Graduates: Industry Placements
This section highlights PhD graduates form our UZH Department of Finance who have pursued careers in industry.
2026
| PhD Student | PhD Thesis | Supervisor | Placements |
| Tsuyoshi Iwata | Essays on Materiality of ESG data in Asset Pricing | Steven Ongena | Senior ESG Quant Investment Researcher, RepRisk, Zurich, Switzerland |
2025
| PhD Student | PhD Thesis | Supervisor | Placements |
| Patrick Matei Lucescu | Essays in Quantitative Finance | Walter Farkas | Quantitative Researcher, Polykern, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Ester Trutwin | Sustainable Finance and Environmental Outcomes: A Three-Part Analysis of Investment, Welfare, and Innovation | Thorsten Hens | Junior Consultant, Boston Consulting Group, Berlin, Germany |
| Anna Vasileva | Investing with Intent: Green Preferences, Political Context, and Corporate Accountability | Thorsten Hens | To be confirmed |
| Yanjie Wang | Cautiousness and Incentives in U.S. and Chinese Banks | Michel Habib | Quantitative Researcher at Qube Research & Technologies, Switzerland |
2024
| PhD Student | PhD Thesis | Supervisor | Placements |
| Soros Chitsiripanich | New Momentum, Reversal, and Multivariate Discrete Mixtures for Portfolio Selection | Marc Paolella | Quant Engineer, Quantarea AG, Stettlen, Switzerland |
| Adrian Fuhrer | Essays in Quantitative Finance | Walter Farkas | Risk Manager Capital Allocation, Postfinance, Bern, Switzerland |
| Linda I. Hain | Statistical Finance: Insuring Climate Risks | Markus Leippold | Associate Director CatBond Portfolio Management, Twelve Capital, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Isabella Kooij | Sustainability Integration and Trading Behavior in Financial Markets | Thorsten Hens | To be confirmed |
| Adrien-Paul Lambillon | Sustainable Finance or Financialization of Sustainability? | Marc Chesney | Sustainability VP, Member of ManagementSustainability VP, Member of Management at Partners Group, Baar, Switzerland |
| Luzius Meisser | Essays in Decentralized Finance | Thorsten Hens | Board member at Bitcoin Suisse, Cofounder Aktionariat, Board member at Frankencoin Association, Zug, Switzerland |
| Mohammad Hassan Sadeghi | Selected Statistical Approaches in Quantitative Risk Management | Marc Paolella | To be confirmed |
| Michal Svaton | Essays in Volatility | Markus Leippold | Manager (Market Risk), EY, Prague, Czech Republic |
| Qian Wang | Three Essays in Financial Machine Learning | Markus Leippold | CIO, Inovest Partners, Baar, Switzerland |
| Vincent Wolff | The Economics of Financial Markets with Frictions: Risk-Taking, Market Liquidity, and Transaction Taxes | Marc Chesney | Risk Manager, BKW AG, Zürich, Switzerland |
2023
| PhD Student | PhD Thesis | Supervisor | Placements |
| Ming Deng | Corporate Communication and News Media in the Financial Market | Thorsten Hens | Quantitative Analyst, LGT Private Banking, Zürich, Switzerland |
| Konrad Kevin Meyer | Three Essays in Finance | Michel Habib | Assistant Vice President Scenario Design, HSBC, New York City, USA |
| Stefan Pohl | Three Essays on Empirical Financial Intermediation | Steven Ongena | To be confirmed |
| Reto Rey | Three Essays in Small Business and Consumer Finance | Thorsten Hens | Assistent, Hochschule Luzern, Switzerland |
| Jordy Rillaerts | Three Essays in Empirical Finance | Markus Leippold | Senior Consultant Risk Advisory, Deloitte, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Isabelle Zheng | Climate Change, Biodiversity Losses and Financial Risks | Marc Chesney | Fellow, Council on Economic Policies, Zurich, Switzerland |
2022
| PhD Student | PhD Thesis | Supervisor | Placements |
| Andrea Bergesio | Frictional costs in insurance | Cosimo Munari | Senior Risk Manager, Credit Suisse, Zürich, Switzerland |
| Patrick Eugster | Forecasting with Technical and Sentiment Analysis | Thorsten Hens | Self-employed economist |
| Sean Hofland | New Approaches to Modelling Individual Decisions under Uncertainty | Helga Fehr | Data specialist, d-tail family office, Wollerau, Switzerland |
2021
| PhD Student | PhD Thesis | Supervisor | Placements |
| Olga Briukhova | Three Essays on the Consequences of Financial Stability Regulation | Stefano Battiston | Senior Consultant, Finyon AG, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Gianluca De Nard | Asset Return Prediction and Covariance Matrix Estimation for Portfolio Selection in Large Dimensions | Markus Leippold | Senior Quantitative Researcher, OLZ AG, Zurich, and Post-Doctoral Researcher, University of Zurich, Switzerland |
| Dietmar Dorn | Corporate Market Timing and Short-Sale Constraints | Per Östberg | PwC, Valuation and Modelling, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Jonathan Krakow | Information Disclosure, Competition, and Sustainability in Retail Financial Markets | Marc Chesney | Consultant Risk Advisory - Sustainable Finance, Deloitte, Oslo, Norway |
| Kuchulain O'Flynn | Essays on the Impact of Financial Markets on Traditional Banking | Steven Ongena | Senior Consultant, PwC, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Alan Roncoroni | Risk and opportunities in the context of the low-carbon transition: a financial network approach | Stefano Battiston | Consultant, Ernst&Young (EY), Zurich, Switzerland |
| Felix Stang | Essays on Arbitrage Pricing Theory and Contagion in a Financial Network | Markus Leippold | Sanitas Health Insurance, Zurich, Switzerland |
2020
| PhD Student | PhD Thesis | Supervisor | Placements |
| Yunhao He | Essays on Factor Asset Pricing | Markus Leippold | Junior Quant Trader at IMC Trading, Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Lena Hörnlein | Financing the energy transition - The impact of a changing power sector on investor | Marc Chesney | Investment Analyst, InvestInvent AG, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Alexandra Janssen | Expectations, Fear, and Returns in Currency Markets | Thorsten Hens | CEO ECOFIN Portfolio Solutions AG, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Egor Maslov | Essays in Financial Integration, Firm Dynamics and Risk Sharing | Mathias Hoffmann | Head Fund Reporting & Data, UBS, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Ludovic Mathys | American-Type Exotic Options and Risk Management in Lévy-Driven Markets | Walter Farkas | Equity Derivatives Trader, UBS AG, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Michael Schnetzer | Essays on Institutional Asset Management | Thorsten Hens | Senior Research Analyst, Vita Sammelstiftung, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Steven Schärer | Three Essays on Financial Engineering | Markus Leippold | Vice President Quant Strats, Credit Suisse, Zürich, Switzerland |
| Hanlin Yang | Learning and Systematic Investing | Markus Leippold | Delta One Strats, China International Capital Corporation, Hong Kong |
2019
| PhD Student | PhD Thesis | Supervisor | Placements |
| Kathrin DeGreiff | Essays on the Link of Climate Change and the Banking Sector | Jean-Charles Rochet | Credit Suisse, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Regina Hammerschmid | Essays on the Pricing of Commodity and Currency Returns | Thorsten Hens | Quantitative Analyst, Researcher and Risk Specialist, UBS, Switzerland |
| Lilia Mukhlynina | Essays on Valuation, Investments, and Asset Pricing | Kjell Nyborg | Treasury and Trading Advisory, PwC, Switzerland |
| Vladimir Petrov | Essays on Directional-Change Intrinsic Time | Stefano Battiston | Strategic Project Manager, Lykke, Switzerland |
| Adriano Tosi | Essays in Systematic Asset Pricing | Steven Ongena | Wellington Management, UK |
2018
| PhD Student | PhD Thesis | Supervisor | Placements |
| Simone Bernardi | Three Essays on Regulatory, Market, and Estimation Risk | Markus Leippold | Head of Business Development at Celeris Consulting, Switzerland |
| Ferdinand Langnickel | Essays in Behavioral Finance | Thorsten Hens | Senior Data Scientist, BCG GAMMA, Switzerland |
| Roger Rüegg | Essays on Active Investing | Markus Leippold | Portfolio Manager, ZKB, Switzerland |
| Anastasiia Sokko | Essays in Behavioural Financial Markets and Asset Pricing | Thorsten Hens | Iron Ore Analyst/Trader, Glencore, Switzerland |
2017
| PhD Student | PhD Thesis | Supervisor | Placements |
| Andrin Bögli | Essays on the Economics of Deception and Debt | Alexander Wagner | Senior Consultant, Oliver Wyman, Switzerland |
| Nina Gotthelf | Three Essays on Media Content and Financial Markets | Thorsten Hens | Investment Strategist, Swiss Re, Switzerland |
| René Hegglin | Three Essays on Empirical Banking | Urs Birchler | DBF Managing Director, Head of Administration, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Andreas Ita | Essays in Corporate Finance | Alexander Wagner | Executive Director, UBS AG, Switzerland |
| Elisabeth Megally | Three Essays on Managerial Compensation | Michel Habib | |
| Ivan Petzev | Essays in Asset Pricing and Corporate Finance | Alexander Wagner | Swiss Rock Asset Management AG, Switzerland |
| Cornelia Rösler | Three Essays on the Interbank Market | Kjell Nyborg | Accenture, Switzerland |
2016
| PhD Student | PhD Thesis | Supervisor | Placements |
| Diego Ostinelli | Financial markets, Innovation, and Acquisitions | Michel Habib | Prop Trading Desk, Banca IMI, Switzerland |
| Jakub Rojček | Market Quality and Price Impact of High-Frequency Trading and its Regulation | Thorsten Hens | LGT Capital Partners, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Bruno Troja | Essays on Optimal Investments in the Mitigation of Global Warming | Marc Chesney | Financial Controller/Business Analyst at II-VI Laser Enterprise, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Nikola Vasiljevic | Option Pricing and Market Risk Management in the Presence of Jump Risk | Markus Leippold | Credit Suisse, Zurich, Switzerland |
2015
| PhD Student | PhD Thesis | Supervisor | Placements |
| Meike Bradbury | Improved Investment Advice Through Risk Simulation | Thorsten Hens | Credit Suisse, Switzerland |
| Michele Doronzo | Empirical Essays on Risky Assets, Asset Allocation and Emission Certificates | Marc Paolella | Swiss Re Asset Management, Switzerland |
| Meriton Ibraimi | Essays on Arbitrage Pricing Theory and Systemic Risk Modeling | Markus Leippold | Ernst & Young, Switzerland |
| Markus Ludwig | Three Essays on Option Implied Information | Markus Leippold | Scout24, Munich, Germany |
| Remo Stössel | Risk Assessment and Risk Communication in Theory and Practice | Thorsten Hens | |
| Lujing Su | Three Essays on Market Frictions | Markus Leippold | Senior Analyst, Deutsche Bank, Germany |
2014
| PhD Student | PhD Thesis | Supervisor | Placements |
| Fabian Ackermann | Three Essays on the Efficiency of Selected Financial Markets | Karl Schmedders | Head of Quant Portfolio Management, Zürcher Kantonalbank, Switzerland |
| Chris Bardgett | Volatility and correlation modelling for equity indices | Markus Leippold | Quantitative Analyst, UBS, London, UK |
| Three Essays in Asset Pricing | Henrik Hasseltoft | ||
| Nilufer Caliskan | Essays in Asset Pricing Anomalies | Thorsten Hens | Kieger AG, Director of Research and Portfolio Construction, Switzerland |
| Robert Huitema | Essays in Quantitative Finance | Walter Farkas | UBS, Associate Director, Switzerland |
| Ombretta Marchiodi | Essays on Real Options, R & D, Empirical Applications to the Pharmaceutical Industry | Marc Chesney | Novartis, Switzerland |
| Tatjana Puhan | Essays in Finance | Marc Chesney | Swiss Life Asset Management, Switzerland |
| Kristoph Steikert | The Weighted Nadaraya-Watson Estimator: Strong Consistency Results, Rates of Convergence, and a Local Bootstrap Procedure to Select the Bandwidth | Felix Kübler | Quantitative Analyst, Credit Suisse, Switzerland |
2013
| PhD Student | PhD Thesis | Supervisor | Placements |
| Nikolay Ryabkov | Three Essays on Empirical Asset Pricing and Systematic Ambiguity | Alexandre Ziegler | OMERS Capital Markets, Switzerland |
2012
| PhD Student | PhD Thesis | Supervisor | Placements |
| Benjamin Jonen | Essays on Asset Pricing and Portfolio Choice | Felix Kübler | Swiss Life Asset Management, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Mustafa Karaman | Essays in Econometrics of Financial Asset Pricing Models | Loriano Mancini | UBS, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Gabriel Neukomm | Three essays on capital structure and structured finance | Alexander Wagner | PricewaterhouseCoopers, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Maria Putintseva | Three Essays on Forecasting and Information Acquisition in Finance | Marc Paolella | Nationale Suisse, Basel, Switzerland |
| Jacob Stromberg | Essays on the Pricing and Modeling of Derivatives and Risk-Taking Incentives | Marc Chesney | UBS, Zurich, Switzerland |
2009
| PhD Student | PhD Thesis | Supervisor | Placements |
| Matteo Bonato | Multivariate volatility modeling and forecasting with stable GARCH and Wishart Autoregressive models | Marc Paolella | UBS, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Gorazd Brumen | The Effects of Networks and Informations on Asset Prices | Rajna Gibson | Morgan Stanley Risk Management Group, London, UK |
2008
| PhD Student | PhD Thesis | Supervisor | Placements |
| Ganna Reshetar | Assessing and Managing Operational Risk with a Special Emphasis on Terrorism Risk |
Marc Chesney | Deloitte, Zurich, Switzerland |
2007
| PhD Student | PhD Thesis | Supervisor | Placements |
| Benoit Metayer | Non - Standard Issues in Credit Risk Management | Rajna Gibson | Barclays Wealth, London, UK |
| Martin Vlcek | Individual Trading Behavior: The Disposition Effect | Thorsten Hens | Banque Cantonale Vaudoise, Switzerland |
