About BlackRock Award
Now in its 11th year, the BlackRock Applied Research Award recognizes the top five job market papers submitted by PhD candidates on a practical topic pertaining to financial markets, economics, investment management, and risk management. Building on the strong momentum of the inaugural India Research Award in 2024, we anticipate an even greater impact and visibility in 2025.
The Award will grant $7500 to the winning job market paper and $1500 to the 4 runners-up. Job market papers should be based on quantitative research and provide practical solutions to the challenges faced by investors and risk managers.
In its second year in the region, the award continues its collaboration with the India Finance Association (IFA) to broaden outreach among Indian researchers. To learn more about IFA and submit your research paper, visit the submission form here
Application Deadline: August 17, 2025
All applications must be submitted through the IFA website. A panel will review the submissions and select ten finalists for a virtual presentation round. Each finalist will participate in a half-day virtual session, presenting for 20 minutes followed by a 10-minute Q&A with judges and BlackRock subject matter experts. Candidates must submit their PowerPoint presentations in advance, which will be used during the session.
Final Presentation and Recognition
The award ceremony will culminate in November 2025 at BlackRock’s offices in Gurugram and Mumbai, India tentatively 27th November 2025. Panelist will join both in person and virtually from BlackRock’s global offices. Finalists will also present their work at the India Finance Conference in December 2025, as per the official schedule.
To be considered for the award the application must contain:
- The candidate’s PhD job market paper. Important note: we request that all names and personal references be removed from the content in job market papers to ensure an unbiased review by our committee. This includes authors(s) names and affiliations, acknowledgments, seminars/conferences where the paper was presented, etc.
- The candidate’s resume
- Confirmation of your presence in the coming job market and for the first time. This confirmation may be provided by the dissertation chair (including through the recommendation letter) or by the head of the PhD program or the school department