News

This year, we partnered with Optiver to run our first-ever Excel-based challenge (previously a Python competition). As a pilot, we limited participation to 50 students (with 39 completing the challenge), requiring them to attend DSL Excel workshops beforehand. Students explored market trading, probabilistic thinking, and decision-making in financial markets through two Optiver-led lectures. They then worked in randomised teams to analyse a mispriced market on PolyMarket, applying data-driven methods in Excel to justify their findings and recommend a bet size. Their work culminated in a judged presentation, where they tackled some tough questions with impressive confidence!

We had some winners from the Department of Statistics as follows:

Best Presentation

Magnus Yeung
Oncel Aldanmaz 

Runners-up for best idea

Dennis Malaj
Yong Xin Chai

Huge congratulations to our students! 

The Optiver Excel Challenge Awards Ceremony took place on 7 March 2025 in the Shaw Library, Old Building where Professor Emma McCoy delivered a brief address to the students. 

We are very excited and proud to announce that Dr. Giulia Livieri has successfully passed major review with promotion to Associate Professor and Dr. Marcos Barreto has successfully passed promotion to Associate Professor (Education). Huge congratulations Giulia and Marcos!

We are delighted to inform you that Eduardo Ferioli Gomes (supervisor: Umut Cetin) has been recommended for the award of a PhD for his thesis, Directional high frequency trading in the Kyle-Back model.  

On behalf of everyone in the Department of Statistics, we would like to congratulate Dr. Ferioli Gomes on his fantastic achievement and wish him all the best as he returns to Federal Fluminense University in Brazil. 

Yutong Wang has solved the IMS puzzle number 54! Yutong has told the Department of Statistics that, 'I first learned about this puzzle series from Xuzhi Yang and Prof. Tengyao Wang. Xuzhi and I spent an entire night exploring the puzzles from the first ten issues, and we found them both fascinating and highly relevant to quantitative finance interviews. 

When I saw that the submission deadline for the latest issue’s puzzle was 2 February, I decided to give it a try. I submitted my solution on 1 February and received a response from Tati, the editor of IMS Bulletin, on 6 February, confirming the correctness of my answer. 

I believe that solving these puzzles helps deepen our understanding of statistics and probability theory. They require a strong theoretical foundation as well as some mathematical ingenuity, which I really enjoy.  

Thank you (to Xuzhi and Tengyao) for introducing me to these puzzles. I thoroughly enjoyed solving them and will continue to engage with them in the future.'

You can find Yutong's answers on page 10 of this PDF from the IMS. 

Huge congratulations again, Yutong!

We are very pleased to announce that Joshua Loftus has successfully passed his Interim Review! Huge congratulations, Joshua!

We are pleased to announce that we have been kindly donated the following prizes by Winton. Our Head of Department Professor Pauline Barrieu would like to thank Winton for these donations and the Department of Statistics is extremely thankful for their continued support. A huge congratulations to the students who have worked hard and have been awarded the prizes below.

Prize: Winton Prize for Academic Excellence in MSc Statistics/MSc Statistics (Financial Statistics) and MSc Statistics (Social Statistics). This prize was awarded to the student with the highest overall mark in their assessments. One prize of £500 was awarded. Winner: HAO WEE.

Prize: Winton Prize for Best Dissertation in MSc Statistics/MSc Statistics (Financial Statistics)/MSc Statistics (Social Statistics). This prize was awarded to the student with the highest mark in their dissertation. One prize of £500 was awarded. Winner: WANQING AN.

Prize: Winton Prize for Academic Excellence in MSc Data Science. This prize was awarded to the MSc Data Science student with the highest overall marks in their assessments. One prize of £500 was awarded. Winner: VIVIAN DIRKS.

Prize: Winton Prize for Best Capstone Project in MSc Data Science. This prize was awarded to the group of MSc Data Science students with the highest overall mark in their Capstone Project. One prize of £500 was awarded (divided equally between the group members). Winners: DIVISHA MAKKAR, RHEA MALL, STUTI SUBRAMANI and AYUSH TOPPO.

Prize: Winton Prizes for Academic Excellence in Statistics with Financial Applications. This prize was awarded to two undergraduate Statistics students who have taken the Stochastics and Actuarial Methods in Finance course (ST330) and achieved the highest weighted average marks. Two prizes of £500 were awarded. Winners: SHEUNG YEN LUI and JUN KAI EU. 

We are very proud to announce that one of our MSc students Qurat-ul-ain Gul won the LSE Generate Startup competition! Qurat-ul-ain Gul has a AI-based startup called Tabeeer Pvt.LTD.  

Qurat-ul-ain Gul told the Department of Statistics that: 'This achievement wouldn’t have been possible without the guidance and unwavering support I received from Dr Ieva Kazlauskaitė, Shakeel Gavioli-Akilagun and most importantly, our Academic Mentor Professor Zoltan Szabo. This milestone demonstrates how the AI and Data Science knowledge imparted here goes beyond theoretical concepts and is actively applied to solve real-world problems. 

At Tabeeer, we address the information and support gaps in international education, empowering youth with the tools they need to excel in their academic and professional journeys. 

Lastly, I’d like to express my gratitude to the Department for nurturing my skills and confidence. Winning such a competitive award, with over 80 startups from around the globe, is a testament to the incredible education and mentorship I’ve received.'