Computational Finance

Entry requirements

You will need a good honours degree and a Masters degree in a relevant subject. A well-developed research proposal is also essential. You may be required to attend an interview/Skype interview for acceptance, and acceptance is subject to research expertise in the department.

Months of entry

January, April, October

Course content

We offer research supervision for our PhD Computational Finance in the following fields:

• agent-based modelling of financial markets
• computational risk management
• high-frequency finance
• the use of computational-intelligence methods for investment decision making

We provide a vibrant research environment so our PhD students publish papers in prestigious international conferences and often attract the attention of industry and government. A recent PhD student was invited to present their research on term structure models to the Bank of England, and many others get the opportunity to directly apply their research through internships at investment banks and hedge funds.

Our graduates have gone on to become quantitative analysts, portfolio managers and software engineers at various institutions, including major investment banks like HSBC and Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.

Information for international students

Entry requirements: You can find international entry requirements for most countries on our international students webpage. If your country is not listed, please contact Postgraduate Admissions at pgadmit@essex.ac.uk.

Pre-sessional English Language courses: If you need to improve your English language skills before joining your main degree course, we offer pre-sessional English courses on our campuses in partnership with Kaplan International Pathways.

Fees and funding

There are a wide range of funding options for postgraduate study, including scholarships, bursaries and alumni discounts. You can check your eligibility on our fees and funding webpage.