Call: 2026 Vernon L. Smith Young Talent Award

We want to announce the call for nominations for the annual Vernon L. Smith Young Talent Award (VSYA) in Experimental Finance.

The Society for Experimental Finance will award two prize of 4000 Euros for the best research proposals in finance using experimental methodology. We will invite the winners or a representative of the winners to present their work at the EF2027 in Pisa, Italy.

To apply for the VSYA, please submit a proposal for an experimental research project via the application form (link) and send the completed application form to office@expfin.org with the subject “VSYA26” and the applicant’s name.

Requirements

• All authors on the project must satisfy the following requirements. Your project is eligible for assessment if 1) you have received your PhD after 2019 or have no PhD yet, 2) you have an affiliation with a University or other research institution, and 3) you are an SEF member. (Membership in the SEF is free – simply register on our website expfin.org and tick the required box to join)
• Your project’s research question needs to be set in a finance context, such as financial economics, corporate finance, household finance, or sustainable finance.
• Your proposal should describe a proper experiment.
• The funds need to be earmarked for running the experimental project that was submitted. Any resulting publication must acknowledge funding from the SEF through the VSYA.

After screening the submissions for eligibility, we forward the anonymized application forms to the panel members. The panel members are Jürgen Huber (University of Innsbruck), Zwetelina Iliewa (University of Bonn), Tibor Neugebauer (University of Luxembourg), and Olga Rud (University of Starvanger). They evaluate the proposals and select the winners.

For further questions, don’t hesitate to contact Peiran Jiao via office@expfin.org.

Deadline for submission: November 8, 2026