The beautiful English Lake District greeted some of corporate finance’s leading academic voices at a two-day event.

Lancaster University Management School’s Department of Accounting and Finance hosted the second Lake District Workshop in Corporate Finance under the spring sunshine in Bowness-on-Windermere.

The event brought together around 40 experts on corporate finance from across the globe. They engaged with presentations from researchers from the USA, UK, China, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland.

Participants enjoyed discussions on topics ranging from board diversity, wage disparity, responsible sourcing, and the optimal integration of Artificial Intelligence, to corporate payout policy, consequences of common ownership, and the relationship between markets and inequality.

The keynote speech, Voting Choice, was delivered by Professor Andrey Malenko, of Boston College – editor of top-rated journal The Review of Financial Studies. It focused on the implications of pass-through voting in investment funds and its impact on investor welfare.

Dr Roberto Pinto, one of the event co-organisers from Lancaster alongside Professor Greg Pawlina, Dr Shiqi Chen and Dr Jesse Wang, said: “The workshop was a successful event once again. We had high quality presentations, constructive discussions and engaging conversations throughout the two days.

“We were thrilled to welcome guests from leading academic institutions around the world, and they all enjoyed a broad cross-section of topics in corporate finance in a welcoming atmosphere that contributed to a productive and enjoyable experience.”

Professor Pawlina added: “The social aspects – including the Windermere cruise and the Todd Crag hike – provided us with valuable opportunities for networking and informal exchange, and we are already looking forward to the third edition of the workshop in 2026.”