Marina Georgiou, PhD student, Stevens Institute of Technology, New York
OMI visitor September 2025 – December 2025
“During Fall 2025, I had the wonderful opportunity to spend three months visiting OMI, a period that marked the beginning of a collaboration with Fayçal Drissi and Alvaro Cartea on research in decentralized finance (DeFi), focused on the design and pricing of financial products for DeFi markets.
This visit exceeded all my expectations. Beyond the research itself, I was fortunate to attend numerous seminars and conferences, each contributing to a dynamic and intellectually engaging atmosphere. The OMI community made the experience truly memorable and distinctive.
Engaging with researchers in the field, exchanging ideas, and drawing inspiration from diverse perspectives significantly enriched my work. I also had the opportunity to exchange ideas with exceptional students, whose curiosity, insight, and enthusiasm added greatly to the experience. Altogether, the visit offered invaluable learning opportunities and fostered meaningful professional relationships.
I am truly thankful and deeply grateful to Fayçal Drissi, Alvaro Cartea, Jen Desmond, Vanessa Wilkins, and, of course, Leandro Sánchez-Betancourt for making this opportunity so special. It was not only a period of academic growth and collaboration, but also a time I will always remember with genuine appreciation and warmth.”
Yadh Hafsi, PhD student, University of Paris-Saclay
OMI visitor September 2025 – December 2025
“My visit to OMI was a fantastic experience. The combination of technical depth, intellectual curiosity, and genuine collegiality made it a truly inspiring place to work. Conversations with fellow students and faculty often sparked new perspectives and refined existing ideas, which significantly enriched my research. I am very thankful to Leandro Sanchez-Bettancourt, Alvaro Cartea, Jen Desmond, Vanessa Wilkins, and the wider OMI community for making my stay both productive and welcoming.”
Gemma Sedrakjan, PhD student, TU Berlin
OMI visitor January 2025 – July 2025
“I had the privilege of spending six months at the OMI, collaborating with Álvaro Cartea on a project developing a fully order-driven price impact model with sequential order execution. I greatly appreciated the numerous workshops, conferences, and seminars, which broadened my horizon and facilitated valuable connections with both academics and industry professionals. This research stay not only advanced my PhD work, but also gave me the opportunity to engage with a community of motivated and inspiring people, refine my research interests, and spark new ideas for future projects. I am especially grateful to Álvaro Cartea, Jen Desmond, Vanessa Wilkins and Anthony Ledford, for their guidance and inspiration. Their support made my stay not only productive, but truly memorable.”
Howard Caulfield, PhD student, University of Limerick, Ireland
OMI visitor October 2024 – March 2025
”From October 2024, I had the privilege of undertaking a six-month research placement at the Oxford-Man Institute (OMI), hosted by Prof. Mihai Cucuringu.
My work focused on integrating graphical methods into asset pricing models, an intersection of network science and machine learning in finance that is central to my PhD research.
The OMI’s vibrant learning environment, exceptional facilities, and culture of collaboration made it an ideal setting for researchers. Workshops, seminars, and a joint event with the Man Group provided both learning opportunities and industry perspectives on research methods. The staff and researchers at the OMI were the highlight of my experience. They were incredibly welcoming, and I would be remiss not to mention, in particular, Alvaro Cartea, Jen Desmond, Anthony Ledford, and, of course, Mihai Cucuringu.”
Adil Rengim Cetingoz, PhD student, University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
OMI visitor September 2024 – December 2024
“The multidisciplinary and collaborative culture of the Oxford-Man Institute provides an ideal environment for researchers to produce and innovate, allowing people from different backgrounds to borrow and exchange ideas from their own areas of expertise in order to solve the problem at hand, thereby enabling both steep learning curves and efficient production. In addition to the rich diversity of interesting people who make up the group, its commitment to organising conferences and seminars, both internally and externally, creates a highly intellectually stimulating environment and offers exposure to a wide range of problems. Even though I only spent a limited amount of time there as a visitor, I still feel like a member of the OMI family, which is a direct result of its friendly environment. I would like to thank Jen Desmond, Fayçal Drissi and Álvaro Cartea for making this visit possible, as well as the entire group for their warm welcome!”
Micha Bender, PhD student, Goethe University, Frankfurt
OMI visitor April 2023 – July 2023
“I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with exceptional and motivated researchers at the OMI during my research stay. The institute’s collaborative environment, featuring weekly seminars during the semester, numerous workshops, and cross-disciplinary initiatives, provides a unique platform for cutting-edge research. My research stay has not only allowed me to refine my own work through insightful discussions and presentations but has also sparked ideas for future projects. I extend my deep thanks to Álvaro Cartea, Jen Desmond, all other researchers, and every student at OMI for making this time so special.”
Laura Korber, PhD student, TU Berlin
OMI visitor Sept 2022 – Jan 2023 – publication
“My six-month research stay at OMI was an incredible opportunity to collaborate with some of the brightest minds in the world within a nurturing and supportive environment. The diverse research projects, seminars and workshops broadened my understanding of various disciplines, helped me develop my research and ignited fresh insights for further work. The interaction with OMI’s dedicated researchers not only enriched my growth on academic and personal levels but also made my stay an enjoyable experience. I am deeply grateful to Álvaro Cartea and Jen Desmond for granting me this exceptional opportunity, and to all the OMI students for their continuous encouragement!”
Fernando Moreno-Pino, PhD student, University Carlos III, Madrid
OMI visitor May 2022 – October 2022 – publication
”Being a visiting researcher at the OMI has been a fantastic opportunity to collaborate with some of the best researchers in the world in a genuinely supportive environment. I had the chance to meet engaged and enthusiastic students and professors who helped me develop my research at the intersection of machine learning and quantitative finance. More importantly, they are tons of fun so you will surely have a great time! I am thankful to Stefan Zohren, Álvaro Cartea, and Jen Desmond for offering me the opportunity to conduct my research at such an incredible place, and to all students for their daily support.”
Harrison Waldon, PhD student, University of Texas at Austin
OMI visitor April 2022 – July 2022 – publication
“I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to spend four and a half months working alongside the world’s most fantastic, driven researchers at the OMI. During my time there, my collaborators and I wrote a paper characterizing the emergent behavior of machine learning algorithms in competitive environments by combining careful modelling, mathematical analysis, and game theory. This work has inspired additional projects that we are currently investigating. I would like to thank Álvaro Cartea, Jen Desmond, and each and every one of the students at OMI for both an incredibly valuable professional experience and for friendships that will surely last a lifetime. “
Anthony Coache, PhD student, University of Toronto
OMI visitor Jan 2022 – June 2022 – publication
“I loved my visit and had a wonderful experience collaborating with hard-working and motivated researchers on problems at the intersection of quantitative finance and machine learning. You can always have a chat with other students to share ideas, which makes the OMI a great environment for producing high-quality research work. I am very thankful to Alvaro Cartea, the OMI students, the other visiting students, and Jen Desmond for their support throughout my stay and the great Victoria seminars!”