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Find out more about our exciting annual events programme and news from our student and staff community.

 

News

House of Parliament, Committee Room 12
05 February 2024 - Shaping the Future of Britain's Digital Economy: Insights from the Parliamentary Summit.

In a landmark summit held at the House of Parliament's Committee Room 12, key figures from the tech and finance sectors convened to discuss the burgeoning digital economy's trajectory in Britain. The session, titled "The digital economy is transforming Britain, but it comes with risks from AI and fraud. The regulators need to catch up, and it's our job to help them!" provided a critical platform for dialogue on the future of digital innovation and its regulation.

Prof. Francesca Medda underscored the crucial role of academic input in navigating the digital economy's complexities and emphasized the significance of nurturing financial talent and fostering academia-industry collaborations to ensure the sector's robust growth. Her perspective highlighted the need for an educational framework that adapts to the evolving demands of digital finance, preparing a workforce capable of driving innovation while safeguarding against the inherent risks of digitalization.


Francis Lu, a Chinese student, stands between two female IFT professors. He is holding a certificate and smiling at the camera
15 December 2022 - Congratulations to Francis Lu, who is our 2022 WCIB prizewinner! Francis receives the prize for best student dissertation, entitled "Can unsupervised machine learning create profitable and robust pairs trading portfolios?His work applied OPTICS algorithm to US equity datasets for pairs selection combined with cointegration based trading rule to create a pairs trading strategy, showing that OPTICS can effectively narrowing search space for potential pairs for trading. 

 

As IFT's winner, Francis also qualifies to participate in the annual WCIB Lombard Prize competition, a nationwide competition where he will compete against 21 other WCIB prize winners from other business schools. We wish him the best of luck!


Paola Bergamaschi, IFT Industrial Director
3 November 2022 - We are delighted to announce that Paola Bergamaschi-Broyd, IFT's Industry Director, has been elected to join the AIG Board of Directors, effective 1 December 2022. 

 

Peter Zaffino, Chairman & CEO, AIG, said “We are very pleased that Paola is joining the AIG Board of Directors. Paola is an experienced financial services executive and independent director who brings deep international expertise in capital markets, global banking, and risk and international regulatory oversight.” Read the full press release here.


Green and white patterned holding slide for the European Commission's Sustainable Research Forum
27 October 2022 - IFT PhD Researcher and CEO of PlusValue (PV), Filippo Addarii, and Industrial Professor Budha Bhattacharya, joined experts across the world of ESG on 25 October to launch the European Commission's Sustainable Finance Research Forum. The Forum will be an open platform to discuss approaches and experiences of academics, policy officers and financial sector practitioners to strengthen the role of open science and knowledge sharing between the financial sector and the research community. Find out more here.

Green decorations on a ceiling glint in the light of the sun
9 October 2022 - We are delighted to announce the launch of our new MSc programme in Responsible Finance and Alternative Assets. The programme, which will welcome its first cohort in 2023, is a response to growing global demand for financial impact and environmental asset managers capable of dealing with the interaction between finance and sustainable investment, such as natural capital assets.
 

The MSc will equip students with the skills and tools required to grasp the underlying concepts and practical trade-offs involved in sustainable finance and impact and environmental investment and policy.
 

Applications open in January 2023. Find out more via the prospectus page here.


Social Outcomes Project logo
7 September 2022Social Outcomes Contract (SOC) for the work inclusion of inmates
 

IFT's PhD researcher Filippo Addarii is pioneering a project to break the recidivism cycle in Italy. By increasing work inclusion of convicts, the project should reduce reincarceration rates and associated social costs. Read more here.


The 10 VC Scholar candidates on a poster
29 August 2022 - Congratulations to our PhD student Pornpanit Rasivisuth has been selected to join the VC Scholar programme organised by The LHoFT - Luxembourg House of Financial Technology and MiddleGame Ventures.

The VC Scholar programme is a 3-week event that provides MSc and PhD students the opportunity to delve deep into the financial technology sector and venture capital industry in Luxembourg and the European Union. We can't wait to hear more about what Pornpanit learns and brings back with her to implement in her studies!


Photo cred: The LHoFT/Middlegame Ventures

UCL student centre with two students working at desks, at dusk
30 April 2022 - IFT PhD student Pornpanit Rasivisuth came second in the #LoveUCL student photo competition this month! Congratulations Pornpanit!

Her entry was also featured on UCL's Instagram here.

Alicia Reyes, an Industrial Professor at IFT
18 March 2022 - Alicia Reyes, IFT Industrial Professor and Director of Sabadell and Ferrovial, has also joined KBC (Belgium at its highest administrative authority. This is Alicia's third position on a board of a European listed company. 

Read the full press release here via GlobalNewswire.

4 men pictured, the zoom event speakers of a recent Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce event.
20 August 2021 - Budha Bhattacharya, IFT Industrial Professor and Head of Analytics for ESG IQ, spoke at a Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce webinar on ESG data.

He joined Frederick Chu, Executive Director at Haitong International Asset Management, Pat Woo, Partner at KPMG China, and Kin Yu, Data Analytics Director at ESG IQ.

Crest for the Worshipful Company of International Bankers (WCIB)
February 2021 - IFT graduate Chloe Salehnejad was named as runner-up for the 2020 WCIB Lombard Prize.

As a prize, Chloe was invited to join one of the WCIB's major City of London functions. Congratulations Chloe!

Simona Parvani, an Industrial Professor at IFT
15 January 2021Simona Paravani-Mellinghoff, then IFT Industrial Professor and Chief Investment Officer with BlackRock, was interviewed by Bloomberg about her experience working with refugees.

Paravani explains how writing a children’s book and teaching machine learning has helped her learn resilience and prevented her from becoming a ‘dinosaur.’