich, Frankfurt, London, Paris and lately in Lugano, Switzerland.
Ali Sheridan is a Sustainability Consultant who has worked across private, public and NGO sectors both in Ireland and internationally. She has worked in sustainability management roles for companies such as IKEA, and was a member of the inaugural group of Origin Green Ambassadors where she worked with PepsiCo, Subway and the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform. She has also held roles in Bearingpoint and Green-Schools. Ali is part of Maynooth’s Sustainable Energy Community, working to mobilize the local community towards a low carbon future and recently underwent a deep retrofit of her own home. She lectures at Dublin City University and University College Dublin and sits on a range of sustainability working groups across Ireland. Ali holds MSc Business Sustainability (UCD Smurfit School), MSc Management for Sustainable Development (DCU), and a BSc Environmental Management (TU Dublin).
Registration is essential as event is via Zoom - register here
For more information contact mussi@mu.ie.