PhD Student Jack Hui won the 2025 FIR-PRI "Finance & Sustainability" Best PhD Thesis Award

The FIR-PRI Award was established in 2005 by the French Sustainable Investment Forum (FIR) to promote excellence in academic research relating to finance and sustainability across Europe. Designed to facilitate the collaboration between academics and practitioners, the prize recognizes outstanding European researchers in five distinct categories: Best Master’s Thesis, Best PhD Thesis, Best Pedagogical Initiative, Best Published Article, and Research Grant for a PhD Thesis in progress. The jury is composed of both academics and investment professionals to ensure practical and scholarly relevance. With this initiative, FIR, in partnership with the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), aims to advance public policy, support research, and promote responsible and sustainable investment practices across the financial sector.

This thesis investigated the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitments made by companies and their actions. By surveying some of the most recently developed practices that companies have adopted to legitimise their ESG orientation, Jack critically evaluate the efficacy of these practices in shaping organisational behaviours in the realm of ESG throughout the three chapters of his thesis.