The Quant Conference: An MSc insight into the world of quants

Students from our specialist MSc Financial Mathematics course share their experiences of attending The Quant Conference 2019, highlighting how the experience has allowed them to access knowledge, guidance, and insight from those in the quants industry.

Jinchen Liu

The Quant Conference is an educational forum to learn about cutting edge research in quantitative finance. It offers the opportunity for you to network with prominent leaders within the industry, aspiring students, academics and investors whilst delving into the hottest topics in quantitative research. 

As an MSc student with little experience in the finance industry, I was curious about the work that quants do from day to day and wanted to find out whether the role would be suited to me and what kind of skills I should work on if I want to pursue this kind of role. For these reasons I decided to attend The Quant Conference where I could access great minds and hear from people with different backgrounds and experiences in the quants industry.

I really enjoyed the unique networking sessions, where I was able to meet and talk to several recruiters and graduates who helped me see more possibilities for my future career plan. I would definitely recommend that WBS students attend the conference next year as it enables you to understand how the theories that you learn from lectures and seminars are applied in a practical working environment. If you are interested in quantitative finance then this conference provides a great opportunity for you to step out of the classroom and gain knowledge and insight from industry experts. 

Yuhao Li

I attended The Quants Conference because I wanted to know more about quants in the UK market and I wanted to get some advice about how to work in the quants industry after graduation.

My favourite session from the conference was ‘learnings from working with leading quant investment firms winning the data talents race’. During this session, the speaker highlighted the importance of why one firm must be more advanced in terms of cutting edge research than others so it can make a profit. In addition to this, the speaker said that one approach to improving the level of skills within a firm is to improve the quality of hire using the following formula  ‘Breadth of Funnel * Filter Accuracy = Quality of Hire’. This indicated to me two essential factors to improve my quant skills.

The Quant Conference is a rare chance for students to understand key quant concepts and meet industry experts. I really like the fact that the organisers of the conference provided an app in advance of the event so that participants could book a networking appointment with other delegates. I would definitely recommend that WBS students attend the conference next year as it is a great opportunity to gain lots of advice if you want to apply for an internship or pursue a future career within this industry.

Discover more about our MSc Mathematical Finance course on our webpages.