Belgian Master Theses Awards 2024
In promoting the highest standards of education, the CFA Society Belgium also supports the local development of future investment professionals.
Universities are invited to participate with their students' best work for the 4th edition of the Belgian Best Master Thesis in Finance for the academic year 2023-2024. The deadline for receiving the entries is Friday 27th September 2024, noting that we only accept the best two Theses as decided by the university. All Theses should come through the university, we do not take direct entries from students. We accepted Theses in English, Dutch or French.
The prizes will include a monetary award of € 3.000 (first prize), € 2.000 (second prize) and € 1.000 (third prize), and a scholarship covering 50% of the cost of enrolling in the three levels of the CFA exam. The allocation of the awards and scholarships is at the full discretion of the CFA Society Belgium's board. Scholarship details below.*
Winners of the 2023 Awards
First prize
Mr Damien Assa - HEC Liège
Tmax strategy and lottery-like demand in the cryptocurrency and mutual funds market.
Supervised by Professor Julien Hambuckers and Professor Wouter Torsi
First prize winner Damien Assa with jury chair professor Theo Vermaelen
Second prize
Antoine Duysinx - HEC Liège
Financial uncertainty and asset volatility dynamics: insights from an extended stochastic volatility model.
Supervised by Professor Julien Hambuckers, Professor Maren Ulm and Professor Romain Crucil
Third prize
Leanne Strum - ULB Solvay
Identifying the contagion risk from extreme events between Europe and North America during the 2006-2020 period.
Supervised by Professor Mathias Schmit and Professor Marie-Paule Laurent
For 2022-2023 entries were received from the following six institutions:
- College of Europe
- HEC Liege
- ICHEC
- KU Leuven
- ULB Solvay
- University Gent
The jury consisted of:
Professor Theo Vermaelen, Insead - Chair
Gérard Bekerman, President of Afer and director of the Chaire Essec Finance
Professor Christian Wolff, University of Luxembourg
Philippe Longerstaey, CFA , Board Member
Winners of the 2022 Awards
CFA Society Belgium received and reviewed 15 high quality entries for the second edition of the Master Thesis Awards from the following universities for the academic year 2021-2022:
- HEC Liège
- ICHEC
- UNamur
- LSM (Louvain)
- UGent
With the following winning 2022 Theses:
First prize
Ms. Céleste Hardy - HEC Liège
Has the Covid-19 crisis changed the way investors look at ESG criteria in their investment strategy?
Second prize
Mr. Jorg Boeykens and Mr. Maarten Contant - Universiteit Gent
On the financial implications of climate initiatives
Third prize
Mr. Victor Slüyters - Université de Namur
Quel est l'impact des agents chartistes machine learner sur la stabilité des marchés de change? Simulations via un modèle à agents hétérogènes
*Scholarships: the CFA Society Belgium may reimburse the registration fees up to 50% of the level of the Early registration fee for the three years of study. The scholarship has the following conditions: the initial scholarship should be requested within 24 months from the prize announcement date. This means that your registration for the exam and well as your request for a scholarship should have occurred before this date. Each applicant for a scholarship should provide for proof of registration and a proof of payment (ideally a copy of your credit card monthly statement, showing as well at which rate the amount was converted to Euro). Each applicant for a scholarship should confirm that he/she did not receive any other scholarship to cover the same registration fees. The scholarship request can be sent to [email protected]. The allocation of the Awards and subsequent payment of the scholarship is at the full discretion of the CFA Society Belgium's board.