About

Overview

We invite submissions that embody the best in current empirical and theoretical research. We welcome papers in asset pricing, corporate finance and all other areas of finance. The general academic sessions will be comprised of papers from all areas. The conference selection committee includes eminent scholars in every facet of finance. With the help of the selection committee, we strive to provide a conference program that is internationally renowned for excellent presentations, discussions, and keynote speeches.

A unique feature of the program is that we honour 'vintage' research that has inspired recent advances and withstood the test of time. In 2026, we will celebrate the body of work by Professor René Stulz of The Ohio State University, given its impact in academia, industry and among regulators. We are honoured to have Professor Stulz and Professor John Griffin of the University of Texas at Austin as our keynote speakers.

This year's conference will feature a fireside chat with Professor Stulz examining the eclipse of public markets, to be delivered during the opening reception on Thursday evening of February 26th.

This year's conference will feature a session on gender finance, sponsored by the Gender Lab, a research center at Melbourne University's Faculty of Business and Economics specializing in gender economics and finance. Papers for this session will be considered as part of the general call for papers. For more details, please contact Marina Gertsberg (mgertsberg@unimelb.edu.au).

In addition to submissions in all other areas, we encourage submissions related to the contributions by Professor Stulz.

Paper Submission Procedure

The deadline for paper submissions is midnight US EST October 9, 2025. Papers should be submitted electronically at http://editorialexpress.com/conference/FDU2026.  A submission fee of US$100 will be required for each submission.

Papers will be reviewed by members of the conference selection committee, and authors of selected papers will be notified in November 2025. For further questions, please contact our administrative liaisons at fdu-conference@unimelb.edu.au .

Awards

• The J Spencer Martin Best Paper Award, with a prize of A$4,000.
• The Impact Paper Award.  This award will be presented, with a prize of A$1,500, to a paper that has relevance to the Asia-Pacific region and/or to the asset management industry. To be considered for this award, authors need to select the option when submitting their papers.

We hope that you can join us in 2026 in delightful late-summer Melbourne.