CIAS Inn: as researchers, it is important to embrace the fact that the world is constantly progressing

Prior to his academic career, the professor from Concordia University worked in the German consulting and industrial sector for companies such as Mercedes Benz, Utility Consultants International and KPMG, gaining experience in management consulting. His research interests include sustainability and climate change, aviation, corporate governance and risk management.  

Thomas Walker visited Budapest on the occasion of the 14th Annual Financial Market Liquidity Conference, which took place in November 2023. The event is usually attended by international and domestic academic and industry experts to discuss key financial market issues, including funding liquidity, systemic risk, asset pricing and ESG investing. At this event, he was recommended to apply for the CIAS fellowship programme, which enabled him to start his four-week research project in Hungary in early December 2024.  

He notes that both the Corvinus CIAS Research Institute and the Institute of Finance were very welcoming. He sees the big advantage of the research programme as being in one place for several weeks and locally working with like-minded colleagues, which makes it easier to stay focused and tackle bigger research questions, although for him the timing was more difficult as it was just before the Christmas holidays.   

His first paper, already with CIAS affiliation, was published under the title “Corporate resilience during crises and the role of ESG factors: evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic”, which received a lot of positive feedback at a recent workshop. This study explores the relationship between environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and investor behavior during the COVID-19 crisis. The study’s main finding is that firms that were more responsible towards their environment and adopted certain social practices (e.g. employing a similar proportion of women and men) performed much better during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Another research project, “Restrictive bond covenants: evidence from family firms in China”, is based on the growing interest in finance in the Chinese market, which is unique compared to others. The focus of the research was on the behaviour of firms with close links to the government. The study shows that these companies enjoy a lot of advantages, as the government implicitly protects them from going bankrupt.    

“I have colleagues and former PhD students from China, so it was natural to look at the Chinese market.”  

In his free time, he explored Budapest, visited the Christmas market and visited many excellent restaurants. His favourite neighbourhood was Gellért Hill, and for part of his time here he lived in the Gellért Campus Dormitory, which opened in early 2024.   

Currently, he is working on research in which he employs artificial intelligence and machine learning for text analyses. Specifically, he is working on an algorithm that can quickly draw conclusions regarding a firm’s risk profile from a company’s annual reports or earnings calls, such as exposure to the Russian-Ukrainian war.   

His advice to future researchers is that it is important to embrace progress and, as artificial intelligence becomes more and more important in all areas of the world, it is important to become familiar with it. In addition, it is important to grab every opportunity, such as CIAS, to further their professional development and expand their network of contacts.  

“Everyone was very friendly and helpful at CIAS. It is great that this programme exists. Not many universities have it and it is outstanding that Corvinus is one of them.“