Templeton Education and Charity Trust 2021-22

Templeton Education and Charity Trust (TECT)-funded activities are central to supporting the college activities of management students and fellows.

This aligns with the aims of the Templeton Education and Charity Trust ‘to advance education in business management’ as well as the Charter of the college ‘to further study, learning, education and research within the university and to be a college wherein men and women may carry out advanced study or research particularly in management studies’. Governing Body Fellow Richard Cuthbertson thanks TECT for their support.

Activities during 2021-22 included student support, academic projects, and a visitor programme

Neroli Austin (DPhil Finance, 2016)

‘I am currently researching the impact of institutional investment in real estate on gentrification of neighbourhoods. I am extremely grateful for the grant because it has enabled me to present to some of the leading academics in my field and receive substantive feedback on my work.

‘Furthermore, two of my projects were directly inspired by work I saw presented at the conferences I attended with support from the TECT Research grant.’

Beata Gafka (DPhil Finance, 2015)

‘I completed my DPhil in Finance at Green Templeton College in June 2022. My research focused on the implications of political uncertainty for financial markets including the impact of Brexit for the UK and European economies.

‘I am particularly grateful for numerous conference opportunities the funding generously supplied by the Green Templeton College made possible. I am currently an Assistant Professor in Finance at Ivey Business School in Canada.’

Tyson Rallens (DPhil Management, 2018)

‘I am so grateful to GTC and the Templeton Education and Charity Trust for my scholarship. This has been the reason I am able to pursue my DPhil and ultimately the opportunity to change careers from industry to doing research and teaching in the field of management.

‘My research applies concepts of social construction to the development of corporate assets or resources. Specifically, I look at the Google Chrome web browser and the efforts of people within and outside of Google to create new meanings and values around this product. I am working with my supervisor to submit a portion of my research as a chapter in the next edition of the Cambridge Handbook of Strategy as Practice.’

Alex Midlen (DPhil Geography and the Environment, 2019)

‘My research, generously supported by the TECT, regards the “blue economy”, a new development paradigm, and its novel approaches to environmental governance. The concept of “developing nature to save it” is not without controversy, but genuine efforts to support sustainable development are inspiring.

‘I’m pictured interviewing villagers in the remote Lamu archipelago in Kenya who have established a marine reserve area from which they support livelihoods through new business models such as better controlled fishing and tourism.’

Qing Xia (DPhil Management, 2021)

‘My research focuses on corporate reporting behaviours and business-government relations in an uncertain environment.

‘I’m very grateful for the scholarship, which allows me to pursue my academic interest without worrying about the financial challenges’

Zhibo Qiu (DPhil Management, 2017)

‘I am very grateful for the generous research fund provided by the Templeton Education and Charity Trust. My doctoral research is an in-depth qualitative investigation of how Chinese firms handle the political challenges of national security concerns in overseas markets.

‘I used the TECT fund to conduct intensive fieldwork and attend academic conferences to present my research. As a result, I interviewed 16 Chinese firms and developed six detailed case studies’

Yunus Isik (DPhil Management, 2020)

‘For my doctoral studies, I work with social entrepreneurs and their social impact investors. I aim to discover how entrepreneurs and investors with social motivations can work better together.

‘Thanks to the generous support of the TECT fund, I presented my work at top academic conferences and invited many undergraduate students to pursue practicing or researching social entrepreneurship.’

Lakshmi Chockalingam (MBA, 2021)

‘The MBA decision did not come lightly at all. The scholarship took away the financial pressure and thereby let me be more courageous with what I explored – ranging from podcasting to peer support and DEI advisory to entrepreneurship.

‘The scholarship and the year at Oxford have definitely given me a lot more confidence to now go out and explore the possibility of starting up myself.’

Karl Overdick (DPhil Management, 2018)

‘I am a DPhil Candidate in Management Studies under the supervision of Professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve and Professor Andrew Stephen. I am extremely grateful for the TECT funding.

‘It has allowed me to visit several leading conferences, attend two summer schools on research methods and it supported my research on wellbeing in the workplace.’

Ken Deng (DPhil Finance, 2020)

‘The TECT research grant is a very generous offer to me as a DPhil student in Finance and has supported my academic skill development through summer school and facilitated my exposure to new ideas through conference attendance.

‘As I move on in my PhD journey, I’m grateful to have the opportunity to also use the grant for academic travels and possible presentations at other institutions.’

Justin Kwong (MBA, 2021)

‘Funds generously donated by TECT were used to pay for my business studies in South Africa. The picture is with with one of our many interviewees, along with a classmate.

‘Mama is a single mother of 3 children living in the sheet metal structure behind us, located in the Langa township, oldest along the Western Cape. She shared with us the plight of the bottom of their socioeconomic pyramid to better contextualise business on the continent. Many thanks for enabling this career changing research!’

Rudolph Okai (MBA, 2021)

‘With support of TECT funding I participated in the MBA Tournament in Paris. It is the largest gathering of MBAs in Europe with 1,500+ MBA students from 15+ business schools for 3-days of competitions, networking, and social activities.

‘It presents a unique opportunity to foster relationships with MBA candidates across different schools, countries and cultures.’

Victor Salenius (DPhil Management, 2020)

‘My doctoral research focuses on how traditional industries undertake large-scale innovation for a sustainability transition in response to the climate crisis. My fieldwork is focused on carbon-free steel production and other energy-intensive sustainability innovation in the Nordic countries.

‘I am truly grateful to the TECT for the grant, which allows me to pursue my dream career as a researcher and without which this research would not have been possible.’

XIE Hua (MSc Major Programme Management, 2021)

‘Thanks to the support from TECT, I completed the examination for Project Management Professional.

‘Studying for this test allowed me to review and rethink my program management knowledge and skills systematically. On top of that, a widely-accepted certificate would empower my career engine.’

Jingshu Wen (DPhil Finance, 2021)

‘My current research area is mainly green finance, and I completed two papers on financial analysts last year.

‘The scholarship helps me to focus on my courses and research projects, so that I can better contribute to finance literature and policies.’