One year has passed since my first participation in the European Centre for Alternative Finance Research Conference organized by Utrecht University, I would say, one of the most rated events in the field for the global alternative finance community. That means you can meet clever people working on the state of the art of the discipline spanning from the superstar in the field to the doctoral researcher.
Well, I am writing this post because I managed to get there for the second time. That doesn’t mean I consider myself particularly smart, but lucky enough to have a conference paper and the opportunity to listen to others.
Now, for the ones of you who don’t know how an academic conference works, in general, there is first a call for papers, researchers send over their manuscripts, experts will select the ones they think can contribute to the discussion. On the day of the event, you will find your name in one of the discussion panels. Each one of them has a specific topic and a set of papers focusing on that particular topic. 👇
The authors present their papers and discussants evaluate its strengths and weaknesses by providing comments and suggestions on how to improve it. Then, other colleagues from the audience ask questions or provide further comments and/or suggestions. In other words, it is a collective form of work in progress and a very helpful one to consider different angles and perspectives. Diversity is key.
On top of this, I think the most interesting part of the story (but this is my personal preference) comes from networking opportunities. Yes, online is a little bit more complex but doable. That is why, for instance, I am so happy to have found someone to further develop the paper with my team.
In the end, research is a team effort and I do love this aspect because, as somebody said: “If you want to go fast, go alone but if you want to go far, go together.”
Anyway, I will leave the link to the page of the event for anyone interested in finding out more.
