Request for Proposals
Universal ownership, also described as the whole portfolio effect, has moved from the margins of the debate onto the agenda of large institutional investors. PRI reporting data drawn from over 4,000 asset owners and institutional investors show signatories moving beyond policy commitments towards implementation, with a growing number addressing systemic issues explicitly. Recent survey evidence points the same way, with investors no longer satisfied by high-level commitments and asking instead for actionable plans and measurable outcomes.
Quantitative analysis, however, has lagged. Beyond the first projects funded by EIRN, there is still almost no quantitative work on how the externalities generated by portfolio companies affect the portfolios of their investors. Valuation and risk profiles are therefore understated for negative externalities in the allocation, pricing, and structuring of capital, while positive externalities are barely considered. Stewardship teams may be guided by the theory of universal ownership, but chief investment officers, portfolio managers, analysts, and deal teams have few tools with which to act on it, which can leave investment and stewardship functions within the same institution working from incompatible evidence.
This call is intended to help close that gap
The Foundation invites proposals that are primarily focused on quantitative analysis and methods that address the transmission of externalities into universal owner and whole portfolio effects, including work on corporates directly exposed to these dynamics, such as insurers and utilities. Theoretical and methodological work is equally welcome, including models, metrics, and estimation strategies that open the way to future empirical work.
Areas of attention
The Foundation has identified three areas in which the quantitative evidence is thinnest relative to its importance for diversified investors, and proposals addressing them are encouraged.
The first is agriculture and food systems. Food production and supply chains generate substantial externalities, from greenhouse gas emissions and land use to labour conditions and community impacts, and the quantitative links between these and portfolio-level financial risk remain largely unmapped.
The second is the climate transition, including just transition dynamics, and how the distributional consequences of that transition, among them the effects on workers, communities, and lower-income populations, bear on portfolio internalisation and systemic risk assessment.
The third is inequality and distributional externalities, and the pathways by which the disproportionate exposure of low-income communities, women, and populations in the Global South to negative externalities generates instability that returns to financial markets as systemic and then systematic risk.
These areas are indicative and not exclusive. Proposals outside them are equally welcome and are assessed against the same criteria. The Foundation’s interest is in the quality of the work and its contribution to quantifying portfolio externality effects, whatever the domain.
Proposals are invited from academics, researchers affiliated with non-profit organisations, and individuals working at companies in related business sectors that the Foundation determines, in its sole discretion, to be reliably committed to unbiased and fact-based research. Early-career researchers are encouraged to apply, as are teams combining academic and practitioner expertise.
This Call for Proposals is open to research projects based and conducted in Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Lead applicants, both host institutions and principal investigators, must be legally established and currently residing within these eligible regions for the duration of the grant.
The Foundation will fund accepted proposals for support of up to EUR 50,000 with a duration of up to 18 months. Payment terms are set out in the grant agreement.
Instructions
FAQ
When will applicants be notified of decisions?
Around first week of December
Is there a limit on how many proposals one PI or institution can submit in this round?
One project per PI, but you can be a co-investigator on more than one.
Can a team include co-investigators based outside the eligible regions, as long as the lead applicant and host institution are within them?
No
Can a for-profit practitioner apply without an academic or non-profit co-applicant?
Yes.
Will applicants receive feedback or reviewer comments if not selected?
Yes, upon request.
Is there a word limit for the research proposal template?
No, you are to write as many words as you wish within the templete boxes
What is expected from grantees, and who owns the resulting work?
Grantees are expected to produce a working paper suitable for posting on SSRN and the EIRN website, and to present their work at an EIRN Foundation convening. They are also strongly encouraged to submit their research to a peer-reviewed journal, and the Foundation will support them in doing so. Any resulting publications should acknowledge the Foundation’s support. The Foundation does not claim intellectual property rights in funded work. Authors retain copyright and are required to make the working paper available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0).
EIRN reserves the right to modify, suspend or cancel this solicitation at any time.
For any questions or clarifications, please contact foundation@eirnetwork.org. Please note that this is not the same email address as for the proposal submission; that is rfp2026.foundation@eirnetwork.org
Unless otherwise agreed to in writing, the EIRN Foundation is not responsible for costs or expenses incurred in the preparation of any proposal or for any claims or liabilities associated with third-party research funded by EIRN.