BUP undergraduate students Md. Tafhimul Islam Khan and Zubair Ibne Zaman received the Best Paper Award at the 8th Asia Conference on Business and Economic Studies (ACBES 2026), held at the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The research was conducted under the mentorship of Md. Nafizur Rahman, Lecturer, Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP).

The students were the only undergraduate student team presenting at the conference, alongside faculty members, researchers, and doctoral students. Their paper, titled “AI Literacy, Digital Financial Literacy, and Students’ Financial Well-Being: Evidence from PLS-SEM and fsQCA,” received the Best Paper Award.

ACBES 2026 brought together a global community of scholars, featuring 320 paper submissions, 161 accepted papers, and 180 participants from around the world. The conference featured four internationally renowned keynote speakers: Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (2019) Professor Esther Duflo (MIT), Professor Karen Macours (Paris School of Economics), Professor Hans Lööf (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden), and Associate Professor Alminas Zaldokas (National University of Singapore). The event also featured 44 session chairs and four PhD lectures, reflecting its international academic scope.

The conference provided significant academic and institutional benefits, including greater international recognition for Bangladesh and BUP among universities and researchers from different countries. It also created opportunities to network with professors, researchers, and doctoral students, opening potential avenues for future academic collaboration. The students also gained exposure to international research standards, knowledge exchange, and the experience of presenting BUP research on a global academic platform.