Departmental news

New varieties of Britain’s favourite pulse are available for purchase from 10 February 2024. These UK Registered beans (URBeans) were created by Professor Eric Holub as part of his work to diversify British cooking using home-grown ingredients.

A dry bean mix of Godiva and Capulet are on sale from Zero Store shops in Stratford-on-Avon and Leamington Spa.

Press Release (9 February 2024)

Our next Warwick Law School Staff Spotlight interview features Dr Rebecca Munro, Teaching Fellow, Director of Student Experience and Director of Warwick Law in the Community.

Over the past 25 years, sustainable finance has grown from a visionary concept discussed at UN climate conferences to a multi-billion dollar market. It’s an umbrella term used to refer to an investment approach that takes environmental, social and governance factors into account when deciding where to invest.

One of the biggest names in sustainable finance today is Warwick alumna Caroline Escott. Regularly cited in lists and surveys of the industry’s most influential figures, she’s taken a range of interesting and exciting roles since graduating in the class of 2006, and is now Senior Investment Manager for one of the UK's largest pension schemes, Railpen.

We caught up with Caroline to hear about her career choices, the skills she believes are essential to make a success in the financial markets, and why she believes sustainable investment is one of the most effective ways to achieve both good outcomes for pension savers and positive change in the world.

Caroline, you have been named as one of the Top 50 Most Influential in Sustainable Finance by FinancialNews - can you explain what sustainable finance is?

Sustainable investors are responsible for allocating capital to companies where they are either doing well on environmental, social and governance issues or where they can be influenced to do better. Sustainable finance can also help drive flows of capital to those companies and sectors that are most important for the ongoing sustainability and viability of the world around us, such as new carbon emission abatement technologies or low-carbon infrastructure projects. As investors, we can – and do – try to influence individual companies, but it can be especially powerful to help shape the regulatory environment that governs how these companies behave. This is particularly the case when it comes to big, system-wide issues like climate change, biodiversity or labour rights.

Over the last few years, you have come to specialise in sustainable finance, especially within the area of pension schemes. What has brought you to this focus? What impact would you like to have within this?

If you are interested in influence and effecting positive change, then you need to be at an organisation where the decisions which are made matter to people’s lives. Pension schemes are perfect for this in two main ways. Firstly, they have a privileged role as large capital allocators, sitting at the top of the investment chain. Secondly, people rely on their pension schemes for their retirement income. In the UK, there are huge numbers of people at risk of an inadequate income in retirement, making this one of the biggest challenges we face as a country – and a vital field to work in.

I hope that the contributions I make to this work – including setting up and leading large global initiatives like the Investor Coalition for Equal Votes (ICEV) and the Workforce Directors Coalition (WDC) – will help bring about much-needed change in the best interest of pension scheme members.

You have made a few different career changes, from Parliamentary political research to finance and investment, all within the general theme of public policy. What made you want to make these changes, and what gave you the confidence to do so?

Moving between different sectors has happened in large part because of my work to build industry networks. I enjoy meeting new people and learning new things. This has helped me build a high-quality and wide network of experts and I’ve been fortunate to have been recommended to interview for well over half of my roles by people who I’d worked with on projects in the past – even where I was, on paper, the ‘wildcard’ candidate. I’ve now moved sectors enough that I recognise for myself the huge importance of transferable skills and the right attitude in being able to adapt to, and then thrive in, a new role.

Public policy and advocacy have always been at least part of the roles I’ve taken up. While at Warwick, my studies quickly helped me understand the huge influence that flows of capital as well as the regulatory and policy framework can have on the world around us – and that the real potential for effecting change lies where these two intersect. Even now, heading up the investment stewardship programme at Railpen, I’m a keen advocate of investors learning about how to effect policy and regulatory change.

What skills did you learn during your degree at Warwick that you still use in your role at Railpen now?

Studying economics changed how I see the world and taught me to take time to consider and understand the assumptions underlying anything from a substantive piece of research to the way in which a question in a meeting has been structured. Being able to understand and then potentially question the assumptions used is fundamental to the critical thinking that has become even more important as I take on more senior and leadership positions in my career.

What is your best memory of the University of Warwick and the Department of Economics?

It’s hard to choose just one! When I think of Warwick, I think of all the times I spent sitting and chatting with my friends – or people watching, reading a book, or getting ready to go to Top Banana.

I also remember the keen thrill of anticipation at the sheer number of modules I could choose to take as part of my degree. I ended up plumping for Italian language and translation, and a few economic history modules during my time.

You were involved in a few different societies during your time at Warwick, including Latin and Ballroom Society, and Warwick Economics Society. How did your time with these societies impact you, and what skills did they develop?

First – and perhaps most importantly – I met great people, some of whom are still close friends today. However, I also found the leadership roles I took on in these societies vital to helping me get my first job without much ‘proper’ work experience. I had both learnt and was able to demonstrate an ability to think more strategically, to organise my time effectively and to motivate a diverse group of individuals to achieve a particular outcome.

Caroline Escott (BSc Economics, Politics and International Studies, 2006)

You can find Caroline's op-ed on sustainable finance in The Times here.

The University of Warwick to partner on a £11m Innovation and Knowledge Centre (IKC) for power semiconductors with a range of industrial partners

This Valentine's Day Dr Alex Baker explores the real chemistry behind chemistry and explains how flowers and chocolates are as good as any love tinyurl.com/3xv9zbjf

On Wednesday 17 January, Professor Dame Clare Grey hosted a guest lecture titled ‘Towards a Net Zero World: Developing and applying new tools to understand how batteries function and fail.’

As Warwick Chemists begin their prize-winners' lecture tours, they react to receiving prestigious RSC Prizes in films celebrating their achievements. tinyurl.com/3npvtj93

In his new book, Dr David Vitale proposes an innovative trust-based framework for judicially enforcing social rights, informed by the trust scholarship from various disciplines and aimed at promoting the trustworthiness of government in delivering social services.

Who Killed Liao A-ting? A Murder Case in Two Chinese Oil Paintings

The Royal Museums Greenwich are holding a free online talk on this complicated event and its impact on Chinese Western relations.

• Location: Online
• Date and Times: Tuesday 13 February 2024 | 5.15-6:30pm
• Prices: Free

Dr Song-Chuan Chen will explore the dispute between the Qing Chinese government and the East India Company by analysing two oil paintings from Royal Museums Greenwich’s collection that document the trial of 52 British sailors.

This event is free and open to everyone, and will take place via Zoom. There is no need to book; please click on the link below shortly before 5.00pm on the day.

Join the event

67% of Warwick Economics graduates choose careers in finance, consulting, technology and government*. But a degree in economics opens the door to a wide variety of professions, both traditional and non-traditional. We caught up with alumnus Alan Tang to discuss his fascinating career changes, how his degree at Warwick equipped him with the confidence and skills to work in multiple fields, and his new role as Co-Founder of educational social impact business Collaboration Laboratory.

Alan Tang graduated from BSc Economics at Warwick in 2010, heading straight into a Senior Audit Associate role at Grant Thornton UK. After working for 6 years in corporate finance, Alan took a two-year sabbatical to train as a chef, working in some of the top restaurants in London.

Alan then went on to create his own consultancy company to develop new startups, taking the role of Director of Special Projects for different businesses such as Tailify and Eaten Alive. In July 2023, Alan set his sights on a new project, founding a social impact business to teach children key social and soft skills: Collaboration Laboratory (CoLab). We spoke to Alan about his fascinating career journey.

After graduating from Warwick, you began working in the corporate finance sector, following an internship with Grant Thornton. What made you want to enter this sector?

I chose to go into finance as it was a career that opened many doors. I remember being inspired by my Principles of Finance lecturer Peter Corvi. His lectures were always practical and fascinating and he played a big part in my decision to go into corporate finance.

After your time in finance, you then decided to take a sabbatical and train as a chef. This is a huge career change – what gave you the confidence to decide and initiate that change?

I had a good amount of savings built up, I had a strong enough CV to act as a backup plan and I had spent time doing my due diligence (working in restaurants part time, volunteering at food pop ups) to know what I was throwing myself into. I loved those 2 years as a chef and I don't regret it for a moment! This mindset shift of believing that I could change has helped me in so many parts of my life and I wholly recommend it to anyone.

You then decided to step into consultancy and set up your own business. After already experiencing two major industries, what made you want to try consulting?

I love the variety involved in consultancy. You're often presented with a problem that no-one else has solved and it's up to you to figure out and build what the MVP (minimum viable product) solution looks like! I recently had to help an employer brand agency build an employer brand sentiment tracker and did everything from finding vendors, analysing the data, building the dashboard and selling the service line!

How has your degree in Economics at Warwick equipped you for your professional life and the major career changes that you have made?

My economics degree gave me the qualitative and quantitative skills I've needed in each of my start-up and corporate roles and I'm thankful for that. The biggest value added, however, came from the curiosity that was instilled into me by my tutors and also the friendship groups that I made at Warwick. I'm still very close to my economics group and rely on them frequently when I have challenging situations to deal with.

The biggest takeaway from my economics degree has been an ability to articulate fairly complex ideas and frameworks in an easy to understand manner. I often have to explain quite complex ideas to a range of audiences and the ability to do this with a sprinkling of storytelling makes life much, much easier as a consultant.

Alan’s latest venture is CoLab. Co-founded in July 2023, this project aims to teach school children different social and soft skills needed in the modern workplace, through a variety of online games, discussions and escape rooms. CoLab currently reaches 11 countries, and encourages its 170 students to work across their various language barriers and cultural differences to problem-solve. The business also works to reduce educational gaps and has given over $10,000 of scholarships to children from less privileged backgrounds.

Alan, when did you become interested in social impact work and the focus on children’s education?

My family have a history of supporting schools in rural China but it wasn't until I started working at Synthesis that I realised the true impact education could have on the world. After working 10+ years in for-profit organisations I wanted to put my time and effort towards a project that made a difference.

In my experience, soft skills (especially emotional intelligence and communication) are crucial to succeeding at work and in your personal life and they're skills that become increasingly difficult to learn as you grow older. When I interview graduates who are looking to join the start-ups I advise, many of them sadly struggle to break down a problem if it's slightly outside of their comfort zone. I don't doubt that they have the ability to solve the problem but I think that many graduates are so focussed on learning exam technique to pass exams that they've forgotten the real purpose of learning. I suspect a fear of failure also plays a part in this. We started CoLab to help kids develop a toolbox of skills that they can apply across a variety of situations and scenarios - all via experience-based learning.

CoLab is an incredibly diverse project and allows its pupils to learn about and share cultures. What impact does diversity have on a child’s development?

CoLab is intentionally global because we want kids from around the world to meet. The idea is that this will lead to diversity of thought, sharing of cultures and will also help to remove any unconscious biases that they may have previously had. We recently had a student share about Diwali and how it's celebrated in India and that was a really lovely moment to witness. Many parents have also said that they want their child to develop their confidence in the English language and CoLab provides this opportunity in a fun, low pressure environment.

CoLab also aims to make education and development more accessible for children, and will have made a huge impact to children’s lives through the scholarships that you have offered. What is the value of accessibility for education?

Having seen how hard my parents had to work to support me through university, I strongly believe that wealth shouldn't be a barrier to good education. I think that there's enough literature out there to show that education is core to escaping the poverty cycle and I hope the work we're doing at CoLab can help towards this.

Corporate finance, cheffing, consulting and social impact – what’s next?

I'm focussing on growing CoLab and also supporting other social impact/food businesses that interest me. I want to help CoLab become a sustainable business that does even more good. Ideally we get to 250 students and then have an internal reset to think about how we could make CoLab even better.

Right now, I'm fundraising for a kimchi manufacturer, coaching the founder of an ethical debt collection business and investing in a variety of environmental startups. I want to do my bit to help the world and hopefully inspire others to do the same.

Alan Tang, BSc Economics 2010

*based off the Economics Undergraduate Destinations Report 2022.