Dec 15, 2016

5th European Research Conference on Microfinance
12-14 June 2017
University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom

Financial inclusion has become a reality for many poor and low income populations. Microfinance has played a key role in this regard, with the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report 2015 estimating that 3,098 microfinance institutions (MFIs) lent to more than 211 million borrowers across the world by the end of 2013. While microfinance is now approaching forty years of age, there is still much to do if poor and low income households are to be effectively integrated both from financial and social perspectives.
The objective of the 5th European Research Conference on Microfinance is to draw together ideas from Europe and beyond which tackle the inclusion problem. How do MFIs ensure they reach the financially excluded? How can microfinance products be tailored to meet the specific needs of different groups amongst the financially excluded? How can new instruments as agent banking and mobile money be put at the service of the poor? How can the microfinance sector keep its identity as a relevant development tool while facing traditional challenges - poverty, gender discrimination, client over-indebtedness? How prepared is the sector to face new challenges such as the impact of climate change and the refugee crises? Research has a crucial role in addressing these questions.


The European Research Conference on MIcrofinance is one of the primary meeting places for academic researchers working on microfinance. Since the first conference in Brussels, Belgium, in 2009, and its successors in Groningen, Netherlands (2011), Kristiansand, Norway (2013), and Geneva, Switzerland (2015), the conference has been a unique platform for academics to exchange ideas, build and consolidate networks, give visibility to their projects and to identify gaps and different paths for new research. We cordially invite you to join us in June 2017 at the fifth European Research Conference on Microfinance which will take place at Portsmouth (in the South of England), where we hope to continue this proud tradition. The Conference will be organized by Portsmouth Business School, in cooperation with the European Microfinance Platform (www.emf-p.eu) and CERMi (www.cermi.eu).

A call for papers has been launched and authors are invited to submit full papers or extended abstracts by January 31st 2017

See full details here

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