Professional Definitions, Practices, and Assessment of Impact Investments

Nous avons le plaisir de annoncer le prochain séminaire LITEM/ETHOS, qui se tiendra le jeudi 26 février 2026, de 14h à 15h30, en salle E306 IMT-BS. Ce séminaire s’inscrit dans l’axe « Pratiques organisationnelles et responsabilité ».À cette occasion, nous accueillerons Elena Christodoulou, doctorante à King’s College London, pour une présentation intitulée Professional Definitions, Practices, and Assessment of Impact Investments.

Abstract: This seminar presents findings from my research on the evolution of impact investing, focusing on how professionals define, interpret, and integrate ‘impact’ into their daily work. Drawing on publicly available documents and semi-structured interviews with professionals in specialized impact funds, private equity, development finance institutions, and standard-setting bodies, the study examines the frameworks, tools, and processes used to assess and embed impact in investment decisions. Findings highlight how impact risk is integrated into due diligence and ongoing monitoring, how governance and accountability shape decision-making, and how trade-offs between financial and impact priorities vary across fund types, reflecting differences in how professionals balance financial and impact considerations.

Short Bio: Elena Christodoulou is a PhD candidate at King’s Business School, King’s College London. Drawing on institutional theory, her research examines impact investing. She focuses on how financial instruments designed for social and environmental outcomes are interpreted and operationalized, and how categories emerge through actors’ practices in impact-focused markets. She was previously a Visiting Associate at Cambridge Judge Business School, leading a study on impact investing and philanthropy in Nigeria. She has contributed to over ten EU-funded projects and was project manager of an approximately €2 million Horizon 2020 project. She holds an MPhil in Innovation, Strategy and Organisation from the University of Cambridge and a BSc in Business Administration from the University of Cyprus.