WAIFC Young Academic Award
We invite young academics to submit papers or essays on the future of a sustainable and inclusive financial sector.
Voir les lauréats 2026 →
In response to the growing need for talent development and research-backed innovative solutions to tackle pressing global challenges, WAIFC launched the Young Academic Award in 2022 to support young academic scholars and incentivize research on the financial sector's contribution towards sustainable socio-economic development and inclusiveness.
Focus areas for the competition are reviewed by the jury every year and include highly relevant topics such as the role of the financial sector in addressing sustainability, inclusion and talent development, climate change finance, social finance, digital assets, and digital currencies, and the impact of geopolitical development on the financial sector. The competition is open to young academics below the age of 35. Multiple authors can contribute to a paper, but at least one author must be under the age of 35 as of the submission deadline.
The jury will select the top three winners each year and award cash prizes of €3,000, €2,000, and €1,000 for first, second, and third places, respectively. Winners will also be invited and sponsored to join the WAIFC's Annual General Meeting, where they will present and discuss their research with WAIFC Board members and leading financial sector professionals. The award-winning works will also be published on the WAIFC website.
Please stay tuned for the Young Academic Award 2027.
Lauréats 2026
Appel à contributions, thèmes et résultats →
Tous les lauréats et leurs travaux
- First place Natalie Playford From Gender Rhetoric to Lending Rules: Adoption and Strength of Gender Clauses in Multilateral Development Bank Lending
- Second place Won Woo Supervisory Observability for Agentic Finance: A Cross-border Governance Framework for International Financial Centers
- Third place Wiktoria Chrzanowska and Adam Dejda The Programmable Citadel: International Financial Centers and the Architecture of Global Tokenized Capital Markets
- First place Vivi Yuwei Liao Adaptation Finance for Emerging Markets
- Second place Wilson Tsz Shing Wan Greenwashing risks in the corporate climate bond markets: Expenditure-based measurement, and its implications for financial market stability
- Third place Prakriti Chahar Do International Financial Centres Enable Circular Economy Investment? Firm-Level Evidence from BRICS Economies
- First place Tammaro Terracciano, Coralie Jaunin, and Luciano Somoza Are Green Funds for Real?
- Second place Adebodun Adebayo Financial Centers as Drivers of Talent Development and Re-Skilling in Sustainability and FinTech
- Third place Regean Mugume Delivering double wins: How can Africa’s finance deliver economic growth and renewable energy transition?
- First place Marta Kotlarska Examining the usefulness of Blockchain-based tokens in their ability to offset carbon emissions
- Second place Ved Beloskar Socially Responsible Investments: A Retrospective Review and Future Research Agenda
- Third place Lionel Mok Charting the Way Forward for Sustainable Finance Talent Development
- First place Tristan Caballero-Montes Integrating Market Conditions into Regulatory Decisions on Microfinance Interest Rates: Does Competition Matter?
- Second place Harshini Moonisamy-Ellapah & Paul Momtaz Harshini Moonisamy-Ellapah: Market Reaction to the Release of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) News and Sustainability Reports in Mauritius Paul Momtaz: Financing Sustainable Entrepreneurship: ESG Measurement, Valuation, and Performance in Token Offerings
- Third place Victor Saint-Jean Exit or Voice? Divestment, Activism, and Corporate Social Responsibility