About the Conference

Learn what to expect from the 8th IYFS Conference, which takes place on 8 and 9 April 2027.

A globe with gold lines denoting connectivity

A global online conference

The 8th International Young Finance Scholars (IYFS) Conference is an innovative online-only event designed specifically for Early Career Researchers in finance.

The Conference is an opportunity to present research to a global audience, receive detailed feedback from internationally recognised academics, build collaborations locally and across continents, and become part of a growing international research community.

IYFS encourages interaction, collaboration and career development through the innovative use of online technologies – rather than simply replicating the format of a traditional conference online.

Alongside paper presentations, attendees can engage in structured networking activities through a range of digital activity rooms which will continue conversations beyond individual sessions. 

IYFS spans Australia, Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas over two days. Sessions begin during the evening in East Asia, continue throughout the European working day, and conclude during the morning in North America, enabling researchers from around the world to participate live.

What makes IYFS different?

Unlike conventional conferences, IYFS has been designed from the outset as an online-first conference rather than an online version of a traditional event.

The conference programme is intended to maximise interaction, constructive feedback and long-term collaboration among Early Career Researchers. Highlights include:

  • an internationally-renowned keynote speaker sharing insights from the forefront of finance research
  • an interactive panel discussion, 'Meet the Editors', with leading journal editors on the future of academic publishing in the age of artificial intelligence 
  • activity rooms that support networking, collaboration, data exchange, skills sharing and co-author matching before, during and after the conference 
  • global participation, with a timetable designed to enable live attendance across Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas
  • detailed feedback from internationally-recognised academics through the review process and session discussions
  • affordable registration, ensuring that participation is accessible to Early Career Researchers from around the world. 

Scientific committee 

This committee is a panel of leading researchers responsible for maintaining the academic quality of the conference. 

It is made up of internationally recognised researchers who review submitted papers and chair conference sessions. 

They ensure every presentation receives constructive, high-quality feedback.

  • The Committee 

    Matthew Agarwala, University of Sussex

    Turan Bali, Georgetown University

    Jack Bao, University of Delaware

    Jie Cao, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

    Alvaro Cartea, University of Oxford

    Darwin Choi, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

    Gonul Colak, University of Sussex

    Jessica James, Commerzbank, AG

    Rita D'Ecclesia, Sapienza University of Rome

    Jun Deng, University of International Business and Economics

    Darren Duxbury, Newcastle University

    Kingsley Fong, University of New South Wales

    Michael Gallmeyer, University of Virginia

    Zhenyu Gao, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

    Paul Glasserman, Columbia University

    Matheus Grasselli, McMaster University

    Guojun He, The University of Hong Kong

    Edith Hotchkiss, Boston College

    Andreas Kaeck, University of Sussex

    Emese Lazar, University of Reading

    Yan Liu, Sun Yat-sen University

    Evgeny Lyandres, Tel Aviv University

    Alexander McNeil, University of York

    Christophe Mues, University of Southampton

    Natalie Packham, Berlin School of Economics and Law

    Marcel Prokopczuk, Leibniz University Hannover

    Raghavendra Rau, University of Cambridge

    Ryan Riordan, LMU Munich School of Management 

    Mark Shackleton, Lancaster University

    Betty Simkins, Oklahoma State University

    Richard Tol, University of Sussex

    Tianyu Wang, Tsinghua University

    Julian Williams, Durham University

    Java Xu, University College London

    Hong Yan, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

    Thaleia Zariphopoulou, The University of Texas at Austin

    Xintong Zhan, Fudan University

    Yu Zhang, Peking University

    Keling Zheng, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Organising committee 

Previous conferences

Founded by Professor Carol Alexander, the first (in-person) Young Finance Scholars Conferences took place in 2014 with over 40 presentations from ECRs. The sixth conference in 2019 attracted 135 submissions from 25 countries and the in-person event had 85 presentations in five parallel streams, each with its own cash prize for best paper.

As the number of submissions, mainly from Europe and Africa, rapidly grew and the Covid pandemic restricted travel, the seventh conference was entirely online and thus allowed 168 ECR presenters from all over the globe to receive detailed feedback from internationally recognised senior academics, with generous cash prizes for papers in several different categories. The Nobel prize winner Thomas Sargent delivered the keynote address.

The new global online format now brings together Early Career Researchers and senior academics from leading universities across the world, establishing IYFS as one of the leading international conferences dedicated to ECRs in finance. As a not-for-profit conference, IYFS combines one of the lowest registration fees in international finance with generous cash prizes for the best papers presented across the parallel streams.

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