I. Introduction and admissions criteria
The European Association of Co-operative Banks (EACB), in collaboration with its Academic Think-Tank, is pleased to announce a competition for best papers in the field of co-operative banks. The competition is targeted at young researchers up to 35 years old (i.e. they should be born in 1986 or after). Co-authored papers will be accepted if all authors are up to 35 years of age.
II. Research Themes and selection process
Contributions will be accepted providing they are not already published in scientific journals or books by 15 September 2022. However, papers that have appeared in working paper series or that will be forthcoming in a publication after 15 September 2022 will be considered. The submitted papers should follow the standard format of scientific journals, and should contain new and original work by the authors. The word limit is around 10,000 words or less.The paper should be delivered both in PDF and in Word format in order to allow a plagiarism checking.
The papers should relate directly to co-operative banks. Papers that compare co-operative banks with other types of banking organisations (e.g. profit maximising banks, shareholders banks, savings banks, etc) are welcome. The papers should be written in English. The assessors will be looking for contributions primarily from the following academic fields: economics, finance and accounting, corporate governance, or management. We are interested in papers related to the following broad themes but papers on other topics related to cooperative banking will be considered:
• Innovation, digitalisation: challenges and opportunities for co-operative banks
• The specific governance of co-operative banks and the evolution of their business model
• The challenge of Open Banking for co-operative banks
• Co-operative Banks: ‘Creating member value’
• Regulatory challenges of co-operative banks
• Co-operative banks and financial stability
• Diversity in banking: the role of co-operative banks
• Contribution of co-operative banks to competition in European banking
• Co-operative banks' contribution to sustainability of society and the environment
• Co-operative banks and social and financial inclusion
• International comparison of co-operative banks
• Are there distinct characteristics of co-operative banks (the co-operative difference)?
• Culture in stakeholders value (co-operative) banks: is it different from shareholder banks?”
The selection criteria are the contribution the paper makes to the scientific literature, the
rigor of the argumentation, the clarity of exposition and policy relevance.
III. Deadline
The deadline for the submissions is 15 September 2022. The submissions should be sent to eacbaward@eacb.coop
For inquiries, please contact the EACB secretariat, Lead Communication:Luce JACQMIN (Tel.: + 32 2 289 68 57), luce.jacqmin@eacb.coop
IV. Scientific Committee
• Mr Silvio Goglio, University of Trento, Italy (Chair)
• Mr Yiorgos Alexopoulos, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece
• Mr Hans Groeneveld, University of Tilburg and Rabobank Nederland, Netherlands
• Mr David Llewellyn, University of Loughborough, UK
• Mr Eric Meyer, University of Muenster, Germany
V. Award
The prize for the best paper is 2,000 Euros. The best papers will receive a special mention and will be published by the EACB. The prize will be awarded in Q3/Q4 2022.