The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition that provides university students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis and professional ethics. Each student will be tested on their analytical, valuation, report writing, and presentation skills. They gain real-world experience as they assume the role of a research analyst.
Research Challenge
What It Is
How It Works
Local level competitions are organized and judged by CFA Institute society members and volunteers who function as local hosts.
The winning university team from each local competition advances to the sub-regional competition.
The sub-regional, regional, and global competitions are hosted by CFA Institute in the Americas; the Asia Pacific; and the Europe, Middle East, and Africa regions. The winning teams from each sub-regional competition advance to the regional competition. Regional winners advance to the Global Final, where one team emerges as the global champion.
Research Challenge Sub-Region Breakdown
Research Challenge Official Rules
The Research Challenge gathers students, investment industry professionals, publicly traded companies and corporate sponsors together locally, regionally and globally for a real-world competition. Additionally, all participants are introduced to and held to the standard of the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct.
Competition Schedule
University teams begin their activities in the fall, with local competitions occurring throughout the world at various times early in the calendar year. Sub-regional, regional competitions and the global final are held in March, April, and May.
Sub-Regionals
The Sub-Regional round will take place during the month of March. After all local competitions have completed, local winners will receive specific instructions for recording their sub-regional presentations. Teams advancing from the sub-regionals to the regional semifinals will be announced at the end of March.
Regional Semi-finals
8-9 April 2025
Regional Finals
10-11 April 2025
Global Final
Week of 5 May 2025 in Chicago, USA.
REPLAY: CFA Institute Research Challenge Information Session
Winning Team
2021/22: University of Western Australia
Team: Mark Woods, Patrick Newton, Franklin Lou, Joshua Taylor, Abbey Kasten
Mentor: Antoine Nguyen | Faculty Advisor: Lee Smales, CFA
2020/21: University of Western Australia
Team: Nathan Brooks, Jack Keene, Yousif Al Rikabawi, Jordan Tyson, Kimberley Hince
Mentor: Indika Rajakaruna | Faculty Advisor: Daniel Cahill
2019/20: University of Western Australia
Team: Nicole Chung, Benjamin D’Souza, Ankit Rangan, Thomas Mcsharer
Mentor: Indika Rajakaruna | Faculty Advisor: Mahmoud Agha
2018/19: University of Western Australia
Team: Maxim De Bosscher, Reagan d’Souza, Rachel Hobbs and Tapiwa Mangwana
Mentor: Andrew Foster | Faculty Advisor: Dr Jing Yu
2017/18: University of Western Australia
Team: Antoine Nguyen, Michael Assmann, Darren Gan, Erin Oliver, Andre Chinnery
Mentor: Ian Chu | Faculty Advisor: Professor Raymond da Silva Rosa
2016/17: Curtin University
Team: Alexander Williams, Levi Lin-Sullivan, Anthony Nguyen, Sam Jackman, Daniel Blackwell
Mentor: Andrew Foster | Faculty Advisor: Dr Mostafa Hasan
2015/16: Curtin University
Team: James O’Donnell, Damien Gullone, Terence Meere, Kristina Blazeski and Jake Gorman
Mentor: Andrew Foster | Faculty Advisor: Dr Lee Smales
2014/15: University of Western Australia
Team: Mathew Bunny, Joseph Mikhail, Zarjnt Spire, Henry Ryan and Brandon Haywood
Mentor: Robert Huth, CFA | Faculty Advisor: Professor Raymond da Silva Rosa
2021/22 Winning Team
2020/21 Winning Team
Winning Team
2024/25: The University of Sydney
Team: Daksh Chuchra, Marcus Shor, Alysha Airey, Kevin Lee, Yash Samant
Mentor: Tim Foy, CFA | Angelo Aspris
Subject: Origin Energy
2023/24: Australian National University
Team: Alexander Norman, Chen Huan Liu, Hugo Heanly, Liam Newport
Mentor: Michelle Wigglesworth, CFA | Hua Deng
Subject: Scentre Group
2022/23: The University of Sydney
Team: Andre Thomas, Jason Shi, Moniq Wever, Patrick Mahony, Rachel Wang
Mentor: Mathew Kaleel | Quan Gan, CFA
Subject: Qantas
2021/22: The University of Sydney
Team: Andy Gu, Ganan Sritharan, Kelly Ma, Raymond Zhou, Richard Ge
Mentor: Michael Wang, CFA | Quan Gan, CFA
Subject: Transurban
2020/21: The University of Sydney
Team: Claire Chen, Joshua Mok, Joyce Chen, Cheran Ketheesuran, Joshua Sechi
Mentor: Pratik Joshi, CFA | Angelo Aspris
Subject: IAG
2019/20: The University of Sydney *Global Winners*
Team: Jassis Chen, Jeffrey Brown, Tom Luo, Sahil Arora, Jessica Wu
Mentor: Michael Toh, CFA | Faculty Advisor: Angelo Aspris
Subject Company: CBA
2018/19: The University of Sydney
Team: Bill Chan, Brendan Ma, Kenn Savvas, Nick Andrews, Wendy Yang
Mentor: Vincent Ling, CFA | Faculty Advisor: Angelo Aspris
Subject Company: Telstra
2017/18: The University of Sydney
Team: Gary Chen, Akshat Marwah, Alexander Orsmond, James Sioud, Alice Yang
Mentor: Vincent Ling, CFA | Faculty Advisor: Angelo Aspris
Subject Company: Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd
2016/17: Griffith University
Team: Lisa Rawlings, Rhyan Nash, Tingxi Zhang, Ruby Sethi, Elias Greil
Mentor: Ken Howard, CFA | Faculty Adviser: Alexandr Akimov, CFA
Subject Company: Flight Centre Travel Group
2015/16: The University of Sydney
Team: Angus Gibbs, Anthony Yao, Levi Romanov, Zubin Bilimoria, Lisa Wang
Mentor: Vincent Ling, CFA | Faculty Adviser: Angelo Aspris
Subject Company: Sydney Airport
2014/15: The University of Sydney
Team: Luke McAlpin, Ryan McCourt, Bravin Ragavan, Ivan Yang & Marco Anselmi
Mentor: Ross Curran | Faculty Adviser: Angelo Aspris
Subject Company: Woolworths Limited (WOW)
2013/14: Griffith University
Team: Euan Orsini, John Fan, Andrew L’Estrelle, Jake Muspratt & Jason Rayment
Mentor: Ken Howard, CFA | Faculty Adviser: Alexandr Akimov, CFA
Subject Company: Caltex Australia Limited (CTX)
2012/13: The University of Sydney
Team: Brendan Coughlan, Leelan Goddard, David Kohn, Kurtis Larsen and Aaron Mbakwe
Mentor: Roger Samuel, CFA | Faculty Adviser: Angelo Aspris
Subject Company: Blackmores Limited (BKL)
Winning Team 2011/12 The University of Sydney
Team: George Hadjia, Daniel Wu, Murphy Xue, Tobias Hasbani and Justin Zuo
Mentor: Ian Myles, CFA | Faculty Adviser: Angelo Aspris
Subject Company: Fairfax Media Limited (FXJ)
| 2019/20 Global Winning Team | 2018/19 Winning Team | 2017/18 Winning Team |
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| 2016/17 Winning Team | 2015/16 Winning Team | |
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University Affiliation Program
The University Affiliation Program (UAP) recognises academic institutions that embed at least 70% of the CFA® Program Candidate Body of Knowledge™ (CBOK) into their curricula. Through cooperation with universities around the world, we seek to promote ethics-based investment education in university degree programs aimed at developing investment professionals.