Call for Papers: 2026 Research Competition

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 the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI), will host an in-person academic symposium on Friday, March 6, 2026. We welcome all submissions broadly related to corporate governance. Up to three papers included in the symposium will be selected to each receive the 2026 John L. Weinberg/IRRCi Research Paper Award and a $10,000 prize. For past symposium programs and award winners, please visit the research paper competition webpage.

Both academic and practitioner submissions for the research paper competition are welcome.

The deadline for paper submissions is midnight, Eastern Standard Time, November 16, 2025. There is a non-refundable submission fee of $100 per paper. Please pay the submission fee by visiting the registration webpage. (If the link does not work, please copy and paste this link in your browser.) Please submit your papers to Nicole Rich at Weinberg-corp-gov@udel.edu, together with a copy of your payment receipt.

John L.  Weinberg/IRRCi Research Paper $10,000 Award Competition Guidelines/Procedures

This research competition is the successor to the IRRCi Investor Research Paper Award, which had become a prominent award garnering significant attention amongst the investment community, academia and policymakers. The John L. Weinberg/IRRCi Research Paper Award, as its predecessor did, highlights innovative research.

Papers should be submitted using the following guidelines.  Failure to comply with these guidelines may disqualify papers.

• Papers must not have been accepted for publication at the time of submission.
• Papers should be submitted with a cover page that includes the paper title, full name and affiliation of author(s), and a 100-250-word abstract.
• Please use the following format as the file name when you save your paper:  Last name (all caps), underscore, shortened name of paper, period, pdf (e.g., DOE Shareholder Engagement.pdf).

If selected for the award or as a finalist, it is required that one of the paper’s authors be available to present the paper in-person at the Symposium on March 6, 2026.

General inquiries regarding the competition or the Symposium should be directed to Nicole Rich at Weinberg-corp-gov@udel.edu.

Please note that the selection of winners/finalists, if any, is at the sole discretion of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance.  The Weinberg Center fully anticipates awarding up to three $10,000 prizes but reserves the right to select no papers as winners in the event papers submitted do not meet the above guidelines and/or the Center does not believe any paper is worthy of the award.