Accounting and Financial Management Research Seminar – Dr Robert Charnock and Arielle Lee
Title: Accounting Research Beyond the University: Illustrated via a project interrogating ‘just transition’ in Borneo
Date: 1 May 2025
Time: 10:00 – 11:00
Venue: This online seminar is scheduled to take account of the time difference between UK and Singapore where the presenters are based.
Meeting ID: 341 261 855 612 Passcode: zJ6pA3jS
If you would like to attend, please register using the following link:
Speakers:
Robert Charnock, Founding Director, Metis Institute for Climate Strategy
Rob received his PhD in Accounting from the London School of Economics and Political Science, while working with the United Nations to develop a financial sector toolkit for analysing and managing the risks of climate change. His first step into research beyond the university setting was in 2021, when he led a team commissioned by the UK’s Financial Reporting Council to investigate how FTSE 100 and 250 companies use climate scenario analysis to remain resilient in the net zero transition. Rob then created Metis in 2022, with partial backing from the environmental consultancy RSK Group, and Metis has since worked with WWF, WBCSD, AICPA-CIMA, ICAEW, ISCA and ICAS on an array of projects and trainings linked to accounting for climate and biodiversity.
Arielle Lee, Senior Associate, Metis Institute for Climate Strategy
Arielle graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and a major in Finance. Building on her previous work experiences as a PwC auditor and working in an impact investment firm, Arielle’s research focuses on the just transition and is currently leading a research project on the role of MSMEs in Sarawak’s economic development in an inclusive and sustainable manner. Her previous projects include conducting research on transition planning through research with AICPA-CIMA and WWF. She has also worked with WBCSD, ISCA and ICAEW to incorporate recent ESG developments, such as double materiality and nature-related topics, into their training workshops. Arielle also gained hands-on access to TCFD reporting when asked to support a team from Metis’ funding organisation, RSK Group, which extended to conducting financial impact assessment for material climate risks.
Abstract:
Metis was created in 2022 with the aim of bringing academic insight and rigour to shorter-form research projects tackling pressing challenges. These have spanned climate risk assessments, national-level climate transition plans, biodiversity scenario analysis and now, the amorphous notion of ‘just transition’. With thanks to Newcastle University Business School, this session will reflect on accounting research beyond the university via Metis’ work with remote communities in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. The project explores community engagement as a critical element of a just transition, ensuring that remote and rural communities are not just included in economic shifts but actively shape them. Our project, led by Arielle Lee, focuses on the key challenge of community engagement. Existing engagement models tend to follow step-by-step guides, which lack the flexibility needed for diverse community contexts. Metis is therefore developing a blueprint that adopts a principles-based approach, and that is informed by literature review, interviews, and observational studies with an artisan from an indigenous tribe in Sarawak and her family, remote villages with varying experiences of economic integration, and the social enterprises that aim to connect these communities with cities and the international market.