Responsible finance

United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment

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Since January 2013, the University has been a signatory of the United Nations (UN) Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), which aims to embed environmental, social and governance factors into investment decisions of organisations.  

In July 2020, the University received an overall score of A in its annual assessment by the UN-supported PRI, maintaining its score from the PRI's 2019 report. Signatories were not required to complete a return in 2021 or 2022, however, it is expected that signatories, following a review of the reporting framework, will be required to submit in 2023.

Investments

Responsible investment

Income Due Diligence Group established

The University, like many other educational institutions, accepts philanthropic donations and research funding from a wide range of sources.

There is a risk that sources of potential funding could be linked to unethical or illegal activity. An Income Due Diligence Group has been established by the University.

The purpose of this group is to ensure that all streams of funding whose source raises potential red flags in relation to a range of ethical issues, including modern slavery, are subject to enhanced scrutiny. 

Potential donations in excess of £10,000 are screened for several ethical and reputational issues, which includes any potential connection to modern slavery. Where due diligence checks indicate a significant issue or concern, the case will be passed to the Income Due Diligence Group for review.

This academic year, the search terms were updated to include additional terms such as ‘abuse’ and ‘slave’ as these were considered more relevant terms to cover modern slavery and human rights violations. No modern slavery concerns were raised through this process in this academic year.  

Modern Slavery Statement 2021/22