Award for outstanding pedagogical achievements to Jan Starmans for his course in sustainable finance

Sep. 23, 2021

Assistant Professor Jan Starmans has received an award from SSE for outstanding pedagogical achievements Spring 2021 for his course “Sustainable Finance” in the Master program. This is quite an achievement for Jan as a successful and popular teacher. The course in itself is also an achievement being very close to the problems that are keeping market participants occupied at this very moment.

Firms and their investors face increasing demands from governments and other stakeholders to reduce their negative social and environmental impact. Accordingly, sustainable investments that take into account environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations have grown significantly in recent years. The course uses real-world cases to study how firms and their investors address these increasingly pressing demands. The aim is to provide students with the tools to assess and respond to the resulting challenges for firms and investors. In doing so, the course relates to several important topics in finance. The broader aim of the course is to critically reflect on the role of business and finance in society.

Jan uses case studies, class-room teaching and industry guests involved in solving these problems. The course is a mixture of theory, practical cases, and meetings with practitioners.