Monash-Q Group Finance Colloquium 2025
AI in finance will again be the big focus topic at this year’s colloquium, hosted jointly by Monash Business School's Department of Banking and Finance, the Q group, and the Monash Centre for Quantitative Finance and Investment Strategies.
Bringing together academics and practitioners to discuss the latest challenges in quantitative investment management, there will be a diverse and insightful range of presentations.
This event has been jointly hosted by Monash University and the Q group since 2005.
Presenters
Alice Berriman, Frontier Advisors
Ms Berriman is a Senior Consultant in the Capital Markets and Asset Allocation team at Frontier Advisors, focusing on portfolio construction and asset class research.
She was previously an Associate Investment Manager in HESTA’s Portfolio Construction & Risk team, where she had a particular interest in liquidity modelling and sustainable investing. Alice also has experience in equity research, fixed income strategy and portfolio construction, and financial planning and analysis in late-stage startups.
Ms Berriman holds a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Finance, from University of Melbourne and is a CFA Charterholder.
Graeme Bibby, Partners Wealth Group
Mr Bibby joined Partners Wealth Group in July 2021 as Chief Investment Officer, and has over 25 years investment management experience managing and advising on direct asset and fund of fund portfolios across multiple sectors including superannuation, funds management, asset consulting, insurance and wealth management.
His two most recent roles were as Chief Investment Officer at Mutual Trust, a multi-family office and wealth manager, and Chief Investment Officer at AIA Australia Insurance. Prior to this, Graeme held Investment roles with Russell Investments, Mercer, AllianceBernstein and BHP Superannuation. Graeme has consulted within funds management and wealth management.
Mr Bibby is qualified in finance and investments, as a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA), Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) and has a Finsia Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and investments and an MBA.
Ms Ruqin Chen, Monash Business School
Ms Chen is a final-year PhD student at Monash Department of Banking and Finance. Her research interest is empirical asset pricing and fund management.
Before studying at Monash, she worked in the insurance industry as a product actuary for two years. She obtained her Master of Actuarial Studies degree at UNSW and Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Melbourne.
Dr Hasan Fallahgoul, Monash Centre for Quantitative Finance
Dr Fallahgoul is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Mathematics at Monash University. He has a strong background in finance and economics, having completed postdoctoral positions at both the Swiss Finance Institute at EPFL and the European Center for Advanced Research in Economics and Statistics (ECARES) at the Free University of Brussels.
He holds a PhD in Applied Probability and Statistics and has over two years of experience in risk management at Tejarat Bank. Dr Fallahgoul's research interests are focused on financial econometrics, asset allocation, risk management, and the application of AI/ML in finance. He also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Financial Data Science.
Dr Michael Kollo, Evolved.AI
Dr Kollo is a senior investment professional with extensive global academic and private sector experience, most recently on the application of machine learning and AI in the financial services sector.
Dr Kollo gained his PhD in Finance from the London School of Economics, and has lectured at the London School of Economics, Imperial College and at the University of New South Wales. His industry experience is in the application of quantitative statistical methods to improving investment outcomes in a variety of different mandates and organisations.
He has led experienced global research teams at Blackrock, Fidelity, Axa Rosenberg and HESTA.
Ya Li, Monash Centre for Quantitative Finance
Ms Li is a third-year PhD student at Monash Centre for Quantitative Finance and Investment Strategies, focusing on the stochastic models for long-term investment and retirement income. Prior to her PhD studies, she studied applied mathematics at Shandong University and economics at University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.
Armina Rosenberg, Minotaur Capital
Armina, aka Arms, is co-founder and co-Portfolio Manager of Minotaur Capital, a global equities boutique pioneering an AI-driven approach to alpha generation in fundamental research equities to deliver superior risk-adjusted returns.
The team has developed a proprietary software system which uses AI to solve the problems plaguing funds management, while reducing costs and uncovering unique opportunities that have been misunderstood by the market.
Prior to founding Minotaur, Arms managed the multimillion-dollar global equities portfolio at Grok Ventures, the family office and investment firm of Atlassian’s Mike Cannon-Brookes. Before joining Grok, Arms was Senior Investment Director at Audant Investments, the family office of Robert Whyte and spent eight years at JPMorgan in Australian Equities Research.
Dr Ummul Ruthbah, Monash Centre for Financial Studies
Dr Ruthbah is a Deputy Director at Monash Centre for Financial Studies. Her recent research focuses on pension, retirement and superannuation, the carbon market and modern slavery.
She holds a PhD in Economics from MIT, where she was an IMF Scholar and worked under the supervision of Nobel Laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee. She also has an MA in Economics from McGill University.
Before joining MCFS, she was at the Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability at Monash Business School.
Dr Ruthbah has wide experience in working as a primary investigator in multiple large-scale studies in areas of education, health, agriculture and labour force. Her works have been published in peer-reviewed international economics and finance journals.
Dr Jason Tian, Swinburne University
Dr Tian is Senior Lecturer and Course Director of the Master of Finance program at Swinburne University of Technology. His research interests include investor behaviour, financial market, and empirical asset pricing. His research and insights have been published in top-tier finance and economics journals.
Before joining Swinburne, Dr Tian worked as a Senior Economist across various Departments and Agencies within the Victorian Government. His experience and expertise have spanned across areas such as macroeconomics and revenue forecasting, property tax, economic evaluations and modelling for major state infrastructures as well as social procurement policies. Before joining the Victorian Government, Dr Tian also worked as a Quantitative Analyst at Macquarie Group looking at issues related to financial market trading, executions as well as market qualities.
Jim Trivellas, Deltabeak
Mr Trivellas is a senior investment professional with extensive experience in derivatives trading and pricing, risk management, quantitative portfolio construction and the development of quantitative analytics and related software systems. He has worked in various organisations including Goldman Sachs (London), AXA, NAB, Colonial First State and Future Fund.
Professor Chris Veld, Monash Business School
Prof Veld holds a PhD from Tilburg University in The Netherlands (1992). Before joining Monash, Prof Veld has held positions at Tilburg University, Simon Fraser University (Canada), the University of Stirling (Scotland), and the University of Glasgow (Scotland).
In addition, he has held visiting positions at McGill University (Canada), York University (Canada), the University of Melbourne, and the University of Tampa (US). His research interests are mostly in Household Finance, Behavioral Finance, and Empirical Corporate Finance.
Session chair
Dr Nga Pham, Monash Centre of Financial Studies
Nga has 25 years of experience in financial education, research and advisory services. Nga is a senior research fellow and the Director of Research Impact at the Monash Centre for Financial Studies, Monash University. She works on climate change, modern slavery, corporate governance, shareholder activism and pension systems. Her research aims to inform investors in their decision-making process. She has been featured in prestigious media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Australian Financial Review, and SBS World News.
Nga chairs the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) Financial Capital Committee. Before that, she was a member of the ICGN Disclosure and Transparency Committee. Nga is also an ESG consultant at the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank Group, working with the advisory team on services for corporate clients, policy advocacy and market capacity building for emerging markets.
Nga is a CFA Charterholder and a director of the CFA Society Australia Board.
Organisers
A/Prof Philip Gharghori, Monash Business School
An Associate Professor of Finance in Monash Business School’s Department of Banking and Finance, and a Q group Melbourne committee member, A/Prof Gharghori has co-organised this colloquium since 2017, in collaboration with Dr Oscar Tian and the Monash Centre for Quantitative Finance.
A/Prof Gharghori’s areas of research are asset pricing and investments. In particular, his research focuses on asset pricing anomalies and multi-factor asset pricing models. He also does research on funds management, informed trading, market reaction to corporate actions, behavioural finance, socially responsible investments and default risk. He is Deputy Editor in Chief of Accounting and Finance, Associate Editor at the Australian Journal of Management, and is a director at the Financial Research Network (FIRN).
A/Prof Ivan Guo, Monash Centre for Quantitative Finance
A/Prof Guo is an associate professor in the School of Mathematics at Monash University. He is the course director of the Monash Master of Financial Mathematics programme and the deputy director of the Monash Centre for Quantitative Finance and Investment Strategies. His research areas include stochastic processes, mathematical finance, optimal transport, and stochastic game theory.
Dr Oscar Tian, Insignia Financial
Dr Tian is a Senior Actuarial Manager at Insignia Financial, as well as the Vice President and Melbourne chair of the Q Group Australia. He is also actively involved in research as a Senior Lecturer at the Monash Centre for Quantitative Finance and Investment Strategies, and an Industry Fellow at UNSW ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research. He has co-organised this colloquium since 2018, in collaboration with A/Prof Gharghori and the Monash Centre for Quantitative Finance.
Program
Event Details
- Date:
- 11 April 2025 at 8:30 am – 6:00 pm
- Venue:
- Monash Conference Centre - Level 7, 30 Collins St, Melbourne, VIC, 3000
- Categories:
- Banking and Finance; General
Description
AI in finance will again be the big focus topic at this year’s colloquium, hosted jointly by Monash Business School's Department of Banking and Finance, the Q group, and the Monash Centre for Quantitative Finance and Investment Strategies.
Bringing together academics and practitioners to discuss the latest challenges in quantitative investment management, there will be a diverse and insightful range of presentations.
This event has been jointly hosted by Monash University and the Q group since 2005.
Presenters
Alice Berriman, Frontier Advisors
Ms Berriman is a Senior Consultant in the Capital Markets and Asset Allocation team at Frontier Advisors, focusing on portfolio construction and asset class research.
She was previously an Associate Investment Manager in HESTA’s Portfolio Construction & Risk team, where she had a particular interest in liquidity modelling and sustainable investing. Alice also has experience in equity research, fixed income strategy and portfolio construction, and financial planning and analysis in late-stage startups.
Ms Berriman holds a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Finance, from University of Melbourne and is a CFA Charterholder.
Graeme Bibby, Partners Wealth Group
Mr Bibby joined Partners Wealth Group in July 2021 as Chief Investment Officer, and has over 25 years investment management experience managing and advising on direct asset and fund of fund portfolios across multiple sectors including superannuation, funds management, asset consulting, insurance and wealth management.
His two most recent roles were as Chief Investment Officer at Mutual Trust, a multi-family office and wealth manager, and Chief Investment Officer at AIA Australia Insurance. Prior to this, Graeme held Investment roles with Russell Investments, Mercer, AllianceBernstein and BHP Superannuation. Graeme has consulted within funds management and wealth management.
Mr Bibby is qualified in finance and investments, as a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA), Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) and has a Finsia Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and investments and an MBA.
Ms Ruqin Chen, Monash Business School
Ms Chen is a final-year PhD student at Monash Department of Banking and Finance. Her research interest is empirical asset pricing and fund management.
Before studying at Monash, she worked in the insurance industry as a product actuary for two years. She obtained her Master of Actuarial Studies degree at UNSW and Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Melbourne.
Dr Hasan Fallahgoul, Monash Centre for Quantitative Finance
Dr Fallahgoul is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Mathematics at Monash University. He has a strong background in finance and economics, having completed postdoctoral positions at both the Swiss Finance Institute at EPFL and the European Center for Advanced Research in Economics and Statistics (ECARES) at the Free University of Brussels.
He holds a PhD in Applied Probability and Statistics and has over two years of experience in risk management at Tejarat Bank. Dr Fallahgoul's research interests are focused on financial econometrics, asset allocation, risk management, and the application of AI/ML in finance. He also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Financial Data Science.
Dr Michael Kollo, Evolved.AI
Dr Kollo is a senior investment professional with extensive global academic and private sector experience, most recently on the application of machine learning and AI in the financial services sector.
Dr Kollo gained his PhD in Finance from the London School of Economics, and has lectured at the London School of Economics, Imperial College and at the University of New South Wales. His industry experience is in the application of quantitative statistical methods to improving investment outcomes in a variety of different mandates and organisations.
He has led experienced global research teams at Blackrock, Fidelity, Axa Rosenberg and HESTA.
Ya Li, Monash Centre for Quantitative Finance
Ms Li is a third-year PhD student at Monash Centre for Quantitative Finance and Investment Strategies, focusing on the stochastic models for long-term investment and retirement income. Prior to her PhD studies, she studied applied mathematics at Shandong University and economics at University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.
Armina Rosenberg, Minotaur Capital
Armina, aka Arms, is co-founder and co-Portfolio Manager of Minotaur Capital, a global equities boutique pioneering an AI-driven approach to alpha generation in fundamental research equities to deliver superior risk-adjusted returns.
The team has developed a proprietary software system which uses AI to solve the problems plaguing funds management, while reducing costs and uncovering unique opportunities that have been misunderstood by the market.
Prior to founding Minotaur, Arms managed the multimillion-dollar global equities portfolio at Grok Ventures, the family office and investment firm of Atlassian’s Mike Cannon-Brookes. Before joining Grok, Arms was Senior Investment Director at Audant Investments, the family office of Robert Whyte and spent eight years at JPMorgan in Australian Equities Research.
Dr Ummul Ruthbah, Monash Centre for Financial Studies
Dr Ruthbah is a Deputy Director at Monash Centre for Financial Studies. Her recent research focuses on pension, retirement and superannuation, the carbon market and modern slavery.
She holds a PhD in Economics from MIT, where she was an IMF Scholar and worked under the supervision of Nobel Laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee. She also has an MA in Economics from McGill University.
Before joining MCFS, she was at the Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability at Monash Business School.
Dr Ruthbah has wide experience in working as a primary investigator in multiple large-scale studies in areas of education, health, agriculture and labour force. Her works have been published in peer-reviewed international economics and finance journals.
Dr Jason Tian, Swinburne University
Dr Tian is Senior Lecturer and Course Director of the Master of Finance program at Swinburne University of Technology. His research interests include investor behaviour, financial market, and empirical asset pricing. His research and insights have been published in top-tier finance and economics journals.
Before joining Swinburne, Dr Tian worked as a Senior Economist across various Departments and Agencies within the Victorian Government. His experience and expertise have spanned across areas such as macroeconomics and revenue forecasting, property tax, economic evaluations and modelling for major state infrastructures as well as social procurement policies. Before joining the Victorian Government, Dr Tian also worked as a Quantitative Analyst at Macquarie Group looking at issues related to financial market trading, executions as well as market qualities.
Jim Trivellas, Deltabeak
Mr Trivellas is a senior investment professional with extensive experience in derivatives trading and pricing, risk management, quantitative portfolio construction and the development of quantitative analytics and related software systems. He has worked in various organisations including Goldman Sachs (London), AXA, NAB, Colonial First State and Future Fund.
Professor Chris Veld, Monash Business School
Prof Veld holds a PhD from Tilburg University in The Netherlands (1992). Before joining Monash, Prof Veld has held positions at Tilburg University, Simon Fraser University (Canada), the University of Stirling (Scotland), and the University of Glasgow (Scotland).
In addition, he has held visiting positions at McGill University (Canada), York University (Canada), the University of Melbourne, and the University of Tampa (US). His research interests are mostly in Household Finance, Behavioral Finance, and Empirical Corporate Finance.
Session chair
Dr Nga Pham, Monash Centre of Financial Studies
Nga has 25 years of experience in financial education, research and advisory services. Nga is a senior research fellow and the Director of Research Impact at the Monash Centre for Financial Studies, Monash University. She works on climate change, modern slavery, corporate governance, shareholder activism and pension systems. Her research aims to inform investors in their decision-making process. She has been featured in prestigious media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Australian Financial Review, and SBS World News.
Nga chairs the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) Financial Capital Committee. Before that, she was a member of the ICGN Disclosure and Transparency Committee. Nga is also an ESG consultant at the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank Group, working with the advisory team on services for corporate clients, policy advocacy and market capacity building for emerging markets.
Nga is a CFA Charterholder and a director of the CFA Society Australia Board.
Organisers
A/Prof Philip Gharghori, Monash Business School
An Associate Professor of Finance in Monash Business School’s Department of Banking and Finance, and a Q group Melbourne committee member, A/Prof Gharghori has co-organised this colloquium since 2017, in collaboration with Dr Oscar Tian and the Monash Centre for Quantitative Finance.
A/Prof Gharghori’s areas of research are asset pricing and investments. In particular, his research focuses on asset pricing anomalies and multi-factor asset pricing models. He also does research on funds management, informed trading, market reaction to corporate actions, behavioural finance, socially responsible investments and default risk. He is Deputy Editor in Chief of Accounting and Finance, Associate Editor at the Australian Journal of Management, and is a director at the Financial Research Network (FIRN).
A/Prof Ivan Guo, Monash Centre for Quantitative Finance
A/Prof Guo is an associate professor in the School of Mathematics at Monash University. He is the course director of the Monash Master of Financial Mathematics programme and the deputy director of the Monash Centre for Quantitative Finance and Investment Strategies. His research areas include stochastic processes, mathematical finance, optimal transport, and stochastic game theory.
Dr Oscar Tian, Insignia Financial
Dr Tian is a Senior Actuarial Manager at Insignia Financial, as well as the Vice President and Melbourne chair of the Q Group Australia. He is also actively involved in research as a Senior Lecturer at the Monash Centre for Quantitative Finance and Investment Strategies, and an Industry Fellow at UNSW ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research. He has co-organised this colloquium since 2018, in collaboration with A/Prof Gharghori and the Monash Centre for Quantitative Finance.