Quantcast Master’s Series: Jack Jacquier, Imperial College London

This episode of Quantcast Master’s Series – part of the Tomorrow’s Quants project – welcomes Jack⁤ jacquier,director of the Master’s in Mathematics and Finance at Imperial College,London (ICL).

Imperial’s program strikes a ⁢balance between the teaching of modelling foundations and applications,something it has in common with many programmes in quantitative finance.

Jacquier is confident the programme dose⁤ not compromise either aspect, and recalls the words of the late Mark Davis, who launched it in the early 2000s: “It’s the most theoretical and the most⁤ practical at the same time.”

The programme⁣ sits within the mathematics department and most lecturers are thus mathematicians and probabilists,inclined to rigorous,theoretical‍ teaching.

The connection with⁤ the industry is multifaceted. Visiting professors are almost a third of the teaching staff, ⁣and include renowned quants who have distinguished ‍themselves for the quality of their quantitative research. They include the likes of Alexei ⁢Kondratyev head of risk at⁢ SW7 Group, Gordon Lee, head quant at Bank of New York, Vladimir Lucic head quant at Marex Solutions and Vladimir Piterbarg head quant⁣ at Natwest Markets. the alumni network is very active and benefits from its London base – the faculty cultivates ⁤numerous collaborations with financial institutions, such as the CFM -‍ Imperial Institute of Quantitative⁣ finance.

The programme differs from many others that⁤ have a sole director: ICL has three, who juggle ‍teaching, managing admissions, deciding the programme’s modules and selecting lecturers.

Changes in the curriculum are therefore debated among the directors, who are focused on keeping it in line with industry demands. “Ten-to-15 years ago, ⁤we were very ‍focused on pricing derivatives, ⁣numerical methods