Democratising Finance? Assessing the Social Impact of Global Innovations in Finance

During the decade since the global financial crisis, the world has seen the dramatic emergence of a range of global financial innovations that promise to correct, to challenge, or even to replace this ‘failed financial system’ – from decentralized technologies like BitCoin and BlockChain; through to FinTech and Challenger Banks. There is an urgent need for thought-leading research that evaluates these financial innovations across the triple bottom line of social, environmental and economic impact.

As these innovations are a rapidly growing part of public discourse but still barely understood, we welcome proposals for PhD projects that seek to establish a baseline of understanding – i.e. what are these innovations we hear so much about; how and why did they emerge; and what are their stated objectives? – as well as providing a crucial evidence-based study of their potential to deliver a fairer, more inclusive and democratic alternative to the current financial system – i.e. do they work, for whom and why; what are the obstacles to their growth; and what are the chances and dangers of their continued proliferation?