2027 University of Delaware John L. Weinberg Center Corporate Governance Symposium and John L. Weinberg/IRRCi Research Paper Award Competition

Call for Papers

The John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance and the Department of Finance at the Lerner College of Business & Economics, University of Delaware, in collaboration with Management Science and ECGI, will host an in-person symposium and research paper competition on Friday, 12 March 2027. Up to three papers will be selected as winners of the John L. Weinberg/IRRCi Research Paper Award, each receiving a $10,000 prize. The symposium will feature a keynote by Wei Jiang, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Finance at Emory University's Goizueta Business School and 2026 President of the American Finance Association.

We seek submissions from academics and practitioners on corporate governance and related topics that provide insights relevant to policymakers, investors, directors, executives, and other decision makers. Submissions may be theoretical, empirical, legal, policy-oriented, or interdisciplinary in approach. We especially encourage submissions from early-career researchers and emerging scholars. 

Since 2008, the Weinberg Center has organized distinguished research paper competitions and, since 2018, has continued the legacy of the renowned IRRCi Investor Research Paper Award. For highlights of past symposium programs and award winners, please visit our website. 

Collaboration with Management Science:

This year we are pleased to collaborate with Management Science to offer a subset of papers submitted to the symposium a “no-fault” dual-submission opportunity. The collaborating editors are Professor Bo Becker of the Stockholm School of Economics and Professor Daniel Ferreira of the London School of Economics. The symposium program committee will recommend a subset of submitted papers to the collaborating editors for consideration (this subset may include papers not selected for the conference). At their sole discretion, the editors may invite a subset of these papers to participate in the “no-fault” dual-submission process with Management Science. The authors can then decide if they accept the invitation. Papers rejected through dual submission can be resubmitted later to Management Science as a new submission without prejudice. For full details regarding the dual submission option, please consult "Policy for Dual Submission" on Management Science's "Submission Guideline" page.

Submission to the symposium does not require submission to Management Science, and authors are free to submit their work to any journal. Selection for the symposium program and recommendation to Management Science are separate decisions. Accordingly, not all papers selected for presentation at the symposium will necessarily be recommended to Management Science, while papers not selected for the symposium program may still be recommended to the collaborating editors for consideration.

Submission Deadline and Procedure: 

The deadline for paper submissions is 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on 18 November 2026. There is a non-refundable submission fee of $100 per paper. Please first pay the submission fee at http://www.udel.edu/weinberg-irrci-paper, and then submit your paper here. Please enter the submission fee payment receipt number with your submission.

Papers must not have been accepted for publication at the time of submission. Papers should be submitted with a cover page that includes paper title, full names and affiliations of all authors, and an abstract of 100-250 words.  For papers selected as finalists for the paper competition, at least one author must attend and present the paper in person at the University of Delaware on March 12, 2027.

Selection of finalists and winners, if any, is at the sole discretion of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance. The Weinberg Center anticipates awarding up to three $10,000 prizes but reserves the right to award fewer or no prizes if it determines, in its sole discretion, that no submission warrants recognition.

General inquiries regarding the competition or symposium should be directed to Geri Foster of the University of Delaware at WeinbergIRRCI@udel.edu; inquiries about the Weinberg Center should be directed to Lawrence Cunningham of the Weinberg Center at cunning@udel.edu.