AFAANZ Doctoral Education Network (AFDEN)

Initiated in 2015, the AFAANZ Doctoral Education Network (AFDEN) aims to encourage and help enable the broad offering of a rich suite of doctoral-level subjects suitable for accounting and finance students in their first year of study, leading up to confirmation. Through AFDEN, AFAANZ does not purport to grant degrees or offer any of its own coursework. AFDEN, very much like its European "cousin" EDEN, purely facilitates a co-ordinated network for accounting and finance doctoral education across our region. 

Director

Associate Professor Marvin Wee and Professor Michaela Rankin are the co-Directors of AFDEN. The Directors report to the AFAANZ Board.
 

Core AFDEN Goal

AFDEN aims to facilitate the broad offering of coursework units/subjects relevant to PhD candidates in Accounting or Finance enrolled in Australian and New Zealand universities. The primary aim is to seamlessly facilitate a program providing PhD candidates the opportunity to develop world-class research skills and knowledge, helping to better prepare them to (a) produce high quality dissertations; and (b) enter an academic career path (for those aiming at such a career track).

Core Principles

AFDEN makes a commitment to:

  1. Simplicity of operation: a focus on facilitation and flexibility.
  2. Inclusivity: units are available to PhD candidates across all AFAANZ universities, subject to optimal class size constraints. Units may hosted by any AFAANZ institution.
  3. Devolution: each university, indeed each candidate, decides the extent they wish to participate in the program.
  4. No poaching: students remain enrolled in their home institution.
  5. In-Load teaching: Teaching into AFDEN is appropriately recognised in the hosting university’s workload model where possible.

Course Offerings

AFAANZ calls for applications from academics to nominate and host PhD level coursework units. It is envisaged that in the “steady state” mode of AFDEN, such courses will be approved PhD coursework units (or equivalent) on the books of the host institution. As such, these courses will have a highly “streamlined” recognition as part of the suite offered within AFDEN. We will also consider workshops, in circumstances where courses may not be feasible.

2023 AFDEN Offerings

Finance Theory - presented by Professor Tom Smith

  • Module 1 Saturday 25th February

  • Module 2 Saturday 25th March

  • Module 3 Saturday 29th April

Final Exam: Thursday June 15th 2-5pm

Course outline is available HERE.  To register your interest, please contact Tom Smith.
This course will be offered online.

Empirical Finance - presented by Professor Tom Smith

  • Module 1:  Saturday 24th July

  • Module 2:  Saturday 26th August

  • Module3:   Saturday 30th September

Final Exam: Thurs 9th Nov 2-5pm

Course outline is available HERE.
This course will be offered online. To register your interest, please contact Tom Smith.

Research Methodologies - presented by Professor Martina Linnenluecke and Professor Tom Smith

On-line delivery
Four day intensive:  Mon-Thurs 17-20th  July 3-5pm Live Zoom Session
Course outline is available HERE.

To register your interest, please contact Tom Smith.

Research Process "Lite" - presented by Professor Robert Faff

Students are expected to begin their active study in the course on 2nd January 2023 and it concludes on 26th April 2023. Research Process comprises completion of an initial (self-paced) online Bond Micro-credential Course, followed by 5 separate 2-hour classes. The dates and class times are as follows:

• Module 1:  Wednesday 25th January, 2023 2pm-4pm AEDT
• Module 2:  Wednesday 1st March, 2023, 2pm-4pm AEST
• Module 3:  Wednesday 8th March, 2023, 2pm-4pm AEST
• Module 4:  Wednesday 5th April, 2023, 2pm-4pm AEST
• Module 5:  Wednesday 26th April, 2023, 2pm-4pm AEST

Full details are available HERE.  To register your interest, please contact Robert Faff.

For more information an any offerings, please contact the course leader by email: afden@afaanz.org

*** NEW: EIASM – EDEN Offerings ***

AFAANZ-AFDEN is trialling a collaboration with EIASM-EDEN to offer some scholarship support for a limited number of AFAANZ PhD students to attend accounting & finance relevant courses in the EDEN stable. Please refer to the EDEN website for available courses:

https://www.eiasm.net/doctoral-seminars-list

Please refer below, the terms & conditions for AFDEN-EDEN scholarship support.

Assessment

Formal recognition of coursework completion and satisfactory progress in a student’s academic record will be exclusively governed by the rules and regulations specified at their enrolled institution. In those cases in which students take a subject for credit, at the completion of the subject the Director/course instructor will communicate their level of accomplishment to the relevant officer of their university so that it can be formally recognised.

AFDEN Scholars & AFDEN Travel Scholarships

AFAANZ recognise that a critical impediment to the success of AFDEN is the “tyranny of distance” and, particularly, the related issue of nontrivial travel costs. Accordingly, to help overcome this obstacle we have established the “AFDEN Scholar” designation – which, critically, attracts a Travel Scholarship award. The details of these awards are as follows:

  • Each scholarship is up to the value of $1500.
  • The scholarships aim to facilitate the attendance of highly qualified and deeply motivated PhD students whose domicile is some significant distance from the location of the course.
  • Scholarship decisions are made by a sub-committee of AFDEN, chaired by the program Director
  • Awardees will be reimbursed legitimate travel expenditures to attend authorised AFDEN Coursework offerings (by receipt): (a) discount return economy airfares; (b) reasonable hotel costs; (c) reasonable ground transport costs to/from airports.
  • The scholarship application process requires a 1-page submission, emailed to the AFDEN Director, addressing the following: 
  1. Name and contact details
  2. University, program and year of study
  3. Thesis topic
  4. Resources provided by home university, eg PhD related research funding
  5. Whether the applicant is taking the course for credit at their home university
  6. Short outline of why the applicant will benefit from the scholarship opportunity.


We are pleased to advise that the following “named” AFDEN Travel Scholarships are available:

  • Frank Finn AFDEN Travel Scholarships 
    Up to three scholarships will be awarded per annum to students enrolled in either of the finance foundation courses: Finance Theory, Finance Empirical and Research Methodologies.
  • Philip Brown AFDEN Travel Scholarships 
    Up to three scholarships will be awarded per annum to students enrolled in any eligible course.
  • Ray Ball AFDEN Travel Scholarships
    Up to three scholarships will be awarded per annum to students enrolled in any eligible course.
  • Bob Officer AFDEN Travel Scholarships
    Up to three scholarships will be awarded per annum to students enrolled in any eligible course.
  • Tim Brailsford AFDEN Travel Scholarships
    Up to three scholarships will be awarded per annum to students enrolled in either of the finance foundation courses: Finance Theory, Finance Empirical and Research Methodologies.
  • Izan AFDEN Scholarships 
    Up to three scholarships will be awarded per annum to students enrolled in either of the finance foundation courses: Finance Theory, Finance Empirical and Research Methodologies.
  • Ellie Chapple AFDEN Travel Scholarships
    Up to three scholarships will be awarded per annum to students enrolled in either of the finance foundation courses: Finance Theory, Finance Empirical and Research Methodologies.
  • Baljit Sidhu AFDEN Travel Scholarships 
    Up to three scholarships will be awarded per annum to students enrolled in either of the finance foundation courses: Finance Theory, Finance Empirical and Research Methodologies.
  • AIBE AFDEN Travel Scholarships 
    Up to five scholarships will be awarded per annum  to  students  enrolled  in  any eligible course, subject to their chosen area of research being sufficiently linked to the public policy/regulation focus of the AIBE around its 6 nodes (see: https://www.aibe.uq.edu.au/research-engagement )

*** NEW: AFDEN-EDEN Travel Scholarships ***

AFAANZ and EIASM are trialling a collaboration in which some AFDEN-EDEN scholarships will be available. In addition to the general conditions stated above, the AFDEN-EDEN scholarships will be subject to the following:

  •        AFDEN scholarship priority will be given to Australia and New Zealand based courses and, hence, EDEN courses will only be  supported if sufficient funding remains in the annual pool.

  •          While there is no limit to AFAANZ PhD students applying for the EDEN courses, there will be a limit of one AFDEN-EDEN scholarship awarded per EDEN course, per year.

  •          In total, up to THREE AFDEN-EDEN scholarships will be awarded per year (subject to available funding).

  •          AFDEN scholarships for EDEN courses will receive the standard AFDEN scholarship funding support of $1,500 per student.

  •          AFDEN scholarships for EDEN courses will be waived the € 1,100 fee for the EDEN course (with thanks to EIASM).

  •         Successful AFDEN-EDEN scholars will need to supplement their travel costs from additional funding sourced either from their enrolling institution or from personal savings. 

Structure of Courses

While AFDEN’s underlying philosophy places supreme value on a “face to face” cohort effect, a variety of delivery modes might be used including:     

  • A set of three 2-day modules
  • 1 week intensive (the “EIASM /EDEN”) model
  • Weekend workshops

In some cases, web-based delivery might also be used. Decisions on the mode of delivery and the imposition of any class size caps will made by the course instructor/ host institution.

EIASM/EDEN

As a complement to AFDEN, students are encouraged to consider the rich vein of doctoral training opportunities offered through EIASM’s EDEN program. See also the Code of Practice for Doctoral Studies jointly developed by EIASM and EDAMBA.