It is often argued that poor governance structures prepared the ground for the financial crisis. The lack of shareholder engagement in particular is seen to have enabled banks to take on more and more risk. In response, the UK Financial Reporting Council issued the UK Stewardship Code which "aims to enhance the quality of engagement between institutional investors and companies to help improve long-term returns to shareholders and the efficient exercise of governance responsibilities".

In a very timely move, Oxford Brookes University Business School wants to test the proposition that Shareholder Engagement is having an impact and is looking for a PhD student to investigate the Stewardship Code.  Proposed areas of research inlcude how institutional investors adopt the Code; whether the Code leads to increased shareholder engagement and better governance; whether and how shareholders make use of the information supplied by institutional investors.

To find out more about the project contact either Dr Sandra Einig seinig@brookes.ac.uk or Professor Laura Spira lfspira@brookes.ac.uk