Man Group plc, the world’s largest hedge fund group, announced today it has partnered with Oxford University, committing 13.75 million over the next five years to create the Oxford-Man Institute of Quantitative Finance.
The partners expect the institute will become the “leading interdisciplinary academic institute for research in quantitative finance,” and will emphasize alternative investments, such as hedge funds and funds of funds, it said in a statement.
“We expect the institute to play a leading part in the field of quantitative finance,” Man Chief Executive Peter Clark told the media in an early-morning press conference today, which was the first public announcement of the institute’s creation.
It is expected to open in August of next year, although a site and building plans for the institute is still in the works.
Initially it will pull from about 20 Oxford staff, including 10 full-time researchers and 10 senior faculty members from six departments. The institute plans to take on six doctoral students in its first year and add two each year after that.
Neil Shepard, an Oxford professor of economics and fellow of the British Academy, is the institute’s research director.
“The institute will be truly interdisciplinary across the university, and will include researchers from many of the university’s schools and departments,” Shepard says. “Our aim is to provide a central focal point for the world’s leading research in quantitative finance.”
Click here to hear Neil Shepard talk about leading the Oxford-Man Institute of Quantitative Finance.
The primary focus of the institute will be on developing research both for academic purposes, including publishing research in journals and presenting findings at conferences, and for practical applications, such as selling research to the private sector.
Because it is its core financier, Man Group will have first dibs at any intellectual property produced by the institute. However, according to Oxford policy, the university has the right to turn down any offers by Man to purchase research from the institute and seek alternative clients.
The 13.75 million in funding includes 10.45 million for developing the institute’s infrastructure and an additional 3.3 million for an endowed chair, called the Man Professor of Quantitative Finance.
Man also will house its own research laboratory onsite, which will be separate from but collaborative with the institute.
The institute’s Web site, located here, was launched this morning.