Microfinance has become a large banking segment as well as a widely practiced development tool. The present microfinance industry is confronted with a broad range of dilemmas and unsolved problems, and the debate about the development effect of microfinance continues. This provides our motivation for the invitation to researchers from all disciplines within social sciences and economics.

The aim of the European Research Conference on Microfinance is to be the World’s most important meeting place of academics involved in microfinance research. The two former conferences organized by the Centre for European Research in Microfinance (CERMi) at the University Libre De Brussels, and by University of Groningen in the Netherlands have seen the turnout of several hundred researchers, as well as many practitioners interested in academic research, from across the globe. The upcoming conference is organized by the University of Agder in cooperation with the European Microfinance Platform (http://www.e-mfp.eu/), CERMi (www.cermi.eu) and University of Groningen (www.rug.nl/gsg) .Call for papers