Latest news and announcements
Read on for the latest announcements and news from our Centre:
October 2021
Along with Professor Sandra Annette Booysen from National University of Singapore, Dr Francesco De Pascalis organised and convened the Banking and Financial Services Law Section as part of the ‘2021 Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) Annual Conference’. The Conference was held in Durham University from August 31st to September 3rd. The Banking and Financial Services Law Section took place as a two-day event and hosted 12 academics presenting cutting-edge papers on topics such as financial inclusion, financial sustainability, EU Banking regulation, financial crime, FinTech, consumer loans, sovereign debt, and lending.
Professor Alexandra Xanthaki has been appointed a United Nations’ Special Rapporteur in the field of Cultural Rights.
During September 23-25 RC LEF hosted a major international conference on shadow economics. The 7th edition of this conference was on Shadow Economies, Tax Behaviour and Institutions. The conference brought together internationally renowned experts and rising stars in the multidisciplinary field of study of shadow economies from countries across five continents. About 270 registered online participants attended and discussed three keynote talks delivered by Klarita Gerxhani (European University Institute), Alexis Spire (CNRS France) and Joel Slemrod (University of Michigan) and 87 presentations in parallel sessions. The recordings of the keynote talks can be viewed on BUL YouTube channel:
July 2021
EU competition law lecture for Sri Lankans
Gerard Conway gave an invited lecture, entitled 'EU Competition Law in Historical and Comparative Perspective', on 31 July at the Asia Pacific Institute for Information Technology (APIIT), Sri Lanka. He was invited to give the talk by Dr Chathura Warnasuriya, a PhD graduate of the Brunel Law School and Head of the Law School at the APIIT. The lecture received detailed coverage in Sri Lankan national newspaper The Sunday Times, and the recording of the lecture is available on APIIT's Facebook page.
June 2021
Financial education and well-being
Financial education and financial well-being of consumers in the post-crisis era are in the focus of a chapter by Francesco De Pascalis and Arad Reisberg in a recent volume published by Routledge: De Pascalis, F., Reisberg, A. “Consumer financial well-being in the post-crisis era: financial education on the cross-road to prominence.” In: Regulation and the Global Financial Crisis: Impact, Regulatory Responses, and Beyond. Editors: Cash, Daniel, Goddard, Robert. 1: 1-15. Routledge, London, United Kingdom, 25 Nov 2020.
Research funding success
Arad Reisberg, along with a 10+ strong international team of European scholars, received a grant from the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain for a three-year project, “Corporate governance: Sustainability, ESG factors and reputation. The challenges for society that guide the R&D&I (Research/Development/Innovation) State Programme.” The project will run from January 2022 to December 2024. Prof. Reisberg will contribute a chapter to a collective monograph that will be put together at the end of the project, following workshops and conferences in Madrid.
May 2021
Copyright in the Music Industry
Dr Hayleigh Bosher (Senior Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law) published a new book titled: Copyright in the Music Industry: A Practical Guide to Exploiting and Enforcing Rights with Edward Elgar in February 2021. The book is a comprehensive yet accessible guide to copyright and related rights in the music industry, illustrated with relevant cases and real-world examples. Hayleigh created a playlist of songs that are discussed in the book, which can be found on Spotify and Apple Music and a podcast conducting interviews with people from the music industry to talk about musicians’ rights, both of which she is also using as a teaching tool for her law students.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic was the overarching theme of the Brunel Research Seminars series organised by the Research Centre for Law, Economics and Finance (RC LEF). Presenters from academic departments and NGOs in Canada, Chile, the Netherlands, UK and the USA talked about challenges and opportunities on the way to recovery from the pandemic. One example is transformation of the existing business model. During lockdowns, many businesses adapted by moving to remote work and switching to local suppliers, thus reducing travel and carbon footprint. How much of this will be taken to the COVID-free future? Can sustainable, socially responsible and environmentally friendly business models be also better for the business goal of maximising profits? Another example is philanthropy. During the pandemic, many museums closed their doors or severely restricted admissions, being further hit by the diversion of government funding to health and social care. Traditional support from large companies became even more important. Is a company acting altruistically if it financially supports a museum? What if the company puts its name on an exhibition title in that museum? What if the company receives part of the ticket sales? Does it matter whether it is a large multinational or a group of small local businesses? Will people be more or less likely to come to that museum? These and other issues were discussed at the seminars organised and led by Stelios Andreadakis (Law School), Nigar Hashimzade (Economics and Finance), and Ragimat Rashkueva (Law School alumna).