Thank you for attending Quant Strats Europe!

Join us at Future Alpha 2026 in New York on March 31st - April 1st

Day 2: 15 October

8:00 am - 8:45 am Registration

8:45 am - 9:00 am Chairs opening remarks

A dynamic morning where the brightest minds from academia and the world’s leading quantitative finance teams unveil groundbreaking strategies and fresh innovations. This isn’t just a lecture — it’s a conversation. In the lead-up to the event, you’ll have the opportunity to submit your questions and steer the discussion, making sure the topics you care about are front and centre.

9:00 am - 9:30 am The next frontier in Quant Finance: From Alpha models to autonomous market systems

Paul Bilokon - CEO, Head Quant, Thalesians

Over the past three decades, quantitative finance has evolved from handcrafted factor models to sophisticated machine learning–driven alpha generation. Yet the field remains constrained by a paradigm that treats models as isolated engines for signal extraction rather than integrated, adaptive decision-making entities.

 

In this talk, I will outline the research agenda that takes quant finance beyond alpha — towards autonomous market systems capable of perceiving, reasoning, and acting in dynamic market environments.

 

Drawing on my research, I will demonstrate how advances in AI, distributed systems, and stochastic control can be fused to create self-optimising, interpretable trading frameworks.

 

These systems not only learn in real time but also manage execution, risk, and portfolio construction as an integrated whole, closing the loop between prediction and action. The implications go beyond trading: autonomous market systems have the potential to reshape market microstructure, redefine the role of human oversight, and challenge our regulatory and ethical frameworks.

 

This is the next frontier, where the boundaries between quantitative research, AI, and market design dissolve.

 

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Paul Bilokon

CEO, Head Quant
Thalesians

Overview objectives:

  • Introducing the application of ML interpretability
  • Highlight frameworks that ensure transparency and regulatory alignment in ML-driven strategies
  • Examine academic research on explainable AI (XAI) models tailored to financial practical use cases and real-world industry examples
  • Discuss the trade-off between model complexity and interpretability in alpha generation
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Dr. Daniele Bianchi

Associate Professor at the School of Economics and Finance
Queen Mary, University of London

10:00 am - 10:40 am Modelling prices from speculative markets: Bursting bubbles or deflating balloons?

Professor Andrew Harvey - Professor of Econometrics, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge

This session explores novel modelling approaches to speculative asset pricing, distinguishing between classic bubbles and more subtle "balloon-like" behaviour—characterized by rapid rises and gradual declines. Using high-frequency Bitcoin data, Andrew Harvey presents a series of score-driven and quasi score-driven models that integrate volatility, non-normality, and dynamic tail behaviour. The findings challenge traditional bubble narratives and offer practical tools for forecasting and risk modelling in speculative markets.

 

Overview objectives:

  • Understand how score-driven models and time-varying tail indices improve the detection of bubble vs. balloon market dynamics.
  • Learn how these models were applied to Bitcoin to identify and simulate locally explosive behaviour.
  • Explore the implications for volatility modelling and density forecasting in financial markets with extreme price fluctuations.
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Professor Andrew Harvey

Professor of Econometrics, Faculty of Economics
University of Cambridge

10:40 am - 11:00 am PRESO: A Context-Engineering Based Knowledge Framework for Quantitative Finance

Haoxue Wang - Quant, Millennium

Quantitative research increasingly relies on unstructured financial content such as filings, earnings calls, and research notes, yet existing LLM and RAG pipelines struggle with point-in-time correctness, evidence attribution, and integration into research workflows.
To tackle this, QuantMind introduces an intelligent knowledge extraction and retrieval framework tailored to quantitative finance. It adopts a two-stage architecture:
Knowledge Extraction – transforms heterogeneous documents into structured knowledge through multi-modal parsing of text, tables, and formulas; applies adaptive summarization for scalability; and uses domain-specific tagging for fine-grained indexing.
Intelligent Retrieval – integrates semantic search with flexible strategies, multi-hop reasoning across sources, and knowledge-aware generation for auditable outputs.
A controlled user study shows that QuantMind improves both factual accuracy and user experience compared to unaided reading and generic AI assistance, highlighting the value of structured, domain-specific context engineering for finance.

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Haoxue Wang

Quant
Millennium

11:00 am - 11:30 am Networking Break

Demo Drive

11:05 am - 11:20 am Mobile App Performance and Web Insights solutions

Sensor Tower is the leader in market insights, helping Investors measure the digital economy with best in class data that spans the mobile app, web, and digital advertising ecosystem. During this session, Yash Devalia, Sales Director at Sensor Tower, will overview Sensor Tower's Mobile App Insights solutions, now available Point in Time to ensure more reliable and consistent back tests. With Mobile App Performance and Advertising Insights, Investors can unlock download, revenue, and active user data, discover new investment opportunities, analyze mobile performance, and understand shifting market dynamics across the digital landscape.


Demo Drive led by: Yash Devalia, Sales Director, Sensor Tower

Booth: C8



Data, AI, and Applied Innovation Stage

11:30 am - 12:10 pm FIRESIDE CHAT: Risk and reward in the Commodities markets
Oudom Dy - Head of Quantitative Research Commodities - Director, Natixis CIB
Saeed Amen - Founder, Turnleaf Analytics
Paul Bilokon - CEO, Head Quant, Thalesians

The commodities market present unique opportunities and risks requiring specialised strategies and deep market insight.

 

  • Explore the risk-return profile of private commodity investments like energy, metals, and agriculture
  • Understand key challenges around pricing, liquidity, and operational risk
  • Learn how investors and funds are accessing and managing exposure in the commodity markets
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Oudom Dy

Head of Quantitative Research Commodities - Director
Natixis CIB

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Saeed Amen

Founder
Turnleaf Analytics

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Paul Bilokon

CEO, Head Quant
Thalesians

Data, AI, and Applied Innovation Stage

12:10 pm - 12:40 pm JOINT PRESENTATION: Systematic Investing in FX Options Markets: Beyond the VRP
Francesco Pozzetti - Vice President, QIS Research, Deutsche Bank
Caio Natividade - Global Managing Director, Head of Quantitative Investment Solutions Research, Deutsche Bank

In this presentation, we’ll cover opportunities in currency options going well beyond volatility carry. FX options markets provide unique opportunities including trades in the correlation and forward start domain which the quant investor can harness systematically while limiting exposure to traditional risks.

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Francesco Pozzetti

Vice President, QIS Research
Deutsche Bank

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Caio Natividade

Global Managing Director, Head of Quantitative Investment Solutions Research
Deutsche Bank

As markets become more volatile and data-driven, investment leaders must strike a delicate balance between front-office agility and back-office resilience—while unlocking the full potential of portfolio optimization. This panel explores how technology, structure, and process design can shape stronger investment outcomes.

Join this session to:

  • Explore how technology, automation, and real-time data integration are reshaping the investment lifecycle
  • Understand how to structure portfolios to maximize risk-adjusted return in uncertain markets
  • Learn how to build robust, resilient, and continuously optimized investment processes
  • Assess how much portfolio optimization truly improves the investment process - and where the untapped gains lie


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Bruno Pajusco

Founder and CEO
Keridion Capital

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Artur Sepp

Global Head of Investment Services Quant Group
LGT Bank

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Siddharth Grover

Managing Director & Head of Quantitative Investment Strategy Product Development
BBVA Global Markets

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Stephan Kessler

Global Head of Quant Research - MD
Morgan Stanley

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Christian Putz

Founder and CEO
ARR Investment Partners

Portfolio Optimization and Risk Management Stage

12:10 pm - 12:40 pm PRESENTATION: Leveraging Neuroscience to Optimize Brain Capital
Emily Cook - Neuroscience-based Performance Coach and Founder, FOUND

In quantitative finance, firms measure everything - except the one variable behind every strategy, model, and decision: the human brain. Since 2019, workplace performance across key indicators has been in decline, just as AI disruption, geopolitical shifts, and market volatility demand sharper judgment and faster adaptation.
This is where Brain Capital comes in: the combination of brain health and brain skills that underpins clarity of thought, adaptability, and sound judgment. It is the hidden driver of whether teams consistently outperform, or get outpaced.
In this 20-minute presentation plus 10-minute Q&A, Emily Cook will:
• Define brain capital - what it is and why it’s critical in finance today.
• Demonstrate how brain capital shapes clarity, adaptability, and performance at the individual, team, and organisational level.
• Share practical, science-backed strategies quants and leaders can apply immediately to sharpen focus, improve decision-making, and adapt faster in demanding environments.

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Emily Cook

Neuroscience-based Performance Coach and Founder
FOUND

QuantFusion Masterclass

11:30 am - 12:40 pm Masterclass: Understanding Behavioural Styles
Ras Gohil - Senior Manager, Corporate Partnerships, Women in Banking & Finance (WIBF)

Unlock the secret to better workplace communication and team performance.

 

Join us for an engaging workshop exploring how different behavioural styles impact professional relationships and team dynamics. You will discover practical strategies to enhance communication, improve collaboration, and create more effective working relationships.

 

What we will cover

  • The Four Behavioural Styles: Understand Dominant/Direct, Influential/Interactive, Steady/Supportive, and Conscientious/Cautious approaches
  • Communication Strategies: Learn how to adapt your communication style to connect effectively with colleagues, clients, and team members
  • Team Building: Discover how to leverage different behavioural strengths and create balanced, high-performing teams
  • Leadership Skills: Develop techniques to motivate and manage different personality types more effectively
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Ras Gohil

Senior Manager, Corporate Partnerships
Women in Banking & Finance (WIBF)

Hosted Buyers Club

11:30 am - 12:30 pm Hosted Buyers Club

12:40 pm - 1:40 pm Networking Lunch

Demo Drive

1:10 pm - 1:25 pm Find your next investment signal — powered by Similarweb’s data.

Session led by: Joohwan Kim, Sales Manager, Similarweb 

Booth: A3



In today’s data-driven market, fixed income and FX strategies are rapidly evolving so investment approaches must be reshaped:

  •  Explore how data analytics, machine learning, and alternative data are transforming fixed income and FX investment strategies

 

Panel questions:

  1. How can a bottom-up, factor-driven approach enhance alpha generation and risk management in fixed-income portfolios?
  2. What are the key challenges in identifying and applying systematic factors within diverse fixed-income asset classes?
  3. With quant factors, how do you set up portfolio construction?
  4. Can you explain, in your own words, the role of automation and AI in optimizing execution and managing risk in these traditionally more stable markets?
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Hamza Chaudhry

Fixed Income Quantitative Researcher
AllianceBernstein

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Justin Xu

Head of Quant and AI Strategy
Millennium Global Investments Ltd.

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Alexandra Billon

Global Head of Portfolio Analytics Group /Fixed Income
BlackRock

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Saeed Amen

Founder
Turnleaf Analytics

Data, AI, and Applied Innovation Stage

2:20 pm - 3:00 pm FIRESIDE CHAT: Innovating climate risk pricing: Bridging fundamental models and market dynamics in ESG investing
Antonia Lim - CIO, Impact Cubed
Dr Christopher Cormack - Associate Business Fellow, UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment
Haili Liu - Head of Sustainability Investment Solutions, Entis

This session will explore the development of sophisticated climate risk models to tackle the economic challenges posed by climate change.

 

·      What are the key challenges in integrating climate risk factors into traditional asset pricing models, and how can new financial instruments be developed to address these gaps?

·      How can asset managers and hedge funds better align their strategies with sophisticated climate risk models rather than relying on simplistic ESG factor models?

·      How can novel model concepts—such as fundamentals-based climate risk frameworks—reshape ESG investment strategies, and what opportunities do they unlock for alpha generation and risk hedging?

 

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Antonia Lim

CIO
Impact Cubed

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Dr Christopher Cormack

Associate Business Fellow
UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment

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Haili Liu

Head of Sustainability Investment Solutions
Entis

Portfolio Optimization and Risk Management Stage

1:40 pm - 2:00 pm PANEL: Alpha generation from Signals to Strategy: Unlocking Alpha Through Data Innovation and Machine Learning
Stephan Kessler - Global Head of Quant Research - MD, Morgan Stanley

Overview: From Signals to Strategy: Unlocking Alpha through data innovation and machine learning

 

The explosion of data and advances in machine learning are transforming how quants identify and act on signals. This session delves into the practical techniques being used to drive alpha-from smarter signal extraction and model refinement to the strategic deployment of AI. We'll also explore how external macro and geopolitical factors subtly shape the datasets we rely on, and how leading firms are building adaptive models that account for this evolving landscape.

 

Key Questions:

 

·      What are the most impactful techniques you’re using to extract signals from complex or unconventional datasets?

·      How are you applying machine learning in a way that enhances—not obscures—strategic decision-making in alpha generation?

·      In what ways do broader macro or geopolitical shifts manifest in the data you work with, and how do you factor that into your models?

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Stephan Kessler

Global Head of Quant Research - MD
Morgan Stanley

Portfolio Optimization and Risk Management Stage

2:00 pm - 2:20 pm QUICK FIRESIDE CHAT INSIGHT: BUILDING MULTI-MANAGER PLATFORMS IN DIGITAL ASSETS
Friedrich Herzog - Head of Research and Senior PM, Matrixport Asset Management AG

When constructing multi-manager portfolios, what are the key principles or frameworks you look at to ensure diversification and resilience across different strategies?

How does portfolio construction for multi-manager crypto portfolios differ from traditional asset classes such as equities, fixed income, or commodities?
What unique risks and opportunities should investors consider when combining multiple crypto managers in one portfolio, and how do you balance them?
Looking ahead, how do you see multi-manager portfolios evolving as crypto becomes increasingly integrated with broader multi-asset strategies?

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Friedrich Herzog

Head of Research and Senior PM
Matrixport Asset Management AG

Portfolio Optimization and Risk Management Stage

2:20 pm - 3:00 pm OFF THE RECORD FIRESIDE CHAT: Fixing the fracture: Integrating tech across the front, mid, and back office
Vlad Mereuta - Head of Risk Engineering, Man Group
Vincenzo Pota - Data Scientist & Director, Barclays Investment Bank
Andrius Markvaldas - Senior System Engineer, VAST Data

This chat will explore the challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned in integrating technology and data infrastructure across the front, mid, and back-office functions in quantitative finance - with perspectives from both engineering and data users.

 

The session will examine how to break silos, streamline workflows, and improve the usability and consistency of data across the trade lifecycle.

 

Intro insight:

·      Brief overview of how the front, mid, and back offices have traditionally operated in silos.

  • Why fragmentation leads to latency, reconciliation errors, inconsistent datasets, and missed alpha opportunities.
  • How quant-driven organizations are uniquely positioned to benefit from tighter integration.

 

From the Engineering Perspective:

From a systems design point of view, what’s been the hardest part of aligning front-office speed with back-office stability?

 

From the Data User Perspective: Quality, Access, and Context

How often are quant models or risk signals impacted by incomplete or misaligned data from mid or back office?

 

Lessons Learned Across Front, Mid, and Back Office


What was one turning point in getting front-to-back integration right in your organization?

 

The Integration Frontier: What’s Next?

·   What an ideal front-to-back data architecture looks like in 2025+.

·      Explore the trade-offs between speed, control, and compliance in trading operations

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Vlad Mereuta

Head of Risk Engineering
Man Group

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Vincenzo Pota

Data Scientist & Director
Barclays Investment Bank

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Andrius Markvaldas

Senior System Engineer
VAST Data

QuantFusion (Masterclass/Workshop)

1:40 pm - 3:30 pm Beyond Backtest: Stress-Testing Quant strategies for regime shifts and fragility
Paul White - CEO and Co-Founder, Quantbot Technologies
Tom Crimi - Chief Technology Officer, Quantbot

Overview:

This advanced, interactive session dives into building robust strategies that survive changing regimes, liquidity shocks, and structural breaks. Participants will work in peer teams to reverse-engineer failure points in popular strategy types (e.g. momentum, stat arb, macro), then apply alternative risk frameworks and synthetic data stress-testing to strengthen model resilience.

 

Structure:

Part 1: Failure Mode Breakdown

A lead quant shows real examples of how well-performing strategies break during volatility spikes, macro shifts, or data leakage

Part 2: Group Diagnostic Labs

Groups are assigned different strategy types with embedded weaknesses; their task is to identify fragilities and propose mitigations using noise injection, adversarial scenarios, or market regime labeling

Part 3: Cross-Team Stress Test

Teams test each other’s improved strategies under stress scenarios (e.g., flash crash, rate shock, liquidity freeze)

Part 4: Wrap-up Discussion

Best practices in scenario generation, model robustness, and beyond-traditional VaR approaches

 

Takeaways:

  • Advanced strategy diagnostics and regime detection
  • Adversarial testing techniques and synthetic market scenario building
  • Collaborative critique and resilient model innovation


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Paul White

CEO and Co-Founder
Quantbot Technologies

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Tom Crimi

Chief Technology Officer
Quantbot

Hosted Buyers Club

1:30 pm - 3:00 pm Hosted Buyers Club


In the ultra-competitive landscape of quantitative finance, top talent is the most valuable (and volatile) asset. But what truly makes a quant stay? In this session, senior leaders share how they’ve built high-performing, research-led teams—without relying solely on compensation. We’ll explore strategies to recruit exceptional minds, assess career pathways for existing team members, and create a culture where quants thrive long-term.

 

Through a blend of quant-industry insights and lessons from leaders, this session will challenge firms to think beyond salaries and bonuses and toward what actually drives loyalty, innovation, and performance.

 

Discussion Points:

·      Talent without turnover: What Big Tech can teach quant firms about cultivating belonging, purpose, and professional growth

·      Career architecture for quants: How to define and communicate clear development pathways for research, trading, and engineering roles

·      Why people really leave: Exploring the impact of team dynamics, leadership, flexibility, and legacy tech on retention

·     Hiring with intention: Balancing technical excellence with long-term culture fit when recruiting into high-performance environments

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Birthe Mester

CEO
Culture Dividend

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Nicky King

Head of Corporate Partnerships
Women in Banking & Finance

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Emily Cook

Neuroscience-based Performance Coach and Founder
FOUND

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Dr. Joo Hee Lee

Consultant
CFA Institute

3:30 pm - 3:35 pm End of Conference