image: 2025 MRS International Risk Conference
Credit: Qianyi Qin.
The 2025 MRS International Risk Conference, jointly organized by China Finance Review International (CFRI), Suffolk University’s Sawyer Business School, and the Modern Risk Society (MRS), successfully concluded in Boston from 24 to 26 July 2025. The three-day conference united leading scholars and industry experts from around the world, emphasizing the importance of cutting-edge research in risk and finance.
This event received 443 paper submissions from 37 countries across five continents. After a rigorous selection process, 180 papers were included in the program. Submissions from East Asia, North America, and Europe accounted for 45%, 37%, and 13%, respectively, reflecting the conference’s broad and lively global academic network.
Over 300 scholars and industry professionals participated in detailed discussions on AI risk, climate risk, green finance, systemic risk, and cryptocurrency regulation. The conference encouraged a vibrant exchange of ideas across different time zones and disciplines, emphasizing the importance of academic collaboration in addressing global financial issues.
Conference Leadership
The conference was co-chaired by Professor Michael Goldstein (Babson College), Professor Shahriar Khaksari (Suffolk University), and Professor Wenfeng Wu (Antai College of Economics and Management, Jiao Tong University), who provided essential academic guidance and organizational support.
Keynote Highlights
On July 25, the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics laureate Professor Daron Acemoglu (MIT) delivered a keynote speech titled “Reclaiming Humanity in the Age of AI”. He discussed the risks of excessive automation, information homogenization, and data monopolies, advocating for five key institutional measures – taxation, data property rights, public R&D, algorithmic transparency, and labor co-governance – to transform AI from “substituting humans” to “augmenting humans.”
On July 26, at the AI and Climate Risk Forum co-hosted with the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative, Professor Peter Tufano (Harvard Business School) delivered a keynote on “AI and Climate Risk”. His presentation integrated climate science, computer science, and finance to propose viable pathways for sustainable transformation in capital markets, offering both academic depth and policy insight.
Recognizing Academic Excellence
The conference showcased six Research Excellence Awards and one Distinguished MRS Scholar lifetime achievement award, co-sponsored by China Finance Review International and partners including the Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Rosenberg Institute for East Asian Studies, Global Association of Risk Professionals, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, and Clarivate. Recipients included Thu Nguyen (University of Amsterdam), Yong Chen (Texas A&M University), Will Cong (Cornell University), Samuel Rosen (Temple University), Lin Tang (The University of Hong Kong), and Hui Guo (University of Cincinnati). Professor Guofu Zhou (Washington University in St. Louis) was honored with the Distinguished MRS Scholar award for his exceptional contributions to financial economics.
CFRI Editorial Board Meeting
During the conference, CFRI held its 2025 Editorial Board Meeting, with 15 board members attending in person. Executive Editor Professor Wenfeng Wu expressed appreciation for the board’s long-standing support. The editorial team presented updates on key performance indicators, followed by discussions on topic planning, review processes, international outreach, and brand development, leading to consensus on future directions.
Looking Ahead
Professor Wenfeng Wu emphasized the urgent need for collaboration between academia and industry to tackle global financial risk governance amid the merging of AI technology and the climate crisis. Building on this year’s achievements, CFRI will persist in acting as a link between East and West, encouraging interdisciplinary cooperation under the theme of “Transformation and Innovation in Global Financial Markets.”
About CFRI
China Finance Review International is an English-language academic journal published by Emerald Publishing on behalf of Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Since its founding in 2011, CFRI has been indexed by more than 20 international databases, including Web of Science, Scopus, and ProQuest, and is recognized in ABDC, ABS, FMS, and AMI journal rankings. In 2024, CFRI achieved a CiteScore of 16.3 (5th in the Finance category) and an impact factor of 7.6 (8th globally in Business, Finance). It is classified as a Q1 TOP journal in both “Economics” and “Business, Finance” by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
For more information:
Journal homepage: www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/cfri
Online submission: mc.manuscriptcentral.com/cfri
Email: cfri@acem.sjtu.edu.cn