Trusts, Wealth and Philanthropy Initiative

The Trusts, Wealth and Philanthropy Initiative (TWPI) aims to be the leading Asian centre of research on trusts, wealth management and philanthropy informed by a variety of research methods including doctrinal, theoretical, empirical, historical and comparative perspectives. The goal is for TWPI to act as the meeting point and first port of call for scholars, leading practitioners, governments, and policy makers pursuing rigorous, informed and significant research in this area.

The TWPI hosts a variety of lecture series, conferences and seminars in the field facilitating scholarly research and discussion while engaging with a local and international audience in academia and practice. TWPI’s signature event is a biennial conference held at SMU since 2015. These conferences have gathered judges, practitioners and professors from as far afield as Australia, China, England, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, New Zealand and the United States to discuss cutting-edge issues in trusts, wealth management and philanthropy. This conference series is widely regarded as one of the world’s pre-eminent fora for the discussion of trust law, wealth management and philanthropy in the common law world.