Quant Dialogues — “Where Quantitative Finance Meets Career: A New Frontier” took place on April 25, 2026, in the N100 Auditorium at SJTU’s Xuhui Campus. Extending the international conference “New Trends in Quantitative Finance: Theory and Practice,” the forum connected academic exchange with education and industry practice.
It was jointly organized by QFRC, the AI & Digital Finance Committee of the SAIF Alumni Association, the SAIF MBA Quantitative Investment Club, and the Applied Statistics Alumni Association of the School of Mathematical Sciences, among other partners. University researchers, quantitative finance firms, financial technology companies, and students discussed research capabilities, industry needs, and careers.
What capabilities matter in the AI era?
Post-event reporting described Rui Kan’s discussion of how AI changes knowledge-based teaching, the role of educators, and the need for interdisciplinary capabilities. Stéphane Crépey shared experience from French academia–industry collaboration, including jointly defined doctoral research and corporate chairs, offering examples of how industrial questions can inform research and education.
Firm presentations and the roundtable brought together perspectives from Semimartingale, Jump Trading, Winton, Turing Fund, Century Frontier, and financial technology companies. A recurring theme was that quantitative professionals need to identify real needs, formulate worthwhile questions, and critically assess information—not simply solve a problem once it has been specified. In his closing comments, Yiqing Lin connected this theme with a shift from transmitting knowledge toward developing capabilities.
Research infrastructure as a bridge to practice
Samuel Drapeau presented QFRC’s FastBox platform for quantitative AI research and backtesting, emphasizing realistic matching mechanics for market simulation and strategy evaluation. Press coverage also described plans for academic access to support university teaching and research, presenting the platform as a concrete example of academia–industry collaboration.
Student research presentations created opportunities for direct exchange with academics and practitioners, while conversations between sessions continued the discussion across different professional backgrounds. Together, these activities brought research, education, and career development into a shared setting.
Press coverage
Yacai News published a dedicated forum report on Sina. Shanghai Securities News / cnstock.com also covered Quant Dialogues’ education discussion and the FastBox presentation in its conference report, republished by Sina Finance on Baijiahao. Both reports are linked below. The scientific program and conference photographs are covered in the separate conference recap.
