For another consecutive year, the European Association of Co-operative Banks (EACB), in collaboration with its Academic Advisory Group, is pleased to announce its competition for young researchers for best papers in the field of cooperative banking.
I. Addressees
The competition targets young researchers up to the age of 35 years (i.e. applicants should be born after the 31 October 1990). Co-authored papers are also welcome, as long as all authors meet the age requirement.
II. Research Themes
Papers should look into the topic of cooperative banking. Contributions relating to other types of financial cooperatives will also be considered, provided they address aspects and reach conclusions that are also relevant for cooperative banking. Papers that compare cooperative banks with other types of credit institutions (e.g. profit maximising banks, shareholders banks, savings banks, etc) will likewise be taken into account. The judges will be looking primarily for contributions from the academic fields of economics, finance and accounting, corporate governance or management, but may also examine any topics specifically related to cooperative banking, such as:
- Contribution of cooperative banks to competition in European banking
- Overcapacity in European banking: Possible implications for cooperative banks
- Diversity in banking: The role of cooperative banks
- Impact of cooperative banks on financial stability
- Impact value of cooperative banks on social and financial inclusion
- Contribution of cooperative banks to sustainability of society and the environment
- Cooperative Banks: ‘Creating member value’
- Culture in stakeholders value (cooperative) banks: Is it different from shareholder banks?
- Are there distinct characteristics of cooperative banks (the cooperative difference)?
- Relative performance of cooperative and shareholder banks
- Challenges and opportunities of innovation and digitalisation for cooperative banks
- Challenges and opportunities of open banking for cooperative banks
- The specific governance of cooperative banks and the evolution of their business model
- Regulatory challenges for cooperative banks
- International comparison of cooperative banks
II. Formal Criteria for Contributions
- Papers must be written in English.
- Submitted papers should follow the standard format of scientific journals.
- Papers should contain new and original work by the authors.
- Submissions must not exceed 10,000 words in total. This limit includes the main body of the paper, all references (footnotes, bibliography, table of contents, table of figures, etc.), tables and figures (including captions), and appendices. This limit excludes the abstracts. Authors are responsible for ensuring that their papers comply with the word limit. Papers that surpass the 10,000-word limit (counted as specified above) may be returned without review.
- Contributions should be delivered both in PDF and in Word format to undergo a plagiarism check upon submission.
- Contributions will be accepted provided that they have not already been published in other scientific journals or books before 31 October 2025. Papers scheduled for publication after 31 October 2025 will be considered.
IV. Submission Details
The deadline for submissions is 31 October 2025.
Submissions should be sent to eacbaward@eacb.coop
For any other inquiries, please contact the EACB Secretariat’s Lead Communication Luce Jacqmin at luce.jacqmin@eacb.coop.
V. Process and Criteria
The EACB Secretariat will direct all contributions received to the EACB Award Scientific Committee, which will assess them in the weeks following the deadline.
The Committee’s selection criteria are:
- the contribution the paper makes to scientific literature,
- the rigor of argumentation, and
- the clarity of exposition and policy relevance.
VI. Award
The author(s) of the winning paper will be awarded a prize of €2000. The selected paper will receive recognition via publication on the EACB website and the author(s) will get the opportunity to present their paper during a meeting of the EACB Academic Advisory Group or in the context of a public event of the EACB. Winners will be announced at the beginning of 2026.
VII. Scientific Committee
The Scientific Committee of the EACB Award is composed of highly respected professors from renowned European universities who specialise in the field of financial cooperatives and comprises:
- Silvio Goglio, University of Trento, Italy (Chair)
- Yiorgos Alexopoulos, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece
- Hans Groeneveld, University of Tilburg, Netherlands
- David Llewellyn, University of Loughborough, The United Kingdom
- Eric Meyer, University of Muenster, Germany
VIII. About the EACB
The European Association of Cooperative Banks (EACB) is the voice of cooperative banks in Europe and beyond. It represents, promotes, and defends the common interests of its 28 member institutions in banking as well as cooperative legislation. With 2,400 banks and 36,500 branches, cooperative banks are widely established across the European Union and play a vital role in its financial and economic system. They have a longstanding tradition serving their 227 million customers, mainly consumers, retailers, and communities. An important task of the EACB is to raise awareness on the unique characteristics of the cooperative business model: democracy, transparency, and proximity. In Europe, cooperative banks represent 90 million members, providing employment to 737,000 individuals and maintaining an average market share of approximately 20%.