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2027 BALAS Doctoral Colloquium
We cordially invite students from Business Doctoral programs to submit their dissertation proposals/research for the BALAS Doctoral Colloquium to be held in Barcelona, Spain, on March 16th, 2027. The BALAS 2027 conference is hosted by ESADE Business School, Spain.
The Doctoral Colloquium is an opportunity to discuss your research goals, methods, and results at an early enough stage to receive useful guidance to improve the research effort. Students will also have the opportunity to obtain guidelines for publishing papers on prestigious journals and academic publications. Doctoral research at different levels of development (previous, ready for, and after doctoral proposal defense) can be sent. We expect students to have finished their second year or to be at a later stage by the time of submission of the proposal.
Students should not have yet defended their dissertation/thesis before the colloquium. The Doctoral Colloquium will also allow participants to interact with other doctoral students as well as researchers and members of an academic network like BALAS from the U.S., Ibero America and other parts of the world. The program includes two types of activities: discussion of research proposals and plenary sessions with key speakers.
Proposal Formatting Guidelines-
Your research proposal should be sent through the BALAS general paper system selecting the “Doctoral colloquium” track. In order to login, you need to create an account according to the instructions in the page. There is no submission fee.
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Proposals need to be written in English, 3,000 words in length + appendices (figures, tables), letter type Arial, size 12. In order to allow for blind review, the document must NOT include the author’s name.
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Below the title of your proposal, include one of the following: (“before proposal”, “ready for proposal”, or “after doctoral proposal defense”). If you have completed your dissertation/thesis and have defended it, you are ready to submit a paper instead. We do not accept proposals after dissertation/thesis defense.
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You will get a “desk reject” if you cannot summarize within 3,000 words or comply with these instructions.
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When submitting a Doctoral Proposal for the Doctoral colloquium make sure to select Track: “Doctoral Colloquium.”
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Author 1: must be the doctoral student. A doctoral proposal has a single author; the colloquium only accepts single-authored submissions for the doctoral colloquium. Make sure you add all information: email, country/region, organization (School where you are registered as a doctoral student. Do not use any another School. For example, if you work for another school, do not provide the information of that school that is your employer). Web page is optional.
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Author 2: must be the name of the doctoral dissertation advisor (also known as “supervisor” or “thesis advisor” or “dissertation/thesis chair”). Make sure you add email (we will contact the advisor for additional information about the student and/or to request revisions of proposals as reviewers/panelists). Country and Organization MUST be the same as those for the student. If there is more than one advisor, use Author 3, Author 4, etc. as needed.
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Proposals should be submitted by November 15, 2026. Proposals will go through a selection process. If accepted, the students will present at the colloquium.
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Selection will be based upon the quality and originality of the proposal and the research topic.
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Proposals need to be updated 3 weeks before the day of the doctoral colloquium (this is for panelists to be able to make better and useful comments about the current work). Your updated proposal will be uploaded to the submission system and will be forwarded to assigned panelists who will provide feedback.
Submission Link
(coming soon)
Doctoral Colloquium Registration
Doctoral students are expected to cover their own travel costs and register for the BALAS 2027 Annual Conference. However, there is a reduced rate for doctoral students attending the Doctoral Colloquium, which includes access to all activities of the main BALAS Conference. Click HERE to know about the key activities at the BALAS annual conference.
Participation in the BALAS Doctoral Colloquium is a one-time only opportunity reserved for emerging doctoral students. Individuals pursuing post-doctoral degrees are not eligible to participate. If your proposal is not accepted, you are welcome to submit again in the following years. Once your submission is accepted and you register for the Doctoral Colloquium, your future participation in the BALAS Conference can only be through the regular submission process in the track of your preference.