Lombard Odier ties up with Oxford University on staff training, research sharing and strengthening ‘academic rigour’ for sustainable finance

Ben Caldecott will become the first Lombard Odier Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow of Sustainable Finance, as part of a new strategic partnership between Oxford University and the asset manager. 

The five-year collaboration, the financial terms of which have not been disclosed, will see Lombard Odier integrate Oxford’s output on sustainable finance into its proprietary research and investment products. 

Additionally, Oxford will establish a programme for the ongoing training of Lombard Odier’s staff, while academics from the university will have access to the investment house’s research and product information. 

The two institutions will host a joint annual research forum, open to the wider academic and practitioner community. 

Caldecott will remain based at Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, and will retain his position as a Strategy Advisor to the UK Cabinet on the financial aspect of COP26. In a statement, he said that “for sustainable finance to be itself sustainable, it needs greater academic rigour, as well as pedagogy to scale the adoption of best practice”.