VGSF 20th Anniversary
The Vienna Graduate School of Finance (VGSF) celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, marking two decades of academic excellence as Austria’s first structured PhD program in Finance. Since its establishment, the VGSF has been committed to educating outstanding early-career researchers and providing an exceptional environment for cutting-edge financial research.
The VGSF is a joint initiative of three leading institutions—the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS), the University of Vienna, and WU Vienna University of Economics and Business. This unique partnership brings together a critical mass of internationally recognized scholars, enabling intensive supervision and rigorous doctoral training.
The program is distinguished by its broad thematic scope, strong international networks, and a long-standing Finance Research Seminar that regularly hosts leading scholars from around the world. The quality of the training is reflected in the successful international careers of its graduates, particularly in academia, as well as in central and commercial banking and renowned consulting firms.
A key pillar of the VGSF’s success is its continuous funding by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). The associated external evaluations play an essential role in maintaining high quality standards and supporting the program’s ongoing development.
With its international orientation, strong research performance, and the impressive career trajectories of its alumni, the VGSF has established itself as a benchmark for scientific excellence within Austria’s higher education landscape.
The anniversary celebration itself was a special occasion, bringing together the entire VGSF community—former and current students, faculty, administrators, members of the rectorates, and representatives of funding institutions. The two-day event combined reconnection, celebration, and academic exchange, highlighting the VGSF’s strong sense of community and its enduring impact over the past two decades.
Day 1: Opening Ceremony and Social Gathering
| Univ.-Prof. Alexander Mürmann, Ph.D. | VGSF Program Director |
|---|---|
| Prof. em. Dr. DI. Klaus Neusser | IHS Institute for Advanced Studies |
| Vice Rector Univ.-Prof. Dr. Manuela Baccarini | University of Vienna |
| Vice Rector Univ.-Prof. Dr. Margarethe Rammerstorfer | WU Vienna |
| Vice-President Univ.-Prof. Dr. Eva Kernbauer | FWF Austrian Science Fund |
| Assoc. Prof. Jin Yu, Ph.D. | Monash University |
| Univ.-Prof. Dr. Josef Zechner | VGSF Speaker |
With musical accompaniment by the WU String Quartet
Day 2: Conference with Presentations by VGSF Alumni
| Jin Yu | Intermediary Capital and Financing Sustainable Investment |
|---|---|
| András Danis | The Effect of Takeovers on Knowledge Worker Productivity |
| Alexander Schandlbauer | Who worries about the stock market: Evidence from hospitalizations |
| Michael Zierhut | The Arbitrage Pricing Theory in Incomplete Markets |
| Thomas Rauter | Polarizing Corporations: Does Talent flow to “Good” Firms? |
| Juraj Hledik | From systemic risk to digital finance: Working for the EU |
| Giorgio Otonello | Empowering Reproducible Finance through Tidy Finance |
| Christoph Scheuch | Is Correlation Neglect Bad for Portfolio Diversification? |
| Patrick Weiß | Rewriting CRSP’s History: Impact of Altered Monthly Returns on Asset Pricing |
„Foto: Fotostudio Pfluegl“