BL Sheng: Climate change risks and sustainable investments

Faculty: Business and Law

Supervisors: Dr Xin Sheng; Dr Wei Kang; Dr Vitaliy Milke

Location: Chelmsford

The interview for this project is expected to take place on Thursday 25 April.

This project is also open to international applicants.

Apply online by 3 March 2024

This project answers the call to action for the United Nations (UN)’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) by studying the role of climate change risks in affecting sustainable investments.

It addresses a key issue in sustainable investments: mispricing/mismanagement of climate change risks could hinder sustainable investment decisions and delay the scaling-up of sustainable investments in the transition to a green and net zero carbon economy.

It studies climate change risks and their effects on the financial performance of sustainable investment strategies, including using machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies.

It contributes to new knowledge and develops methods associated with the use of financial tools, concepts, and techniques in assessing/managing climate change risks and encouraging sustainable investments to shape a better world and build a sustainable future.

Candidates should have had good data-analytical and econometric training, experience of handling large datasets. Experience of execution and write-up of independent research projects is desirable. Experience of Stata, Matlab, R or Python is essential.

Candidates should have the ability to work independently and collaboratively. They should have excellent written and verbal communication skills.

The successful applicant should also have some or all of the following skills:

  • Background in or knowledge of economics and finance, in particular asset pricing and investments.
  • Strong background in empirical economics and finance and applied econometrics.
  • Knowledge of financial databases and programming languages.
  • Knowledge of sustainable finance, climate finance, socially responsible investment, or related.
  • An ability to present information on research progress and outcomes, communicate complex information orally, in writing and electronically, and prepare research proposals.

If you would like to discuss this research project, please contact Xin Sheng: [email protected]

Apply online by 3 March 2024

Funding notes

The successful applicant for this project will receive a Vice Chancellor’s PhD Scholarship which covers the tuition fees and provides a UKRI equivalent minimum annual stipend for three years. For 2023/4 this was £18,622 per year. The award is subject to the successful candidate meeting the scholarship terms and conditions. Please note that the University asserts the right to claim any intellectual property generated by research it funds.

Download the full terms and conditions.