The Academic Network Conference focuses on the latest research on responsible investment practices. The event is for academic researchers in sustainability and will also be an opportunity for academics and investors to engage with each other, learn and discuss the latest insights, and to network. 

The PRI Academic Network is a vibrant and flourishing international community of over 12,000 academics and investment practitioners on ESG and investment. Academics are from RI-related disciplines, spanning accounting, economics, finance, law, management, sociology, and other subjects in the social and natural sciences. 

The UN‐supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) works to understand the investment implications of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors and to support its international network of investor signatories in incorporating these factors into their investment and ownership decisions. The PRI acts in the long‐term interests of its signatories, of the financial markets and economies in which they operate and ultimately of the environment and society as a whole. 

Conference dates and location 

  • Dates: 8 - 10 October 2024
  • City: Toronto, Canada 
  • Venue: Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) 

Call for Papers 

Aligning with the key themes at PRI in Person, we invite submissions of papers that focus on responsible investment, especially inviting submissions on the following topics: 

Exploring the relationship between ESG, opportunities, financial risks, returns, and the actual impacts/sustainability outcomes 

  • Role of sustainability data in supporting actual impacts: setting targets, measuring, and tracking progress. Defining and measuring progress against the outcomes of responsible and sustainable investing (including specific approaches for asset classes) 
  • Innovations in impact measurement methodologies and nature related risks 
  • Standardising data on sustainability outcomes / the impact of investments across E, S and G topics  

Integrating approaches to Environmental, Social and Governance issues  

  • Mobilising long-term systemic responses to system-level sustainability risks  
  • Ensuring a Just Transition - focus on carbon extensive economies and emerging markets  
  • Investing in Net zero implementation – where are we and where do we need to go? 
  • Physical climate risks and opportunities for private investment in adaptation  
  • Interrelationship between climate and nature, and the risk of taking a siloed approach 
  • Interrelationship between climate impact, biodiversity and systemic financial risk 
  • Interrelationship between inequality and systemic financial risk 
  • Private sector investing (versus government regulation) in biodiversity protection 
  • Corporate purpose – building purpose into the legal and governance structures of investment entities 
  • Climate disclosures such as in company financial statements 
  • Emerging issues such as integrating responsible AI into ESG strategies  

Focus on progressions of ESG integration  

  • Fixed income and ESG investment performance 
  • Behavioural finance and investment biases: implications for responsible investing 
  • Innovations in ESG integration for private markets investments 

Human rights, Indigenous rights, and system stewardship  

  • Indigenous rights and responsible investing, including but not limited to land and water rights 
  • ESG disclosure and sustainability performance 
  • Accountability of boards of directors to shareholders for ESG controversies and sustainability performance 
  • Effectiveness of collective action to change company’s sustainable business practices.  
  • Impact of investment manager stewardship on asset owner selection processes  
  • Extent and effectiveness of investor engagement in public policy 
  • Stewardship gaps and practices in emerging markets 

We encourage both theoretical and empirical contributions from diverse disciplines such as accounting, economics, finance, law, management, public policy, and other subjects in the social and natural sciences. 

Submission information 

Paper submission is now open! Submit your paper via ConfTool using the link below. Find instructions for submitting authors here.  

Please note:

  • The conference will be held in person in Toronto (in person only, no hybrid option)
  • Full papers only. Extended abstracts will not be considered.
  • Only papers in English can be submitted, with a page limit of 60 pages.
  • Working papers only. Published or forthcoming papers should not be submitted.
  • A maximum of two papers per author will be considered.  

Accepted papers will be featured on the PRI website unless otherwise agreed. Find past conference papers here. 

Submit your paper on ConfTool

Reviewing criteria 

Submissions will be reviewed according to the following criteria: 

  • Contribution to responsible investment research
  • Originality of subject of study or approach
  • Methodological strength
  • The practical significance of the research 

Conference papers will be judged in a double‐blind review process by the PRI Academic Conference Program Committee. 

Conference Organising Committee 

  • Pedro Matos
    John G. Macfarlane Family Chair and Professor of Business Administration (Finance)
    Darden School of Business, University of Virginia 

  • Laura Starks 
    George Kozmetsky Centennial Distinguished University Chair 
    McCombs School of Business, University of Texas Austin 

  • Ayako Yasuda 
    Professor of Finance 
    UC Davis Graduate School of Management, University of California, Davis 

  • Diane-Laure Arjalies  
    Associate Professor, Sustainable Finance Lab Lead 
    Ivey Business School at Western University 

Timeline 

31 May 2024 Submission deadline for all papers.

July 2024 Notification to applicants of accepted papers.

Contact 

For questions regarding submission, please contact [email protected].

For questions about the conference, please contact [email protected].

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