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Lancaster University Management School, Department of Accounting and Finance
The Department of Accounting and Finance at the Lancaster University Management School is looking for a PhD student to join the project “Responsibility, Risk and Return: Sustainable Investing for a Resilient Future” from October 2025, and offers a fully funded position. The project is run jointly by the Department of Accounting and Finance at Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) and our industry partner Robeco.
We offer a 1+3 year studentship funded by the ESRC – Northwest Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership. The PhD Studentship includes payment of full tuition fees and an annual maintenance grant of £21,500 (tax-free) in years 1, 2, 3 and 4. The start date is 1st October 2025. The project is supervised by:
Modern society challenges the classical risk-return portfolio optimization framework with demands for environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) aspects. The purpose of this project is to advance a systematic framework to sustainable investing that incorporates sustainability throughout the investment process and meets contemporary investment needs: (1) forecasting financial returns, (2) assessing and quantifying risks, and (3) developing and optimizing investment portfolios with sustainability at their core. To this end, the PhD Student can draw from the corresponding deep resources of Robeco, a leader in quantitative and sustainable investing, to investigate forward-looking approaches to managing investment opportunities and risks associated with sustainability. The project will thus further the academic profession's understanding of the underlying economic mechanism and provide guidance to the investment management industry for efficiently navigating sustainable investing. The PhD Candidate will enjoy the unique opportunity to pursue a first-class formal finance education while keeping close ties to the investment management industry. In particular, the PhD Student will get comprehensive insight into the Robeco Quantitative Investments Team with more than 40 investment professionals managing EUR 80bn as per September 2024.
The successful candidate will automatically be enrolled into the department's 4-year PhD program in Accounting and Finance. The admission criteria include:
Please send your CV (including BSc and MSc transcripts) and a motivation letter directly to Prof Dr Ingmar Nolte ( i.nolte@lancaster.ac.uk ), Prof Dr Olga Kolokolova ( o.kolokolova@lancaster.ac.uk ) and Dr Harald Lohre ( h.lohre@robeco.com ); and apply formally to the department's PhD programme. More details can be found under http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lums/our-departments/accounting-and-finance/phd/
Closing deadline for applications 30 January 2025.