Hosted by the Behavioural Business Lab and the School of Economics, Finance and Marketing at RMIT University, this conference welcomes theoretical and empirical submissions on contests from a wide range of disciplines—including economics, political science, psychology, management, sports, biology, neuroscience, and computer science.
17-18 September 2025
The Behavioural Business Lab and the School of Economics, Finance and Marketing at RMIT University are pleased to host the 11th Annual Conference “Contests: Theory and Evidence”. We invite submissions of theoretical and empirical work related to contests in any discipline, including but not limited to economics, political science, psychology, management, sports, biology, neuroscience, and computer science. The conference will be held in person only.
Keynote speakers
Victoria Prowse
Victoria Prowse is an empirical microeconomist specializing in experimental economics, labor, and public economics. Her research explores how cognitive skills, preferences, and behavioral factors influence effort, learning, and human capital investments. She conducts laboratory and field experiments to study decision-making related to education, labor supply, teamwork, goal-setting, and ethical behavior. Her work also evaluates the impact of public policies and interventions on economic outcomes. Prowse holds the Marge Magner Chair and is a Professor of Economics at Purdue University, with affiliations at IZA and DIW Berlin. She earned her Doctorate in Economics from the University of Oxford.
Qiang Fu
Qiang Fu is an economist. He graduated from Guanghua School of Management, Peking University in 1998. He pursued his graduate study of economics at Indiana University, Bloomington from 2000 to 2005, and obtained his Ph.D. in economics. Qiang joined NUS Business School, National University of Singapore in 2005 for an academic career.
As an applied game theorist, his research focuses on the economics of contests and tournaments, as well as industrial organization and economics of bureaucratic reputation. His research was published at various leading outlets, such as American Economic Review, Theoretical Economics, AEJ: Microeconomics, Journal of Economic Theory, Journal of Public Economics, Marketing Science, and Games and Economic Behaviour.
Program
Conference sessions: Wednesday and Thursday, 17-18 September
Conference dinner: Wednesday, 17 September (presenters only)
Program details: TBA
Paper submission
Important dates
Submission deadline: 1 June, 2025
Registration deadline: 17 August, 2025
Registration
Registration will open once decisions have been communicated.
There is no registration fee. However, all participants, including non-presenters, are required to register in advance to confirm their attendance.
Organisers & Contact
Jingjing Zhang, Qin Wu, Dmitry Ryvkin
E-Mail: contest2025@rmit.edu.au
Venue
The conference will be held at the RMIT University city campus in Melbourne CBD (street address: TBA).
