2026 Conference

15th FIRN Annual Conference and 9th PhD Symposium 

FIRN cordially invites academics and international visiting scholars at FIRN member institutions to submit a paper to the 15th FIRN annual conference and 9th FIRN PhD Symposium.  The conference will be held over three days from 25th to 27th November at the Kingfisher Bay Resort on K’gari (formerly known as Fraser Island), Queensland.    

The FIRN annual conference and PhD Symposium provides an opportunity for finance academics to meet and present their research and exchange ideas, develop their networks, and discuss the latest finance research. The conference includes a networking event, a social activity, and a Gala dinner. 

Submit your papers here

Paper submission conditions: 

• Only one paper per presenting author may be submitted.
• Papers may not be already accepted for publication.
• Papers in all areas of finance are welcome.
• Paper author(s) must allow a copy of the paper to be made available to other conference participants.
• Only completed papers will be accepted. 

Submission Format:  Please submit two manuscripts: (1) a blind copy of the manuscript without author information, and (2) a separate file with the cover page containing the paper title, abstract and authors’ contact information (non-blind). PDF version documents only. 

Submission Deadline:  15 May 2026 
Decision communication:   August 2026 

PhD participation will be selective, with a competitive process determining presentation slots. Students who are not selected for full presentations will have the opportunity to present their work in poster sessions.

Prof. Roni Michaely 

Professor Michaely is a professor of Finance and Entrepreneurialship at The University of Hong Kong, and the founding Executive Director of the HKU Tel-Aviv Innovation Hub. He also serves as the Associate Dean (Global Engagement) at HIU business school, and as the Co-director HKU Jockey Club Enterprise Sustainability Global Research Institute (ESGRI). He is also a research member at the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI). Before that he spent a significant portion of his career as The Rudd Family professor of Finance at Cornell University and Cornell Tech. His teaching includes Corporate Finance, Entrepreneurial Finance with a recent focus on the possible impact of financial markets and players on Sustainability and Climate change. Professor Michaely’s research interests are in the areas of empirical Corporate Finance, Corporate Governance, ESG (whether and how financial markets and institutions affect Sustainability and Climate change), and Entrepreneurial Finance. His research addresses how informational and agency frictions in capital markets affect managers, investors (such as funds), and information providers (such as analysts and bloggers) decisions, output, and the effect on capital market efficiency. He was recently recognized as one of the most prolific researchers in finance with over 33,000 citations.

Professor Michaely has more than 80 academic publications. His research has appeared in such scholarly journals as the Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Finance, Management Science, The Review of Finance, and Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. His research has been frequently featured in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, the Economist, Investor’s Business Daily, Bloomberg, BusinessWeek, Forbes, Barrons, Money, and others. Prof. Michaely has given over 300 invited research talks, conference presentations and key-note speeches around the world, and is working with scholars from Asia, the US, and Europe, on research in corporate finance.

Professor Michaely’s research has also received many awards and honors. Recently he won the Review of Finance best paper award both in 2020 and in 2024, the 2024 Antitrust Writing Award, the Best paper award of the 2023 Financial Management Association International, and the best paper at the 2022 French Finance Association. He was also awarded the 2017 Distinguish research award of the, Eastern Finance Association, the 2005 Journal of Financial Economics Fama Prize for best paper, the 2000 Journal of Finance Smith Breeden Prize for distinguish paper, The 2000 Western Finance Association Award for the best paper on capital formation, The Review of Financial Studies 1999 Barclays Global Investors/Michael Brennan Runner-up Award, The 1999 Western Finance Association Award for the best paper, and the 1996 Western Finance Association Award for best paper on investments.

Professor Michaely is a co-founder of two startups and is currently on the on the advisory board of several other startups. He was a director of the Israeli Securities Authority (ISA) from 1998 to 2003 and was the chairperson of Tachlit (mutual fund) investment committee.

TBA

Registrations TBA

Getting to K’gari (Fraser Island) is straightforward, with regular ferry services operating from River Heads near Hervey Bay. Delegates can fly directly into Hervey Bay Airport from Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, with airport transfers available to the ferry terminal. From River Heads, the ferry to Kingfisher Bay Resort takes approximately 45–50 minutes.

Ferry departures from River Heads currently operate at 7:00am, 9:00am, 1:00pm and 3:45pm, with return services from Kingfisher Bay Resort available throughout the day.

For those wishing to explore further, guests are also welcome to bring their own vehicle to the island, with vehicle ferry transfers available through Kingfisher Bay Resort.