Quantcast Master’s Series: Laura Ballotta, Bayes Business School

The business school prioritises the teaching of applicable knowledge with a keen eye on the real world

In this second episode of the Quantcast Master’s Series – part of Risk.net’s Tomorrow’s Quants project – we speak to Laura Ballotta, director of the MSc in Quantitative Finance at Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), which is part of City St George’s, University of London.

“Our philosophy is to combine theory with practice, so our teaching is always informed by real problems in the industry,” says Ballotta, explaining that at Bayes theory is taught “in a rigorous manner, but always with a lens on what it means in the real world and how we apply it”.

Quantcast – a Risk.net Cutting Edge podcast · Laura Ballotta Risk Master’s Series

 

Like other master’s programmes, Bayes updates its curriculum to adapt to the job market its students are targeting. “We have been going through several reincarnations,” says Ballotta. “We have shifted the focus towards machine learning, quantitative trading and algorithmic trading.” The programme has also introduced climate risk modelling, sustainability and ESG (environmental, social and governance) modules.

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Ballotta explains that, in addition to striking a balance between the theoretical and the empirical, her programme strives to prepare students both on buy- and sell-side subjects and to give them the option to tailor their path towards the career they aspire to.

Coding, especially in Python, is considered a key skill to develop at the programme, in line with most other programmes and with the expectations of the industry: “You learn the language, but you need to learn the algorithms,” says Ballotta. “How do you do Fourier transform for option pricing, for example, or Monte Carlo simulation.”

Some 70% of the programme’s students are international and the conversation concludes in acknowledging an uptick in student applications from China, India and the US that Bayes has registered recently – a likely reflection of the impact that geopolitical uncertainties have had on the education system.

To hear the full interview, listen in the player above, or download. Future podcasts in our Quantcast series will be uploaded to Risk.net. You can also visit the main page here to access all tracks, or go to Spotify, Amazon Music or the iTunes store to listen and subscribe.