ASAC 2025

About Spark Tank

Finalists at the ASAC 2025 Spark Tank will have no more than 180 seconds to convince a panel of judges and the audience that they deserve to win:

$3,500 for best conference paper / $1,500 for best student paper

Spark Tank participants were competitively selected from the best conference papers and best student conference papers submitted for the ASAC 2025 conference.

Spark Tank is a living experiment in how to effectively communicate the importance of research and its relevance for the world. It is all about passion, story and audience impact. On Sunday, May 18, we'll take over Federation Hall to explore what makes these papers the best of the best.

The Competition

Finalists will each have a total of 180 seconds for their Spark Tank pitch. This isn't your typical academic presentation and finalists won't be judged on the merits of their research--they've already won an award, we know it's good!

We want to hear the story. What drove this research? How does this research make an impact? Bonus points for those who can tie in the conference theme, telling us how your research innovated to find solutions.

Finalists will be judged based on their ability to tell a good story, entertain and captivate the judges and the audience.

Winners will be selected based on a combination of judges scores and audience voting.

Presentation Criteria

The judges and audience members will give each finalist a score out of 10 based on the following criteria. The judges scores will be combined and averaged for half of each finalists total score, the other half will be the average of the audience's scoring.

Presentation

Audience Engagement - How effectively does the presenter engage the audience?
Creativity and Originality - Does the presentation offer a unique and creative approach?
Story Arc - Is there a compelling and clear narrative structure to the presentation?

Impact

Need - Does the presenter clearly articulate the need they sought out to address?
Approach - Does the presenter make a good case for how they approached and conducted the research?
Impact - Does the research move the dial based on the problem they identified? How well does it move the dial?

Bonus: Innovation

Does the presenter highlight how they innovated in their research, or how their research leads to new ways for innovation?

Meet Our Contestants

Best Student Papers

James Waller is a PhD Candidate at Carleton University. He makes his pitch for "Fit in Layers: Social Identity and the Person-Subordinate Dynamic"
Ali Esmaeili Aftabdari is a PhD student at the Teller School of Management, University of Ottawa. He makes his pitch for "Better Call the Board: CEO Ideology Shapes Corporate Configuration"
Hanieh Mohammadi is a PhD Candidate at the Desautels School of Management at McGill University. She makes her pitch for "Serendipity Isn’t a Fluke—It’s a Feature"

Best Conference Papers

David Foord is Associate Professor of the Faculty of of Management and Wilson-McKenna Fellow at the University of New Brunswick. He makes his pitch for "How does Canada do infrastructure transitions? The case of telecommunications"
Hadi Zarea is a PhD student in International Business at Laval University. He makes his pitch on "Quantifying Friendshoring in International Business: Which States Are True Friends?"
Mehmet Yanit is Assistant Professor of Marketing at University Canada West. He makes his pitch for "When Does the AI 'Assistant' Work Best?"
Amar Anwar is Associate Professor of Economics and Management Science at Cape Breton University. He makes his pitch for "Does Information Drive EV Adoption? Evidence from a Meta-Analysis"
Debdeep Chatterjee is a PhD Candidate at Concordia University. He makes his pitch for "The Varying Influence of Environmental Regulatory Sanctions on Corporate Sustainability"

Meet Our Judges

Emmanuelle Piérard

Emmanuelle Piérard is the Director of the Arts and Business Program at the University of Waterloo, an associate professor in the Department of Economics , a fellow of the Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis and an associate of the Canadian Centre for Health Economics. Her research areas are in health economics and in applied econometrics. Specifically, she is interested in how business cycles and the health care system, both health care inputs and wait times, affect the health of individuals and their use of health care. She obtained her MA and PhD in economics from McMaster University and her BSc Sciences Économiques from Université du Québec à Montréal.

Chet Robie

Chet Robie is a Professor of Organizational Behaviour/HRM at Wilfrid Laurier University. He holds a PhD in I/O Psychology from Bowling Green State University and has held academic and applied roles in the U.S. and Canada. His research focuses on personality assessment in personnel selection, and he has published in top journals such as _Journal of Applied Psychology_ and _Personnel Psychology_. Robie has also consulted for major firms and serves on editorial boards and as a scientific advisor for a pre-hire assessment company.

Vishwanath Baba

Vishwanath Baba joined the DeGroote School of Business in January 2000 as the Dean and Professor of Management. He was also appointed to the Don Pether Chair in Engineering and Management and directed the Engineering and Management Program in the Faculty of Engineering at McMaster University. He is Currently the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Comparative Management and was until recently the Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences. He sits on the editorial boards of several management journals and was the President of the International Network of Business and Management Journal Editors (INBAM). Dr. Baba’s current research interests are in evidence-based management, management theory and management development. He teaches a doctoral seminar on management theory at McMaster University.

Meet our Master of Ceremonies

Mark Mullaly

Mark is President of Interthink Consulting. Although Mark is from industry, he's an academic at heart, with a PhD in his back pocket. He's a long-time friend of ASAC--a former divisional executive member of the Organizational Behaviour Division (chair in 2018) and VP Program for the 2021 ASAC conference.

<h4>About Spark Tank</h4>Finalists at the ASAC 2025 Spark Tank will have no more than 180 seconds to convince a panel of judges and the audience that they deserve to win: $3,500 for best conference paper / $1,500 for best student paper Spark Tank participants were competitively selected from the best conference papers and best student conference papers submitted for the ASAC 2025 conference. Spark Tank is a living experiment in how to effectively communicate the importance of research and its relevance for the world. It is all about passion, story and audience impact. On Sunday, May 18, we'll take over Federation Hall to explore what makes these papers the best of the best. <hr><h4>The Competition</h4>Finalists will each have a total of 180 seconds for their Spark Tank pitch. This isn't your typical academic presentation and finalists won't be judged on the merits of their research--they've already won an award, we know it's good! We want to hear the story. What drove this research? How does this research make an impact? Bonus points for those who can tie in the conference theme, telling us how your research innovated to find solutions. Finalists will be judged based on their ability to tell a good story, entertain and captivate the judges and the audience.  Winners will be selected based on a combination of judges scores and audience voting. <hr><h4>Presentation Criteria</h4>The judges and audience members will give each finalist a score out of 10 based on the following criteria. The judges scores will be combined and averaged for half of each finalists total score, the other half will be the average of the audience's scoring.  Presentation<ul><li>Audience Engagement - How effectively does the presenter engage the audience?</li><li>Creativity and Originality - Does the presentation offer a unique and creative approach?</li><li>Story Arc - Is there a compelling and clear narrative structure to the presentation?</li></ul> Impact<ul><li>Need - Does the presenter clearly articulate the need they sought out to address?</li><li>Approach - Does the presenter make a good case for how they approached and conducted the research?</li><li>Impact - Does the research move the dial based on the problem they identified? How well does it move the dial?</li></ul> Bonus: InnovationDoes the presenter highlight how they innovated in their research, or how their research leads to new ways for innovation?<hr><h4>Meet Our Contestants</h4>Best Student Papers<ul><li>James Waller is a PhD Candidate at Carleton University. He makes his pitch for "Fit in Layers: Social Identity and the Person-Subordinate Dynamic"</li><li>Ali Esmaeili Aftabdari is a PhD student at the Teller School of Management, University of Ottawa. He makes his pitch for "Better Call the Board: CEO Ideology Shapes Corporate Configuration"</li><li>Hanieh Mohammadi is a PhD Candidate at the Desautels School of Management at McGill University. She makes her pitch for "Serendipity Isn’t a Fluke—It’s a Feature"</li></ul> Best Conference Papers<ul><li>David Foord is Associate Professor of the Faculty of of Management and Wilson-McKenna Fellow at the University of New Brunswick. He makes his pitch for "How does Canada do infrastructure transitions? The case of telecommunications"</li><li>Hadi Zarea is a PhD student in International Business at Laval University. He makes his pitch on "Quantifying Friendshoring in International Business: Which States Are True Friends?"</li><li>Mehmet Yanit is Assistant Professor of Marketing at University Canada West. He makes his pitch for "When Does the AI 'Assistant' Work Best?"</li><li>Amar Anwar is Associate Professor of Economics and Management Science at Cape Breton University. He makes his pitch for "Does Information Drive EV Adoption? Evidence from a Meta-Analysis"</li><li>Debdeep Chatterjee is a PhD Candidate at Concordia University. He makes his pitch for "The Varying Influence of Environmental Regulatory Sanctions on Corporate Sustainability"</li></ul><hr><h4>Meet Our Judges</h4> Emmanuelle Piérard Emmanuelle Piérard is the Director of the Arts and Business Program at the University of Waterloo, an associate professor in the Department of Economics , a fellow of the Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis and an associate of the Canadian Centre for Health Economics. Her research areas are in health economics and in applied econometrics.  Specifically, she is interested in how business cycles and the health care system, both health care inputs and wait times, affect the health of individuals and their use of health care. She obtained her MA and PhD in economics from McMaster University and her BSc Sciences Économiques from Université du Québec à Montréal. Chet Robie Chet Robie is a Professor of Organizational Behaviour/HRM at Wilfrid Laurier University. He holds a PhD in I/O Psychology from Bowling Green State University and has held academic and applied roles in the U.S. and Canada. His research focuses on personality assessment in personnel selection, and he has published in top journals such as _Journal of Applied Psychology_ and _Personnel Psychology_. Robie has also consulted for major firms and serves on editorial boards and as a scientific advisor for a pre-hire assessment company. Vishwanath Baba Vishwanath Baba joined the DeGroote School of Business in January 2000 as the Dean and Professor of Management.  He was also appointed to the Don Pether Chair in Engineering and Management and directed the Engineering and Management Program in the Faculty of Engineering at McMaster University. He is Currently the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Comparative Management and was until recently the Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences. He sits on the editorial boards of several management journals and was the President of the International Network of Business and Management Journal Editors (INBAM). Dr. Baba’s current research interests are in evidence-based management, management theory and management development. He teaches a doctoral seminar on management theory at McMaster University. <hr><h4>Meet our Master of Ceremonies</h4>Mark Mullaly Mark is President of Interthink Consulting. Although Mark is from industry, he's an academic at heart, with a PhD in his back pocket. He's a long-time friend of ASAC--a former divisional executive member of the Organizational Behaviour Division (chair in 2018) and VP Program for the 2021 ASAC conference.

About Spark Tank

The Competition

Presentation Criteria

Meet Our Contestants

Meet Our Judges

Meet our Master of Ceremonies

SPARK TANK