Financial Ethics Research Group

Members of our group

PROFESSORS

Joakim Sandberg

Joakim Sandberg is Professor of Practical Philosophy and Director of the Financial Ethics Research Group at University of Gothenburg. He is also Professor of Economics and Finance from a Humanist Perspective at University of Groningen, the Netherlands, and vice director of the Sustainable Finance Lab which is a collaboration between several Swedish universities and companies.

Joakim holds an MBA in business and economics (2003) and a Ph.D. in philosophy (2008). He does research in the intersections between moral and political philosophy and studies in business and economics. Much of his recent work has focused on how to get financial institutions such as banks and pension funds to take a stronger responsibility for the societal and environmental effects of their activities. Joakim has led, or participated in, research projects on sustainable finance, institutional investment and fiduciary duty, consumer attitudes towards finance, financial crises and regulation, microfinance and poverty, and monetary systems and cryptocurrency.

Boudewijn de Bruin
Boudewijn de Bruin is Visiting Professor in the Financial Ethics group and Professor of Financial Ethics at University of Groningen, the Netherlands. His current work is on ethical and legal aspects of finance, sustainability, and climate change. De Bruin has held visiting positions at, among others, Harvard Business School and Cambridge University. He is Life Member of Clare Hall (Cambridge) and of the Groningen Centre for European Financial Services Law. De Bruin works with the Dutch chartered accountants (Koninklijke Nederlandse Beroepsorganisatie van Accountants) on ethics and culture. His most recent monograph is The Business of Liberty: Freedom and Information in Ethics, Politics, and Law (Oxford University Press, 2022).

Adrian Walsh
Adrian Walsh is Visiting Professor in the Financial Ethics group and Professor of Philosophy at the University of New England, Australia. He is a political philosopher who has written extensively on a wide variety of normative issues concerning markets and economic theory. He also works on questions of philosophical methodology and, in particular, on the use of thought experiments in ethical and political theory. He has published four books including The Morality of Money (2008) and Ethics, Money and Sport (2007). Most recently he was a co-editor of the collection entitled The Ethical Underpinnings of Climate Economics (2016). He is currently working on a project on the ethics and politics of austerity. He also works on historical and normative issues regarding the practice of lending money at interest. Personal web page

POSTDOCS and ASSOCIATE RESEARCHERS

Alexander Andersson
Alexander Andersson is a Post-doc Researcher currently funded by the Swedish Research council, working on a project titled “What do we deserve in a meritocracy?”. His PhD project, which was part of the Financial Ethics Research Group, focused mainly on the concept of desert and just pay theory. He defended his thesis “Giving Executives Their Due: Just Pay, Desert, and Equality” in December 2021.

Richard Endörfer
Richard Endörfer is an Associate Researcher in Practical Philosophy and the Financial Ethics group at University of Gothenburg. He recently completed his PhD thesis on philosophical aspects of financial crises; in particular ethical and political aspects of banks’ contributions to so-called systemic financial risk. His current research interests focus on topics occupying the interconnection between economics and philosophy, including risk ethics and climate ethics. Richard holds a BA in Cultural Sciences (University of Saarbruecken) and an MA in Philosophy and Economics (University of Bayreuth). 

Mattias Gunnemyr
Mattias Gunnemyr is a Post-doctoral Researcher in the Financial Ethics group at the University of Gothenburg, focusing on ethical issues in relation to collective harm problems within finance. Since 2021, he holds Ph.D. in practical philosophy from Lund University. Like his current project, his Ph.D. thesis concerns the topic of collective harm. In it, he examines what different accounts of why individual agents might have reasons to, e.g., reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases, and of why and when they might be blameworthy for doing so. Apart from this, Gunnemyr has also published works on structural injustice, primarily concerning Iris Marion Young’s social connection model, and is editing an anthology on implicit bias and post hoc interventions.

Simon Rosenqvist
Simon Rosenqvist is an Associate Researcher in Practical Philosophy and member of the Financial Ethics group at the University of Gothenburg. He is presently working in the project "Science-Based Metrics for Sustainable Finance", where he investigates different ways of thinking about "impact" in the context of sustainable finance. He has a Ph.D. in philosophy from Uppsala University, where he explored how consequentialist theories can be applied and justified.

PHD CANDIDATES

Jasmine Elliott
Jasmine Elliott is a PhD Candidate in Practical Philosophy and Deputy Researcher in the Financial Ethics group at University of Gothenburg. Her research focus includes topics of professional enablers, professional ethics, finance, human rights, corporate lawyers, sustainability, climate change, and corruption. She looks at questions about the role of finance, law, and business in society and in relation to these topics. She aims to highlight how these professions could act collectively to promote more ethical business practices.

Nina van Heeswijk
Nina van Heeswijk is a Ph.D. Candidate in Practical Philosophy at University of Gothenburg. Her research focuses on theories of global distributive justice and consumer ethics. Nina currently works on a dissertation called “Global Justice, Special Relations and the Global Economy: The Moral Duties of Individual Consumers”. Nina holds an MA in Philosophy (Utrecht University).

Eliza Nobles
Eliza Nobles is a PhD Candidate in Practical Philosophy in the Financial Ethics Research Group at University of Gothenburg. Her research focus includes the ethics of biodiversity conservation, the valuation of nature, and environmental justice. She looks at questions about the impacts of finance and policy on human and non-human communities. She holds a Master of Environmental Studies (MES) and a Master of City Planning (MCP) from University of Pennsylvania, as well as a BSc in Urban Ecology from Drexel University.

Georg Schmerzeck
Georg Schmerzeck is a PhD Candidate in Practical Philosophy and member of the Financial Ethics group at University of Gothenburg. His research focuses on the ethical evaluation of monetary systems in ideal and non-ideal theory. It assesses whether existing monetary institutions are justifiable or in need of reform, and clarifies the advantages and drawbacks of various alternatives. Georg holds an M.A. in Political Philosophy (University of Graz) and an M.Sc. in Public Policy (United Nations University / Maastricht University).

PREVIOUS MEMBERS 

Fausto Corvino
Fausto Corvino was a Postdoctoral Researcher in Practical Philosophy and member of the Financial Ethics group at University of Gothenburg. Prior to this, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher in Moral Philosophy at Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (Pisa, Italy), and a Postdoctoral Researcher in Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Turin (Italy). He holds a PhD in Politics, Human Rights and Sustainability from Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, and both an MA in International Relations and a BA in Political Science from Luiss University (Rome, Italy). His research interests focus on intergenerational and global justice, the ethical issues arising from climate change and the energy transition, as well as economic ethics. He is currently working on the ethics of market-based approaches to climate policy.

Clément Fontan was a post-doctoral researcher in financial ethics at University of Gothenburg 2017-2018. His research focuses on central banking and the crisis of financialized capitalism. Clément holds a PhD in Political Science from Sciences Po Grenoble and his dissertation dealt with how the European Central Bank extended its political influence during the Eurozone crisis. During his post-docs at Montreal University and the CNRS, he also studied how central banks contributed to inequality. He has published in preeminent academic journals in French and English and he is working on a monograph for Polity Press entitled "Do Central Banks serve the people?".

Louis Larue was a post-doctoral researcher in financial ethics at the University of Gothenburg 2020-2022. He holds a Double Master Degree in economics from Università Bocconi (Italy) and UCLouvain (Belgium), as well as a PhD in economics and philosophy at UCLouvain. His research centres on issues of justice in finance and money, and on several topics in the philosophy of economics. His most recent publications focus on Bitcoin and digital currencies.

David Rönnegard was a research fellow in financial ethics at University of Gothenburg 2017-2018. His current research is focused on the responsibilities of shareholders as part of a sustainable financial system. David is an economist (M.Sc. Stockholm School of Economics) and philosopher (Ph.D. London School of Economics) specialized on corporate social responsibility (CSR), with a particular emphasis on political, moral, and strategic justifications for CSR.

Gunnar Sigvaldasson was a PhD Candidate at University of Iceland and participant in the research project “The Reality of Money”, led by Dr. Eyja Margrét Brynjarsdóttir and funded by Rannís - The Icelandic Centre for Research. The main focus of his research are markets, commodification and the way in which our concepts of human nature influence how we view markets. His background is mainly in normative ethics and political theory although he is interested in various aspects of both philosophy and politics.

Tadhg Ó Laoghaire 
Tadhg Ó Laoghaire was a post-doctoral researcher in financial ethics at University of Gothenburg 2021–2023. He holds a PhD in philosophy from University of Leeds (2020) and an MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Leiden University (2016). He specialises in international trade and corporate justice, with a particular focus on what is owed to least-developed countries and the world’s poorest more generally. He has won multiple awards for his work, including most recently the Jonathan Trejo-Mathys Essay Prize, awarded for a ‘stellar contribution to the political theory on global justice’.