Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), manager of the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global, on 27 September awarded the first PhD scholarship to be granted by the Norwegian Finance Initiative (NFI).
The scholarship went to Einar Kjenstad at the Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester in New York for his research on corporate finance. It amounts to 200,000 kroner a year for a maximum of five years.
The NFI also awarded Fredrik Bysveen, Bård Rosef and Vegard Veiteberg 50,000 kroner for their joint Master’s thesis on the pricing of contingent convertible capital.
The NFI was set up by Norges Bank in 2011 to promote financial economic research and education in areas relevant to the long-term management of the Government Pension Fund Global. The scholarship programme provides financial incentives for students to pursue studies in financial economics at top-ranked international doctorate programmes. The Master’s thesis award gives incentives for outstanding Master’s theses in financial economics by students at universities and equivalent institutions in Norway.
This is the first time the NFI has handed out a PhD scholarship and a Master’s thesis award. The awards will be granted annually.