Event information

28 November 2023, 15:00-16:30
Register start 21 November 2023
Register end 28 November 2023

Alpha in Adversity

Event

Open mine Open mine

It is in conflict-affected and high-risk areas where salient human rights risks to people most often translate into financially material risks to companies and their shareholders. It is therefore incumbent upon investors to Identify, assess, and address these severe and systemic risks in order to uphold their responsibilities to rights holders under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and their fiduciary duties to their clients. However, guidance on heightened human rights due diligence for investors and their role in advancing rights-respecting conduct in these contexts is still largely lacking.

With the number, intensity, and duration of conflicts and rights violations by authoritarian states on the rise, this conversation is an important opportunity to explore current challenges to rights-respecting investment in conflict-affected and high-risk areas, practical guidance for approaching the (human rights) saliency / (financial) materiality nexus in investment portfolios and company engagements, and evolving investor action.

This discussion will be built around an upcoming white paper from Heartland Initiative, Schroders, and Wespath Benefits & Investments on the ‘saliency-materiality nexus’.

Introduction

  • Dr Erica Harper, Head of Research and Policy Studies, Geneva Academy

Moderation

  • Gerald Pachoud, Managing Partner, Pluto Advisory

Speakers

  • Katie Frame, Active Ownership Manager, Schroders
  • Samuel Jones, President, Heartland Initiative
  • Rebecca DeWinter-Schmitt, Associate Director, Investor Alliance for Human Rights

 

Disclaimer

This event may be filmed, recorded and/or photographed on behalf of the Geneva Academy. The Geneva Academy may use these recordings and photographs for internal and external communications for information, teaching and research purposes, and/or promotion and illustration through its various media channels (website, social media, newsletters, annual report, etc.).

By participating in this event, you are agreeing to the possibility of appearing in the aforementioned films, recordings and photographs, and their subsequent use by the Geneva Academy.

MORE ON THIS THEMATIC AREA

2024 Geneva Academy Annual Report News

Our 2024 Annual Report

28 July 2025

Our 2024 Annual Report highlights significant achievements in international humanitarian law education and research during a year marked by deepening global humanitarian crises.

Read more

News

Apply to Our Online Executive Master - MAS in International Law in Armed Conflict

4 February 2025

Applications for the upcoming academic year of our Online Executive Master – MAS in International Law in Armed Conflict - are now open. They will remain open until 30 May 2025, with courses starting at the end of September 2025.

Read more

Warzone Event

Advanced IHL Seminar for Academics and Policymakers

25-29 August 2025, 09:00-17:30

Co-hosted with the ICRC, this event aims to enhance the capacity of academics to teach and research international humanitarian law, while also equipping policymakers with an in-depth understanding of ongoing legal debates.

Read more

Town Hall Meeting Training

Localizing International Human Rights

8-10 October 2025

This training course, specifically designed for staff of city and regional governments, will explore the means and mechanisms through which local and regional governments can interact with and integrate the recommendations of international human rights bodies in their concrete work at the local level.

Read more

Open dump Training

Protecting Human Rights and the Environment

15-19 September 2025

Participants in this training course will gain practical insights into UN human rights mechanisms and their role in environmental protection and learn about how to address the interplay between international human rights and environmental law, and explore environmental litigation paths.

Read more

Screenshot of the RULAC webpage Project

Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts (RULAC)

Started in May 2007

The Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts project (RULAC) is a unique online portal that identifies and classifies all situations of armed violence that amount to an armed conflict under international humanitarian law (IHL). It is primarily a legal reference source for a broad audience, including non-specialists, interested in issues surrounding the classification of armed conflicts under IHL.

Read more

Neutrotechology Project

Neurotechnology and Human Rights

Started in August 2023

This project addresses the human rights implications stemming from the development of neurotechnology for commercial, non-therapeutic ends, and is based on a partnership between the Geneva Academy, the Geneva University Neurocentre and the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee. 

Read more

Cover of the 2023 Geneva Academy Annual Report Publication

Annual Report 2024

published on July 2025

Read more