David's paper was one of 57 submitted, and made the shortlist of the top three nominations for the R. D. Pearce Best Paper Prize at the Reading Conference.

The paper is titled “Sub Saharan Africa Again? Same Challenges, New Opportunities – A Case for an SSA OFDI Conceptual Framework”. It projects Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) as a resource rich region with over 1 billion people and the 3rd largest populated area after China and India. Based on a detailed historical data and literature review, the paper adopts a reflective approach to explore the conceptual foundations and theoretical linkages that relate to the emerging OFDI and Internationalisation phenomenon from the region. To reveal how and why OFDI occurs from SSA and its influencing factors, the paper suggests that governance, resources, environment, networks, knowledge, enterprise and region are the seven key pathways that form a holistic framework for understanding SSA OFDI. It goes on to derive a comprehensive table of OFDI influencing factors for the region.

On receiving the nomination, David said "I was very delighted when it was announced that my paper had been nominated among the top three for the prestigious R. D. Pearce Best Paper Prize at the 2019 Reading - UNCTAD International Business Conference. I was also profoundly appreciative of the high quality doctoral training received while at Lancaster University Management School."

Congratulations to David on this fantastic nomination, and we wish him all the best in his future career.