London Business School Coller Institute of Private Equity

What is the Coller Prize?

Since 2006  the Institute together with Coller Capital has awarded a prize for the best student project conducted in the field of venture capital or private equity.

With the renaming of the Institute in 2008, this event is now firmly established in the Institute’s calendar. All Masters’ students graduating  from London Business School are eligible to submit their reports. In 2010, the Institute introduced a PhD prize which is open to PhD students from academic institutions around the world.

The overall quality and variety stands as a fitting testament to the breadth and depth of students’ interests and understanding within this field.

Judges of the prizes are:

PhD Category: Professors Eli Talmor and Francesca Cornelli both of the Coller Institute of Private Equity

Masters Category: Katharine Campbell, Cambridge Associates and Nicole Hergarten, Coller Institute of Private Equity

The prize evening is usually held in the Autumn attended by Jeremy Coller.

All 2013 students (MBA 2^nd Year Projects, EMBA, Sloan and MiF) are eligible.

The subject matter of the project/report must be private equity or venture capital related but can be from any discipline not just finance.

The subject can be a management report or  case study

Each winning team will receive a cheque for £1750 at the prize awards evening and have an opportunity to present a synopsis of their winning submission.

Please use this website to upload your papers "How to Submit your papers" at the top of this page.

The annual PhD Prize was awarded on 6 November 2012 to Jean-Noel Barrot of HEC Paris for “Investor Horizon and Innovation: Evidence from Private Equity Funds”. The runner-up was Nicholas Crain of the University of Texas at Austin for "Career Concerns and Venutre Capital." Both winner and runner-up presented their papers to the assembled audience on the award evening.

Eligibility criteria and further details for the 2013 prize are below:

• Open to all PhD students globally. All current PhD students and those completing their doctorates in 2013 are eligible;
• The subject matter of the project/report must have a connection or relevance to the private equity/venture capital fields;
• All disciplines are welcome - the prize is not restricted to finance related work. Strategy, accounting/valuations and governance are all topics which continue to exert a major impact on practitioners and investors of this asset class;
• The winning student will receive a prize of US$5,000 and will have the opportunity to present their paper at the award evening.

Francesca Cornelli, Academic Director of the Coller Institute, will present the prize to the winning student who will present their work at the Annual Coller Prize Evening. This event will take place before an invited audience of School community and industry practitioners, on an evening in autumn 2013.

Please let us know whether you wish your work to be considered for inclusion in this year's awards by 31st July, 2013 by uploading a copy of your submission on our website.

 Submissions for the 2013 Coller Prize are to be made by 31st July 2013.