The International Centre for Pension Management (ICPM) is pleased to announce the winner of the 2025 Research Awards, awarded $50,000 CAD. The recent call for research garnered 70 high-quality submissions from around the world, and for the first time, four finalists were invited to Toronto to present their work to the ICPM Research Council and broader pension community in person.

“We’re looking for the most thought-provoking and innovative research that has the potential to change the way we think about the pension world. This is especially important as funds are seeking up-to-date knowledge and data to support better retirement outcomes for their members,” says Mike Simutin, ICPM Associate Director of Research and Professor of Finance at Rotman School of Management. “As always, we’re extremely impressed by the quality of the submissions we received. This year, the ICPM Research Council saw an opportunity to engage directly with the authors by inviting them to Toronto. Hearing from them in person and having an in-depth Q&A allowed us to gather meaningful details and colour that we may not necessarily get from the page.”

On September 3, senior-level industry practitioners, finance academics and media participated in the inaugural Research Award Finale that provided an opportunity to engage directly with the authors. A presentation by each author was followed by an active and engaging Q&A session that allowed the audience to probe further into the merits of the research as well as the applicability. This forum also gave greater visibility to the research – all of which were of high-calibre and impressive quality.

The ICPM Research Council congratulates the winner of the ICPM 2025 Research Award, which dove into thought-provoking research on optimal portfolio construction over the lifecycle. The paper challenges the conventional thinking that target date funds with age glide paths are optimal, and rethinks measures of risk for long-horizon investors:

First place ($50,000 CAD):

ICPM also congratulates the other finalists for being recognized as the leading submissions among many high-quality contenders. Stay tuned for recordings of their presentations and Q&A in the coming weeks.

Runner-Up:

Honourable Mentions:

  • “Limited Partner Investments in Private Funds: Committee Decision-Making and Realized Performance” by Alon Brav (Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, ECGI and NBER), Guy Lakan (The Hebrew University), Yishay Yafeh (The Hebrew University, CEPR and ECGI)
  • “Shifting from Active to Passive: How Retirement Plans Impact Equity Prices” by Riccardo Sabbatucci (SSE and Wharton), Andrea Tamoni (University of Notre Dame), Song Xiao (CUHK)

The research does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the network or the pension fund members.

ICPM’s Research Committee is co-chaired by Mikhail Simutin (Rotman School of Management and ICPM Associate Director of Research) and Jaap van Dam (Independent) and involves the following representatives: Mirko Cardinale (USS), James Davis (OPTrust), Bing Han (Rotman School of Management), Julie Mallory (Independent), Scott McIntosh (OMERS), Gabriel Petre (World Bank), Michael Preisel (Independent), David Richardson (TIAA-CREF Investment Management), Sally Shen (CPP Investments), Onno Steenbeek (APG Asset Management), Paul Todd (Nest), and Sebastien Betermier (ICPM Executive Director).

The International Centre for Pension Management (ICPM) is a global, research-based network of asset owners that stimulates leading-edge thinking and practice about pension management. ICPM focuses on fostering long-term investing, strengthening governance of pension investments, and improving design and governance of pension schemes. For more information about ICPM in-person and online events – many of which are open to non-members – and research initiatives, please visit www.icpmnetwork.com.