Speaker: Dr Thomas Babbedge (Winton Capital)

We look at the application of scientific methods and statistical analysis to huge datasets in finance and discuss some of the pitfalls that  ‘big data’ miners need to contend with, be it when exploring large cosmological datasets, conducting medical trials or when predicting market prices.  In particular, the dangers of unconscious publication bias needs to be given greater scrutiny.

The speaker is a former extragalactic astrophysicist, now working at the Winton Capital,  a global investment manager. Winton employs more than one hundred scientific researchers (half the company) and manages around $25 billion for clients including pension funds, insurance companies, institutional investors and government organisations.  Many of those researchers have come from a physics or astrophysics background, with PhD and post-doc experience in areas such as extragalactic astrophysics, cosmology and related disciplines. Winton’s belief is that the scientific method can be applied to financial markets.