The Kent Centre for Finance is an exciting new initiative that provides a focus for the University of Kent’s teaching and research activity in finance. The Centre is offering a fully-funded PhD studentship to start in January 2014 under the supervision of its Co-Director, Prof. Radu Tunaru. 

The Project: Derivatives Pricing and Hedging under Uncertainty

There are a myriad of methods proposed to price derivatives products in almost all asset classes. The vast majority of these methods assume that parameters are known or that they can be calibrated given various data. Different models may lead to very different options prices that would be difficult to reconcile in a market environment. This project will go to the roots of this problem and develop techniques that are capable of overcoming these problems. This project will focus on developing theoretical as well as numerical methods.

About the Scholarship The studentship will start in January 2014 and the successful candidate will be registered with Kent Business School’s PhD programme. All University of Kent postgraduate scholarships take the form of Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTAs) whereby PhD students receive financial support in return for some part-time teaching (in Kent Business School). A full GTA covers tuition fees at the home/EU rate plus a combined salary and maintenance grant of up to the full UK Research Council rate of £13,726 (2013-14 rate). Kent Business School is also funding international tuition fees for this scholarship. Full terms and conditions are available here.

Eligibility Criteria This studentship will be awarded to the best qualified applicant who shows the greatest potential for a successful research and teaching career. Consequently, successful applicants will normally meet all of the following criteria:

• First class honours degree in sciences, computing, mathematics, engineering or economics or a Masters with Distinction in finance, financial mathematics, risk management, statistics, mathematics or equivalent.
• An excellent numerical background is needed and experience with Matlab/R would be beneficial, although not essential.
• Score of 7.0 in IELT test or equivalent (TOEFL, Cambridge). As all PhD scholarship students carry out teaching duties there will be no exceptions to this.

How to Apply: Please apply online, via the ‘Apply’ button below, to Kent Business School’s PhD Finance programme by Friday 18 October 2013. Applicants are not required to submit a formal research proposal but should attach a one page statement explaining why they are a suitable candidate for this award. Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed on Wednesday 13 November 2013. 

Further information For more information about this studentship and the Kent PhD programme please see here or email phdinfo@kent.ac.uk. Applicants may also wish to contact Prof. Tunaru (r.tunaru@kent.ac.uk) for an informal discussion about this studentship.