Risk Awards - Rising Star: Quant Finance

Eligible candidates:

All education levels are eligible, given the below conditions are met:

• Candidates holding a PhD should have completed their first PhD no more than four years ago (not before August 2021).
• Candidates should have no more than two years of experience in the financial industry.
• Each candidate may submit only one paper. A co-authored paper may be submitted only once, by one of the co-authors.
• Submissions should refer to a single paper.

Submission process:

Candidates were required to submit their paper by completing the application by August 10, 2025.

Candidates are asked to describe various aspects of their papers (on methodology, results, applicability, and originality among others) and to provide the paper either through a link to its URL or by uploading it.

Criteria:

The editorial team and the selection committee will check how closely the papers meet the following criteria.

• Originality: how innovative the solution presented in the paper is, in comparison with the existing literature and existing solutions.
• Correctness: whether the technical (mathematical, statistical, algorithmic) aspects are correctly dealt with.
• Relevance: how significant the issue dealt with is to the financial industry and how important it is to find a solution to it.
• Applicability: how practical the provided solution is, whether enough information to replicate its results is provided and if it is technically possible for a financial institution to implement it.

Selection process:

All submissions are examined by the selection committee. The panel is formed by approximately 20 leading academics and industry quants from different continents and with a comprehensive variety of expertise.

The quant finance team of Risk.net, based on the feedback of the selection committee, will select a shortlist of candidates.

The shortlisted candidates may be required to provide additional information, such as industry references or specifics on the implementation of their work by financial institutions. They should also be available for an interview with a representative of the selection committee, if that will be considered necessary to take a decision.

The winner:

The winner will be invited to the annual Risk Awards ceremony in November to receive the award and join the community of leading finance professionals for the celebrations.