Five students from the University of Exeter’s MA Conflict, Security, and Development program started an academic work placement with EIRIS Foundation in April. As part of their placement, the students will support EIRIS Conflict Risk Network (EIRIS CRN)—a network of concerned investors seeking to improve the corporate record of companies operating in areas affected by conflict—by conducting specialist research on companies with operations in areas suffering from conflict and human rights abuses. The Foundation hopes that its academic placements will promote greater interest and insight into the interaction between conflict and business among students soon starting their careers in field of development and global security.
The data gathered from this project will be used to highlight to responsible investors how they can be exposed to conflict-affected environments, giving them the tools and data they need to effectively mitigate risk and call on companies to adopt appropriate steps.
The students; Alex Jarvis, Archie Macfarlane, Jayh Karia, Megan Byrne, and Petr Behenský, are focusing their efforts on conflicts where the UN Secretary-General António Guterres has re-iterated his urgent appeal on March 23, 2020, for a global ceasefire to focus on defeating COVID-19 and where one or more of the parties have responded to that call. The countries the students are covering during the term of their placement are the Central African Republic (CAR), Libya, Myanmar, Syria, and Ukraine.
For more information on the project, EIRIS CRN, or other academic placement opportunities, please contact Philippe Bone at [email protected].