TRN Conference 2022: Programme Schedule

Monday 5th September

10.00am – 11.00am: In person registration desk opens.

10.30am – 10:55am: Welcome (host and TRN directors).


11.00am – 12.30pm – Parallel sessions

Parallel Session 1 (in person) – Chair : TBA

  • Citizens of the World, Taxpayers of none – Marco Greggi (University of Ferrara, Italy), Eleonora Addarii (University of Ferrara, Italy), Anna Miotto (University of Ferrara, Italy)
  • (Tax)Citizen of the World – Yvette Lind (Copenhagen Business School, Denmark)
  • Fiscal citizenship and fiscal belonging in the UK – Lotta Bjorklund Larsen (University of Exeter, UK), Lynne Oats (University of Exeter, UK)

Parallel Session 2 (in person) – Chair : TBA

  • Public Value – moving beyond western narratives about taxation: Edidiong Bassey (NUI Galway, Ireland), Emer Mulligan (NUI Galway, Ireland)
  • Addressing wider inequality: exploring public feeling and marginalised voices in tax reform: Carla Edgley (Cardiff Business School, UK), Nina Sharma (Cardiff Business School, UK) • Migration, trust and tax morale Eva Matthaei (Freie Universitaet Berlin, Germany) Charlotte Schmidt (JuliusMaximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany), Benno Torgler (Queensland University of Technology, Australia)

Parallel Session 3 (in person) – Chair : TBA

  • Why “global” fails: inclusive institutions and international tax policy making: Natalia Pushkareva (University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Italy)
  • International tax strategies adopted by UK MNEs: differences between industry sector and firm size: Jinning Hong (University of Nottingham, UK)
  • Transfer pricing risk management of intangible assets for MNEs: Cong Shao (University of Nottingham, UK)

12.30pm – 1.30pm – Lunch


1.30pm – 3.00pm – Parallel sessions

Parallel Session 4 (in person) – Chair : TBA

  • Does the South African GAAR need a Kiwi facelift? Teresa Pidduck (University of Pretoria, South Africa), Andre Klopper, Tshephiso Malema and Michelle Kirsten
  • Media coverage of corporate tax avoidance: Salma Ashour (University of Birmingham, UK), Doris Merkl-Davies (Bangor University, UK) and Helen Rogers (Bangor University, UK)
  • Socio-Political determinants of corporate social responsibility and tax avoidance in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry: towards developing a monitoring network: Haruna Isallah (University of Dundee)

Parallel Session 5 (in person) – Chair : TBA

  • Aeneas Coffey and the role of tax in the emergence of modern whisky: Dominic de Cogan (University of Cambridge, UK), Donard de Cogan (retired, UEA, UK)
  • Exploring the relevance of tax incentives in the brewing industry in Africa: Ilinza Maree (University of Pretoria, South Africa)
  • A brief history of taxing death in the UK: Peter Allen (University of Nottingham, UK)

Parallel Session 6 (in person) – Chair : TBA

  • Statutory interpretation after Brexit: implications from a case study of VAT: Yige Zu (Durham University)
  • Reconceptualising the principle of equality in EU tax law: Cristina Trenta (Örebro Universitet – Juridicum, Sweden)
  • The EU VAT reform from an environmental tax policy perspective: Stephanie Geringer (University of Vienna, Austria)

3.30pm – 5.00pm – Day 1 keynote

Q&A on investigative journalism in tax – Gerard Ryles (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists)

Gerard Ryle is ICIJ’s director. He led the worldwide teams of journalists working on the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers investigations, the biggest in journalism history. Under his leadership, ICIJ has become one of the best-known journalism brands in the world. Gerard will lead a Q&A to answer questions relating to his work.


7.00pm – Conference dinner (ticketed)


Tuesday 6th September

09.00am – 10.30pm – Parallel sessions

Parallel Session 7 (in person) – Chair : TBA

  • Developments in tax law: Jane Frecknall-Hughes (University of Nottingham, UK), Lynda Burkinshaw (Sheffield University Management School, UK)
  • Engendering change: measuring and mitigating gender bias in direct income tax legislation in South Africa: Sumarie Swanepol (University of Pretoria, South Africa)
  • Precedent in tax law: Michael Blackwell (LSE, UK)

Parallel Session 8 (in person) – Chair : TBA

  • Tax lottery system for South Africa to improve tax compliance: Anculien Shoeman (University of Pretoria, South Africa)
  • Transformative competencies for tax literacy: Marina Bowman (University of Johannesburg, South Africa)

Parallel Session 9 (Online only) – Chair : TBA

  • Zero-Emissions transport: taxation support for business fleet cars: Diane Kraal (Monash University, Australia)
  • Company taxpayer behaviour in the mining sector: use of grounded theory on interview data: Richard Taylor (Monash University, Australia)
  • The use of tax credits for regulatory and distributive purposes: Sonja Dusarduijn (Tilburg University, Netherlands), Hans Gribnau (Tilburg University, Netherlands)

11.00am – 12.30pm – Parallel sessions

Parallel Session 10 (in person) – Chair : TBA

  • Global minimum taxation: tailoring some advice for developing countries: Leopoldo Parada (University of Leeds, UK)
  • The BEPS project implementation in developing countries: Laila Al Maqbali (University of Edinburgh, UK)
  • Work from anywhere – tax treaty shopping in disguise? Natalia Jarzebowska (Institute of Legal Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland)

Parallel Session 11 (in person) – Chair : TBA

  • Paris Agreement: commitment and resistances in developing countries: a case study of Indonesia: Penelope Tuck (University of Birmingham, UK)
  • Taxation and state-building in Afghanistan, a political economy perspective (2001-2021): Sarajuddin Isar (SOAS, UK)
  • Enhancing wellbeing in New Zealand and Wales through broadening the scope of consultation in tax policy design: Sara Closs-Davies (Bangor University, UK), Adrian Sawyer (University of Canterbury, New Zealand)

Parallel Session 12 (in person) – Chair : TBA

  • Testing the validity of current research based on UK corporate tax return data: David Massey (SOAS, UK)
  • The Corporate Tax Paradox: Israel Klein (Ariel University, Israel)
  • Creative enforcement: a strategy to implement problematic tax regulation: Rodrigo Ormeno-Perez (University of Chile, Chile), Lynne Oats (University of Exeter, UK)

12.30pm – 1.30pm – Lunch


1.30pm – 3.00pm – Parallel sessions

Parallel Session 13 (in person) – Chair : TBA

  • AI beyond automation in tax administration: Benita Mathew (University of Surrey, UK)
  • A study of tax lawyers discussing duties: Michael Hatfield (University of Washington, USA), Michelle Kwon (University of Tennessee College of Law, USA)
  • The baseline problem in tax fairness: Ira Lindsay (University of Surrey, UK)

Parallel Session 14 (Online only) – Chair : TBA

  • Poll taxes, revisited: Jeremy Bearer-Friend (George Washington University, USA)
  • Are philanthropic donations driven by wealth despite few tax incentives? Findings from the canton of Geneva: Giedre Lideikyte Huber (University of Pretoria, South Africa)
  • Shaming under the cover of tax law: Limor Riza (Ono Academic College, Israel)

Parallel Session 15 (Online only) – Chair : TBA

  • The international tax and trade intersection: a plea for reassessment: Jennifer Farrell (Western University, Canada)
  • Voice and silence in tax: a study into the propensity of tax practitioners for speaking up: Brendan McCarthy (University of Limerick, Ireland)

3.30pm – 5.00pm – Day 2 keynote (drinks reception to follow)

Devolved taxes: the story so far – Justine Riccomini (ICAS) and Gregor Auld (Scottish Government)

With input from both ICAS and the Scottish Government, this event aimed at both academics and practitioners will tell the story of tax devolution so far. To do so, they will examine tax devolution from both a policymaking and practitioner angle to explore what has worked well. This will include an examination of the current competences of the Scottish Parliament when it comes to taxes in Scotland, as well as some of the impacts that recent policy changes have had on the law and how we administer taxes.


Wednesday 7 th September – Tax Education Day

09.30am – 10.15am – Tax Education Keynote 1

Innovation in tax teaching and assessment: Dr Stephen Daly (Senior Lecturer in Corporate Law, King’s College, London)

By the summer of 2021, it had been almost 20 years since the last empirical study of tax teaching in the UK was undertaken. Further study was timely and to that end, Amy Lawton and I set out to take “another check” of the health of UK tax teaching in law schools and business schools. To do so, we distributed a survey to university teachers to explore the extent and nature of their tax teaching. This survey, combined with publicly available data, formed the basis of an article which was published in Issue 2 of this year’s British Tax Review (Stephen Daly and Amy Lawton “Another check of the temperature of tax teaching in the UK” [2022] 2 British Tax Review 202).

Some of our findings were entirely in line with what previous literature had found. Other findings pointed out, at times, hopeful and, at other times, worrying shifts in tax teaching in UK universities. This talk shall use that article as a basis for discussing trends in innovation in tax teaching and assessment.


10:45am – 12.15pm – Parallel sessions

Parallel Session 1 (in person) – Chair : TBA

  • The impact of virtual reality on the lived-experiences of undergraduate taxation students: Hanneke du Preez (University of Pretoria, South Africa), Tanya Hill (University of Pretoria, South Africa)
  • Reflections on a virtual reality soft skills teaching intervention: Tanya Hill (University of Pretoria, South Africa), Hanneke du Preez (University of Pretoria, South Africa)
  • Exposing students to a simulation of the online platform used by the South African Revenue: Services Lungelo Motsamai (University of Pretoria, South Africa), Hanneke du Preez (University of Pretoria, South Africa)

Parallel Session 2 (in person) – Chair : TBA

  • Undergraduate tax students’ motivation in online learning: Julia Soobramoney (University of Johannesburg, South Africa), Marina Bowman (University of Johannesburg, South Africa)
  • A picture is worth a thousand words: using pictograms to teach tax concepts: Emmanuelle Deglaire (EDHEC Business School, France), Peter Daly (EDHEC Business School, France)
  • Can regular short testing provide a key to increase student engagement and motivation: Terry Filer (Swansea University, UK)

12.15pm – 1.15pm – Lunch


1.15pm – 2.45pm – Roundtable on tax assessment by the TRN Education Committee


3:15pm – 4:15pm – Tax Education Keynote 2

Using Quitch to teach tax: Dr Grainne Oates (Associate Professor, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia)

Roundtable: Dr Phyllis Alexander (Bournemouth University, UK) and David Massey (SOAS, UK)

Dr Grainne Oates is an Associate Professor in Accounting at Swinburne University of Technology. She specialises in teaching introductory and management accounting at undergraduate and post graduate levels. Her primary research interests are in learning and teaching with a special focus on teaching innovations to enhance the student experience and learning outcomes. She is the Founder and CEO of ‘Quitch’ a content neutral gamified mobile learning platform built to enhance the student experience. The platform is now in use in Educational Institutions, Professional Associations and Corporates across the world.

4:15pm – Conference close