An Interview with Dr. George Namur
Q: Can you tell us a little about your role at University College London (UCL)?
Dr. Namur is the director of the MSc Finance program at the School of Management at UCL.
Q: Can you tell us about your course and how you use IBKR’s tools to help you achieve your learning objectives?
After working with IBKR Student Trading Lab for over 11 years, Dr. Namur has been teaching a course “Hedge Fund Strategies” which is a popular class of about 125 grad students.
Several hedge fund strategies are being discussed in his course. Besides, students get the real feel of investing in the markets with the corresponding emotional cycles and keeping track of profit, loss, and volatility that ultimately affect their performance.
Q: What are some of the tools that the students use, and how much do they interact with them?
The main tools that students found useful are: Probability Lab, Risk Navigator in order to have a better sense of risk management. Also, they get to measure the VAR of the portfolio and simulate exit strategies options.
Q: What are some of the benefits you’ve experienced or observed since becoming a participant in the IBKR Student Trading Lab?
The benefits include knowing in a more complex and sophisticated way where to set up the stop losses. Furthermore, students involved in practical training with the IBKR Lab are more confident and knowledgeable in their work interviews.
Q: Would you recommend the IBKR Student Trading Lab to other educators?
IBKR should be included in every course such as derivatives, fund management, and trading-focused courses. I give students the feeling of reality that they are learning not only theoretical concepts, but also a on the job activity that needs to be handled professionally in the work environment.