5th Annual Southern PhD Economics Conference 

 Date: 12 May 2026 

Venue: University of Southampton 

CALL FOR PAPERS

We are pleased to invite submissions for the 5th Annual Southern PhD Economics Conference (ASPEC), which will take place in person at the University of Southampton on 12 May 2026 as a one-day workshop.

ASPEC is supported by the Economics departments of: Oxford Brookes University, City University of London, University of East Anglia, Royal Holloway, Middlesex University, University of Reading, University of Southampton, University of Sussex, and University of Essex.

This year ASPEC is accepting papers from all areas of Economics and from other Quantitative Social Sciences disciplines. A novelty of the event is that PhD students will be asked to present to an interdisciplinary audience.

We particularly welcome submissions from PhD researchers from underrepresented groups in Economics and related Quantitative Social Science disciplines, as well as from students at institutions with limited resources or funding. We invite both completed papers and early-stage research projects.

Keynote Speakers:

Johanna Rickne (SOFI Stockholm University)

Yves Zenou (Monash University)

Submission procedure

Complete the following form before 20 March 2026 - Call for papers

All submissions will be evaluated by a PhD led review committee drawn from the organising institutions: University of Southampton, University of East Anglia and University of Reading.

Any queries on the Call for papers should be sent to them:  aspec2026.soton@gmail.com or jrs1n19@soton.ac.uk

Support for participants

• No conference fee.

• Lunch Provided for all participants.

• Limited travel funding is available for students travelling within the UK.

If you require financial assistance, please indicate this in the call for papers form. Priority for travel support will be given to students from underrepresented communities and students with limited access to funding from their home institution.

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Southampton.

Programme

TBC

Conference Committee

• Jash Shah (University of Southampton) 

• Sadain Raza (University of Southampton)

• Sehrish Ghayas (University of East Anglia)

• Sya In Chzhen (University of East Anglia)

• Wei Hu (University of Reading)

In collaboration with: