

Future frontiers
The latest edition of the RI Quarterly, produced by the UN Principles of Responsible Investment (UN PRI) is a good read, and I'm not saying that simply because I have a bit part in it. Actually, who am I kidding. That is exactly why I am publicising it. But beyond the article on fintech, I would commend the piece about incorporating human rights issues into ESG and investment valuation. It's a tricky one. We were approached early last year by a big investor who wanted to know


Kick-off time
So, a kick-off trip for the MLW project. I head out to Lusaka, Zambia at the end of this month to attend the Sustainable Energy Southern Africa Forum of the Africa-EU Energy Partnership. The event "provides an opportunity to discuss progress on Zambia's SE4All Action Agenda and Investment Prospectus, to identify specific opportunities for strengthening multi-stakeholder partnerships to achieve the three goals of SE4All and to learn more about concrete markets and business opp

Conference on the Blue Economy
So there a lots of great conferences, and the challenge for most people is finding the time and budget to attend the ones most relevant to them. I am delighted to have been invited by Roy Brower of the Water Institute at the University of Waterloo to participate a conference on the role of water technology innovation in the Blue Economy, taking place in September. Roy, and Mark van Loosdrecht of Delft, the co-chairs are the editors in chief of the Elsevier journals Water Res


The boiler room
We've just finished 'Nougth Week' - the one before the formal start of the new term. In my department, it is also the week when first year PhD candidates give a presentation on what their proposed research idea is. It's part of a formal 'transfer of status' procedure where the proposal is assessed, and where necessary modified, before candidates embark on substantive research in the field (or the library). The process is a bit daunting for the candidates, as in most cases, th