Research Challenge

CFA Institute Research Challenge

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an equity research competition among student teams from the world’s top university business and finance programs. CFA Society VBA Netherlands introduced the Challenge to the Netherlands as a means to promote best practices in research among the next generation of analysts through hands-on mentoring and intensive training in company analysis and presentation skills.

In 2010 the Challenge was expanded to include Belgium and in 2013 Luxembourg was added to create the CFA Institute Research Challenge in the Benelux.

See an introduction to the challenge: Two-minute video about the Research Challenge

Read what the press wrote: Coverage in het Financieele Dagblad

To get a better picture of what to expect, read the following:

Research Challenge Benelux Finals 2020

HEC Liège wins CFA Institute Research Challenge 2020 Benelux finals

For the second year in a row, the students from HEC Liège won the Benelux finals of the CFA Institute Research Challenge. They made it to the next round in Jordan. The runner up this year was Vlerick Business School and the third place was for ICHEC Brussels Management School. All reports and presentations were of outstanding quality and impressed the jury.

Read here the winning research report on the Belgian company Barco.

How is the Challenge organized?

Upon invitation from CFA Society VBA Netherlands, local universities assemble teams of 3 to 5 persons each. Under guidance of a mentor, students write an equity research report on a publicly traded company, and present their findings to a distinguished panel of experts.

The teams are judged on their written reports and the accompanying presentations and a winner is selected. Every member of the winning team receives a CFA program scholarship. The team receives a €1000 check and presentation training to prepare them for the regional and, hopefully, global finals. The winner will advance to the EMEA and possibly even the global Research Challenge Finals. Throughout the competition, CFA Society VBA Netherlands’ investment professionals volunteer as mentors and judges and teach students best practices in equity research and corporate analysis.

Learn more about the CFA Institute Research Challenge.

The 2019-2020 Schedule

11 October: Deadline for participating universities to register their teams

23 October: Kick-off event held at EUR

6 December: Workshops, presentation and Q&A with the subject company at NNIP in the Hague

15 January: (TBD): Research submission deadline

3 February: Local finalists announced

28 February: Local Finals (Euronext, Amsterdam)

1-2 April 2020: EMEA Regionals (Dead Sea, Jordan)

22 April 2020: Global Final (New York, USA)

The following teams will participate in this year's Research Challenge

University of Amsterdam
Rotterdam School of Management
University of Groningen (2 teams)
Maastricht University
HC Liege
Vlerick Business School
UC Louvain/ICHEC
Tilburg University
Amsterdam Business School

Volunteers needed

The CFA Institute Research Challenge cannot be successful without the invaluable input of Volunteers in the form of committee members, mentors and graders.

Find out how you can contribute your time and skills to the Research Challenge and help university students make their way in the investment industry. Download the job descriptions at CFA Institute Research Challenge or contact Alex Morozov for more information.

Past Challenges

To view summaries of past Research Challenges.