20th September - 21st September 2018, Sydney

The Investment Management Research (IMR) Program at the University of Technology Sydney (IMR Program@UTS) is the continuation of Paul Woolley Centre and so its genesis can be traced back to 2006. Since the beginning of 2017 the IMR Program@UTS has worked with the Portfolio Construction Forum (http://www.portfolioconstructionforum.edu.au) to bring academics, professional investors, consultants, practitioners and policy makers together, to consider and debate a range of investment management research issues of relevance to the financial services industry.

The 12th annual IMR Conference will be held on UTS campus at the Aerial Function Centre on Thursday 20th September and Friday 21st September 2018. Attendance at the conference is limited to approximately 150 people and invitations to attend are in high demand.

SPEAKERS: Keynote speakers are in the process of being finalized for the 2018 IMR Conference. Past keynote speakers have included Patrick Bolton, Viral Acharya, Nicholas Barberis, Stephen Brown, Will Goetzmann, Harrison Hong, Gur Huberman, Michael Brennan, and Dimitri Vayanos

FOCUS: The key areas of research focus of the IMR Program are
- Funds management (across all asset classes, including real estate)
- Wealth management (particularly investment and superannuation)
- Banking (particularly financial intermediation and regulation)

The IMR Program is now seeking proposals from suitable contributors to make presentations that relate to any of these research areas, broadly defined. We are particularly seeking proposals based on research projects that are at this time either the germ of an idea or are in an embryonic stage of their development. There will be almost a seven-month gap between the acceptance of a paper and the required time for the submission of the paper.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE: The IMR Program is willing to consider providing research grants up to a maximum of $10,000 to support the development of chosen proposals. Please indicate when responding to the call for proposals whether you would like to be considered for a research grant and how the funds are to be used to support the development of the paper. Further, we will make a reasonable contribution to the travel and accommodation costs associated with presenting at the conference.

PAPER SUBMISSION PROCEDURE: Proposals must be received by Monday February 19th 2018:
(a) You must provide a maximum of one page outline of the paper that you intend to prepare for the conference and (if you wish to be considered for a grant) no more than additional page outlining how will apply any grant funds towards the development of the project (see Financial Assistance)
(b) Your proposal should be emailed to the Director of the IMR Program@UTS, Ron Bird, no later than 5pm on Monday 19th February 2018 at ron.bird@uts.edu.au
(c) You will be notified regarding the success of your submission by the end of February

COMPLETED PAPER DEADLINE: Successful applicants will be required to provide us with a final copy of their paper, for presentation at the IMR Conference by mid-September 2018.