Call for Applications and Nominations

Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and WM Gruppe, together with its publication Börsen-Zeitung, invite submissions for the Philipp Sandner Award in Digital Finance Research.

This award commemorates Professor Philipp Sandner, a renowned blockchain and digital finance expert and founder of the Frankfurt School Blockchain Center. Prof Dr Philipp Sandner has been instrumental in shaping the digital finance community and he is most vividly remembered as a champion and mentor of young scholars in the field. His academic and practical work continued until his untimely passing in January 2024, leaving a lasting impact on the community.

The Philipp Sandner Award in Digital Finance Research seeks to foster excellence in digital finance research, encouraging the next generation of scholars to explore and expand this vital field of study. It is made possible with the generous support of the WM Gruppe and is awarded annually by the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. The award carries an honorarium of EUR 10,000.

Young scholars in the broad area of digital finance can either apply themselves or be nominated by colleagues, whereas:

1. “Young scholars” are those who have not yet taken up a tenure-track or tenured position at a university or policy institution, on or before the date of submission.
2. The broad area of “digital finance” includes, but is not limited to, research in blockchain and digital assets, machine learning and artificial intelligence, as well as payment systems and financial platforms.
3. Applications must include:

• A research paper of which the young scholar is a lead, or corresponding author.
• A recent CV of the young scholar.

4. Furthermore, nominations of young scholars must include a brief letter of motivation.

Applications must be submitted no later than 7 February 2025 to Alexander Laub, a.laub@fs.de.

The winner will be selected and informed by 24 February 2025. The award will be presented, in person, at the Crypto Assets Conference 2025, hosted at Frankfurt School of Finance & Management on 25 and 26 March 2025. Travel and accommodation costs of the awardee will be covered by Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.

Applications will be evaluated by the scientific committee, consisting of Andrea Barbon (Hochschule St Gallen), Jean-Edouard Colliard (HEC Paris), Martina Fraschini (Uni Luxembourg), Co-Pierre Georg (Frankfurt School of Finance & Management), Alfred Lehar (U Calgary), Jiasun Li (George Mason University), Cyril Monnet (University of Berne), Maarten van Oordt (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) and Tarik Roukny (KU Leuven).