Call for Applications:
ENGAGE.EU Think Tank 2024
Topic: Leading the green transition:
Advancing research for sustainable value creation
Date: March 11-15, 2024
Location: NHH Norwegian School of Economics
Application deadline: November 1, 2023
About the ENGAGE.EU Think Tank
ENGAGE.EU is an alliance of leading European universities in business, economics, and social sciences, aiming to provide European citizens with the set of skills and competencies they need to face current and future societal challenges.
The ENGAGE.EU Think Tank, organized within the ENGAGE.EU R&I project, provides a forum for intensive academic exchange. Researchers will exchange their ideas with colleagues from ENGAGE.EU partners and inform and learn from leading industry and policy experts. Participants can build new research collaborations and launch new projects, papers, or funding applications.
The Think Tank 2024 will bring together researchers from the ENGAGE.EU partner universities who share an interest in research on sustainability and its implications for business, finance, and reporting.
Under the theme of Leading the green transition: Advancing research for sustainable value creation, the Think Tank will have three distinct tracks:
- Sustainable Business
The Sustainable Business track will provide a platform to explore how companies can integrate sustainability into their business models, strategies, and operations. Participants will gain insights into the latest research trends, emerging topics, and theoretical frameworks, develop practical skills, and contribute to the field through their research projects. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Sustainable Business Strategy: How do companies integrate sustainability into their strategies and what are the implications for business models and performance?
- Sustainable Consumption: How can companies develop more sustainable offerings and how to facilitate the adoption of such products and services, and more sustainable consumer behaviours?
- Sustainability Management: How can companies develop management control systems, governance structures, and organizational designs that promote their ability to identify, manage and organize for sustainable business practices?
- Corporate Responsibility and Accountability: How do companies make normative assessments related to stakeholder management, the identification and prioritization of social and environmental objectives, and ethical dimensions of strategies for sustainability?
- Sustainable Finance
The Sustainable Finance track will focus on various aspects of sustainable finance, encompassing topics such as green investments, impact investing, corporate social responsibility, climate risk and resilience, biodiversity, sustainable financial instruments, and the integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in investment decisions. Some potential areas of research include:
- Corporate Sustainability Practices: Examine the influence of ESG factors on corporate financial performance, capital structure, and firm value, considering the role of stakeholder engagement and sustainable governance practices.
- Investor Behaviour and Decision-Making: Investigate how investors incorporate ESG considerations into their decision-making process, exploring the impact on risk-adjusted returns, portfolio allocation, and asset pricing.
- Sustainable Financial Innovation: Examine novel financial instruments and strategies that facilitate sustainable investments, including green bonds, social impact bonds, and sustainable index funds.
- Policy and Regulation: Analyse the effectiveness of regulatory frameworks and policy interventions in promoting sustainable finance and identify areas for improvement and refinement.
- Sustainability Reporting and Regulations
The Sustainability Reporting and Regulations track will be designed specifically for researchers in the field of accounting who are interested in exploring the critical role of sustainability reporting in modern business practices. This track aims to provide insights into the current sustainability reporting frameworks, methodologies, and the challenges faced by organisations in effectively communicating their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance, and the effect reporting has on stock prices. Participants will be encouraged to explore their own research interests and develop scholarly contributions related to sustainability reporting.
Opportunities for participating researchers
The ENGAGE.EU Think Tank seeks to attract researchers (post doctoral) with research interest in one of the proposed tracks. During the research stay in Bergen, participants will explore shared interests and build research projects with an international and interdisciplinary team of researchers specialised in similar research topics. Participants will gain new insights into current research developments through keynotes, round tables, and workshops.
The goal of the Think Tank is to develop the professional network within ENGAGE.EU, as well as to lead to concrete outputs, such as joint publications or joint funding proposals. Prior to the stay in Bergen, participants are expected to take part in online meetings to explore shared interests and set project goals collaboratively. To ensure the programme corresponds with participants’ needs and expectations, details of the programme will depend on the final group composition and specific research interests.
The research stay will include an extensive academic programme and access to the facilities at NHH. Accommodation will be covered by NHH. Travel expenses will be covered by the ENGAGE.EU R&I project.
Application requirements
Your Profile
The ENGAGE.EU Think Tank is open to researchers affiliated with the universities of the ENGAGE.EU alliance and who:
- explore topics related to sustainable business, finance, or reporting as described in the call for applications,
- aim to develop their expertise in their field of research,
- are interested in a collaborative interdisciplinary dialogue,
want to engage in a pioneering project of a growing European network.
Our Expectations
As part of the ENGAGE.EU research stay, researchers are expected to:
- Participate in online preparation meetings in January/February 2024,
- Stay in Bergen for the duration of the Think Tank and take active part in all activities,
- Exchange ideas and interact with Think Tank participants and other relevant stakeholders about their research and related projects,
Be interested in continuing the collaboration after the Think Tank, for example in the form of publication projects or funding applications.
Application
The application for the Think Tank has two steps:
- Fill out the online application form: Think Tank online application
- Submit a brief CV including a list of publications to the Think Tank contact point at your university (see contact details below). Successful applicants will be asked to submit a paper outline prior to the event.
Please submit your application by November 1, 2023. Applications received after this date may not be considered. Selected applicants will receive invitations to participate in the Think Tank in early December.
Selection
Submitted applications are first evaluated by each ENGAGE.EU partner. The selection committee made up by vice presidents/vice-rectors of research from all partners make the final selection.
Applications are evaluated according to the following dimensions:
- Demonstrated high-quality research potential and interest in collaborative research projects,
- Established interest in and relevance for research in the theme of the Think Tank and the research tracks,
- Relevant research ideas for future research or ongoing papers,
- Potential for contributing to ENGAGE.EU’s mission.
Final decisions also consider criteria for cohort composition, including but not limited to complementarity of research interests, disciplinary balance, institutional diversity, and demographic diversity.
Information webinar
The webinar for interested researchers took place on October 19, 2023. You can DOWNLOAD the webinar presentation or watch a recording below.
To fulfil ENGAGE.EU’s commitment to outreach and building communities for societal change, the Think Tank will be organized in collaboration with the Norwegian climate festival “Warmer, Wetter, Wilder” in Bergen. Parts of the programme for the Think Tank will be co-organized as scientific events during the climate festival. More information on this will follow.
Contacts
Marco Perone Pacifico (mperonepacifico@luiss.it)
Tor Andreassen (tor.andreassen@nhh.no)
Venelin Boshnakov (venelinb@unwe.bg)
Clémentine Labrut, (clementine.labrut@ut-capitole.fr)
Roland Humer (roland.humer@wu.ac.at)
Sirpa Aalto (sirpa.aalto@hanken.fi)
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Laia Ros (lros@rectorat.url.edu)
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