Media. News and press releases from across Man Group.

06 October 2022

The University of Oxford and Man Group today announce that funding support for the Oxford-Man Institute of Quantitative Finance (“OMI”), a world-leading centre for interdisciplinary research in financial markets, has been extended for a further five years until at least 2027. This extension takes Man Group’s commitment to 20 years of continuous funding and underscores the firm’s commitment to ground-breaking machine learning research in quantitative finance.

The OMI opened in 2007, bringing together leading quantitative finance academics and research students alongside Man Group researchers based in the co-located Man Research Laboratory (“MRL”). The dual academic-commercial environment provided by the OMI and MRL was the first collaboration of its kind between a university and an investment management firm, and remains unique. Man Group has committed over £35 million in research funding since the OMI’s inception, and continues to be its primary partner. The OMI also benefits from significant funding from Research Councils UK and other academic funding sources.

In September 2021, Professor Álvaro Cartea was appointed Director of the Oxford-Man Institute. Under his leadership and following the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a strong programme of in-person activity, including international conferences in Machine Learning, Quantitative Finance and Natural Language Processing, plus new initiatives such as the OMI visitor programme which has facilitated collaborations across the OMI, Man Group, other University of Oxford departments and scholars from across the globe. Direct engagement between Man Group and the OMI has also been strengthened by the resumption of in-person seminars and workshops, with Man Group researchers attending OMI events and research students presenting their work at the Man Group’s London headquarters.

Mark Jones, Deputy CEO of Man Group, with responsibility for quant and technology, says:

“We congratulate Álvaro on his successful first year as Director of the OMI, and are delighted to continue supporting the OMI’s machine learning and quantitative finance research. The work undertaken at the OMI has had an extensive impact on a range of Man Group’s client investment programmes, including active risk overlays for systematic investment management, intelligent algorithms for trade execution and order-routing, and sophisticated methods for monitoring transaction costs and market impact.”

Professor Álvaro Cartea, Director of the Oxford-Man Institute, says:

“I would like to thank Man Group for its support since I joined last year and am delighted that we are continuing our longstanding partnership. I would also like to extend a grateful acknowledgement to Anthony Ledford (Chief Scientist and Academic Liaison at Man AHL), my fellow academics, and the research students and visitors who have helped create the exceptional OMI research environment. Our focus at the OMI is on cutting-edge quantitative finance research and I am immensely pleased with the interest we have seen in our ongoing research efforts and developments. The OMI has another busy academic year ahead and I look forward to welcoming the next wave of students and visitors, as well as further collaborations with Man Group.”

Professor Stefan Zohren, Principal Quant at Man Group and Deputy Director of the Oxford-Man Institute, says:

“The unique partnership between Man Group and the University of Oxford has helped the OMI establish itself as a pioneer in the emerging field of machine learning in finance. OMI researchers have produced highly relevant, novel research with practical applicability that has been adopted in industry across everything from execution to risk management. I am thrilled to be a part of this collaboration where the committed support from Man Group enables the OMI to continue to push the boundary of research in this field.”