Hirbod Assa

Hirbod joined Kent Business School (KBS) in January 2021 as a senior lecturer in finance and fintech. 

Prior to that, he worked for 7 years at the University of Liverpool. He has a PhD in financial mathematics in 2011 from the University of Montreal and another PhD in economics in 2013 from Concordia University. 

His research covers topics in fintech, insuretech, machine learning and risk management. He has been collaborating with prestigious institutions, such as MUFG (Mitsubishi) Bank, Lloyds Bank and Azur UW (part of AIG) on topics in machine learning and data science. Some of these works have already resulted in conference and journal papers.

He has worked with Stable Group Ltd and introduced a new insurance product to manage the risk of commodities volatile prices and was recognized by the University of Liverpool as an impact case for 2021 REF submission. He was awarded the title of Head of Consultancy at Liverpool’s mathematics department in recognition of the excellent work in relation to consultancy and external engagement and also was awarded the Balvir Singh medal by Concordia economics department for the excellent achievements in economics PhD dissertation. 

He is also a member of the advisory board of the Agricultural Finance Review.

Hirbod's research covers topics in:

• Fintech
• Insuretech
• Machine learning 
• Risk management

 Hirbod has developed theories in:

• Pricing
• Hedging
• Optimal contract design
• Agricultural finance
• Machine learning in the field of quantitative finance

• Financial technologies,
• Python programming in finance
• Algorithmic trading

Main Supervisor

• Current Atousa Khodadadian, Living and Future Tools for Risk Assessment: An Examination of the Possibilities for Fusion
• Graduated Simon Wang, Topic: On some aspects of quantitative risk management: theoretical and empirical implications for agricultural goods (University of Liverpool), currently Chief Data Officer at Stable
• Graduated Luís Portugal, Topic: Stochastic Claim Reserving in Insurance with Regression Model, (University of Liverpool), currently Managing Director of Grupo ACTUARIAL
• Graduated Natalie Chen, Optimal Reinsurance Strategies under Distortion Risk Measures (University of Liverpool),
• Graduated Tianyuan Ni, Time series and machine learning: analysis of commodity and insurance, (University of Liverpool), currently Reinsurance Analyst at MAXIS Global Benefits Network

Co-Supervisor

• Graduated Lin Yang, Co-supervision, currently an assistant professor at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
• Graduated Juan Du, Theory and applications of statistical arbitrage
• Graduated Mostafa Pour-Alizadeh, Co-supervision, in ATU, Tehran, Iran
• Graduated Ali Panahi, Co-supervision, in SBU, Tehran, Iran

 Since 2013, Hirbod has published numerous 4*/3* ABS listing papers two of them listed below:

European Journal of Operations Research, Economic Theory, Quantitative Finance, Journal of Mathematical Economics

Journal of Optimization: Theory and Application, Insurance: Mathematics and Economics.  

He has also contributed to writing two working papers for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He was generated £100k, as PI from international grants and industrial engagement. This includes a combination of different consultancy income and research grants.