Dates: 8–10 September 2025

Location: Nottingham University Business School

Jubilee Campus, Wollaton Road, Nottingham NG8 1BB

Conference information

The TRN 2025 conference will be held in the Business School South Building at the University of Nottingham’s Jubilee Campus on 8-10 September 2025. It will be mainly an in-person conference with some, but limited, virtual provision for those who are unable to travel to Nottingham.

As usual, the first two days will be research focused, while the Tax Education Day will run on 10 September.

Both research and teaching focused papers are welcomed in this call for papers.

There will be concurrent sessions over the conference to accommodate the papers submitted. The virtual sessions will be conducted via Microsoft Teams with links to be provided prior to the conference.

The conference will offer a limited number of fee scholarships and travel bursaries for PhD students and Early Career Research/Teaching colleagues. We will also hope to have limited funding for supporting childcare costs. Further details will be available once registration opens.

Conference Dinner

The drinks reception and conference dinner will take place on the evening of Monday 8 September at a venue also on the Jubilee Campus.

Call for papers

The call for papers is now passed for this event

Booking

Bookings for this event ARE NOW OPEN – please see full details and book your place here

Accommodation

There is limited conference accommodation available on campus. This accommodation is bookable on a first come first served basis. 

Southwell Hall (student hall of residence)

The cut off point for booking accommodation in Southwell Hall will be 18 August 2025. 

Only 40 (en suite) rooms are available, so booking is on a first come, first served basis.  The cost is £54 per night, inclusive of VAT and breakfast.

Please note that booking may require setting up an account with Nottingham Venues (the formal conference organising entity at Nottingham) and then following through the process advised.  It can take a little while – and please make a note of the code TAXCONF2025 before booking as you may need to enter it separately later.

Jubilee Hotel and Conference Centre (JCC)

Click The Jubilee Hotel (on the ‘book directly’ option). On the drop-down box, add the code and click apply and all the dates and rates will appear for to book. Code: TaxRes26. Please enter this code as a ‘Group’ code, or it won’t work.  Rooms (inclusive of VAT and breakfast) cost £95 per night.

The cutoff date to book accommodation in the JCC is 3 August 2025.

Further details on this event will be available on the TRN website in due course at: https://taxresearch.network

Deadline for submitting abstract: 24 March 2025
Submission should be sent to: Yvette.lind@bi.no
Workshop held in Oslo 23 May 2025
Edited book planned to be published in late 2026

Editors and organizers:
Yvette Lind, Professor of Law at BI Norwegian Business School
James Alm, Professor emeritus of Economics at Tulane University

Background and motivation for workshop and edited book
Taxation is essential for the functioning of our modern states as it funds the maintenance of
law and security, collective decision-making, provision of public goods and services, and
redistribution. In short, no government or state can survive without taxation. This is apparent
when considering the Nordic welfare states. Given this importance, the design and execution
of taxes are fundamental. Moreover, taxation encompasses the relationship between
individuals, governments, and public policy and thus naturally concerns various disciplines
such as economics, politics, and law. Taxes have been extensively studied by these disciplines
but rarely collectively, despite the apparent benefits of doing so. In addition, the actual making
of taxes through tax laws and tax policies is of great interest to both legal scholars and legal
practitioners when they apply and interpret these tax laws. Despite this apparent linking and
importance, the political aspects of tax laws are often left out of tax studies done by legal
scholars.

Consequently, BI Tax and Fiscal Policy Centre at BI Norwegian Business school is organising
a workshop as a recognition of this research gap and the growing need to consider taxation in
a more holistic fashion, especially in light of ongoing global and local developments.
The workshop strives to gather scholars from various disciplines with the purpose of
advancing the interlinking of political economy and tax law as a recognised and progressively
growing research field. Those accepted to the workshop will have the chance to have their
research papers included in a book that will be edited by Yvette Lind and James Alm and is
planned to be published by Edinburgh University Press in the second half of 2026.
The proposed workshop and publication aim to (1) answer questions about the relationship
between tax law and political economics in a number of differing settings, and (2) provide
scholars with the methodological and theoretical tools necessary for conducting studies on
taxation through the lenses of political economy and tax law. Consequently, we welcome
papers of a broad variety that may be linked to any of our three outlined themes.

1. The power to tax. This includes questions such as: Who has the power to tax and how
   does this affect our tax systems and subsequently our tax laws? Who ought to have the
   power and why? How should tax laws be enforced? How do political considerations
   affect the power to tax? This theme naturally also covers aspects associated with the
   administrative, procedural, and legislative processes associated with taxation, i.e. the
   making of tax laws and the fashion in which we interpret and apply them.
2. The fundamentals of our tax systems. What principles underpin our tax systems?
   Should we design our tax systems and tax laws to achieve justice or efficiency, or
   simply to raise revenues? Who/what should be taxed?
3. Redistribution of tax revenues. Tax scholars from law rarely consider the ways in
   which the tax revenues that are collected are actually spent, especially via their
   redistribution to various groups in society. The uses of taxes form a vital part of the
   publication. Within this umbrella authors may naturally wish to explore the goals of
   redistribution, e.g. equal treatment or equity. Redistribution and progressive taxation
   naturally deviate from equal treatment. Does our (formally) neutral tax systems
   discriminate against – or in favour of – various groups based on – for instance – gender,
   race, and economic status? And if so, has this been addressed politically and/or legally
   in our tax systems?

The above outlined themes have been dealt with extensively within disciplines such as
economics and political economics yet less so by law, at least those outside of the US. It is our
wish to address this research gap through this workshop and publication and to foster research
in this area of law when considering the Nordics in particular.

Papers selection will be done by editors based on the following criteria: quality, novelty,
multidisciplinary approach or appeal to multidisciplinary audience, and overall fit with
planned publication.

We strongly encourage early-career scholars and/or Nordic tax scholars to apply as we wish
to strengthen the Nordic tax community through this networking and international
publication opportunity. We can sadly not offer funding for travel and stay during the
workshop, but the workshop itself is cost-free for participants. Nordic tax scholars are
encouraged to apply for funding for participation (travel and stay) from the Nordic Tax
Research Council who are co-funding this event.

Proposed time plan
✓ Deadline for submitting abstract: 24 March 2025.
✓ The decision on accepted/rejected papers will be communicated in mid-April 2025.
✓ First drafts of papers are to be submitted to editors by the 12 May 2025.
✓ The workshop will be held in Oslo at BI Norwegian Business School 23 May 2025.
✓ Revised draft papers are expected to be sent to editors by 12t October 2025.
✓ Editors will request additional changes by 1 December 2025.
✓ Papers subjected to additional revision are expected to be received by 15 February 2026.
✓ Final publication is expected in the second half of 2026.

Review process
✓ Editors will make the initial sorting when accepting/rejecting papers for workshop.
✓ External reviewers will be invited to comment on papers at the workshop.
✓ Editors will provide supplementary comments on the papers after the workshop.
✓ Revised drafts will be subject to additional review from editors and possible external
reviewers based on individual need

see https://taxresearch.network/event/social-policy-associations-tax-and-social-policy-group-inaugural-conference-wealth-inequality-tax-and-social-policy/

This is a senior leadership role, and it is expected that applicants will have a minimum of 5 years post-PhD academic experience, or equivalent seniority in a professional career.  The role is not limited to UK-based individuals, but successful applicants must be prepared to arrange and attend relevant meetings (online where necessary) within UK working hours.

Applications should be sent to dad34@cam.ac.uk by 15 January 2025 and should include an up-to-date CV and an explanation of the applicant’s intended approach to the role (max 2 pages A4).

Selection timetable

The TRN Board will prepare a shortlist as soon as possible after the closing date.  Shortlisted candidates will be invited to carry out a brief presentation and Q&A at an online meeting of TRN members in late January.  Attendees will be invited to ask questions and provide feedback to the Board, which will make a decision by the end of February.   The handover is expected to take place as soon as possible and in any case by 1 July 2025, though a transition period can be arranged if the successful candidate would find this helpful.  If you have any questions about this process, please let us know on dad34@cam.ac.uk.

Role description

The TRN President provides strategic leadership for the organisation, acts as its public face and furthers the TRN’s aims of supporting tax research and education within and outside the UK.  It is a prestigious senior leadership role that is highly valued within the sector and would be suitable for either an established tax academic or a tax professional at an equivalent career stage.  In formal terms, it consists of an unpaid Directorship of TRN Ltd, a company limited by guarantee, of which all profits are reinvested into research and education.  Professional indemnity insurance is available.  In more detail, the TRN President is expected to carry out the following tasks:

1. With the Board, provide strategic leadership for all areas of TRN activity including:
   • promoting the TRN’s activities and membership;
   • allocating responsibilities within the TRN Board;
   • coordinating TRN subcommittees (Research, Education and Communications);
   • building relationships with related organisations including CIOT and ICAEW;
   • overseeing funding and development activities;
   • selecting the annual conference venue;
   • arranging publicity and profile-building activities;
   • developing the TRN’s future strategic, operational and organisational direction.
2. Act as a point of contact for assisting local organisers of annual conferences.
3. Chair periodic Board meetings in support of the TRN’s research and educational activities and of its annual practical and legal requirements.
4. With the Finance Director, comply with all legal and regulatory requirements, including submitting annual accounts to Companies House and tax returns to HMRC.