Dr Jia Zhai joined IBSS at XJTLU in 2020. Her research is mainly in the areas of using AI method in finance, e.g., machine learning on asset pricing, derivatives, sentiment analysis and quantitative analysis. Other interests may include sustainable finance, open banking and investment decision making. She has published a number of articles in leading international and national journals, including the European Journal of Operational Research, Journal of Expert System with Applications, Decision Support System, Quantitative Finance, International Review of Financial Analysis, and the European Journal of Finance, 管理科学学报 etc. She has been the guest editor, associate editors, and reviewers for several leading journals, e.g. British Accounting Review, Expert Systems with Applications, Finance Research Letters, Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies etc. Her research outputs have been presented at world-leading conferences, e.g. INFORMS, EURO, Asia FA, EFMA. In the last few years Jia obtained competitive grants funded by NSFC Young Project (PI), NSSFC, Education Bureau China, and ESRC UK, with the collaboration of external universities. She has been collaborating with international universities, e.g. University of Edinburgh, Liverpool, Birmingham etc., and chinese universiteis, e.g. University of Fudan, Central University of Finance and Economics etc. She also initiated and led a few industrial collaborative projects with capital management, financial technology and information technology firms. She has been invited to give professional talks or serve as charing committees on the theme of AI and Finance, e.g., digitalization, data innovation, emerging technology in finance.

She has taught a range of modules at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She has also supervised several PhD students in the areas of financial machine learning, ESG and option pricing and cryptocurrency market.

AI (ML) in finance;

Sentiment analysis, behavioral biases;

Derivatives

Cryptocurrency

Open banking

Sustainable / green finance

Assistant Professor in Financial Mathematics - XJTLU - 2010 - 2012

Lecturer in Finance - Ulster University - 2013 - 2016

Lecturer in Finance and Economics - University of Salford - 2016 -2020

Senior Associate Professor - XJTLU - 2020 to present

Final Year Project, 2020 - present

MSc Dissertation, 2020 - present

Empiricial Asset Pricing, 2021 - 2022

Time Series Analysis, 2021 - 2022

Fundamentals of Fintech, 2022 - present

Machine Learning in Finance, 2022 - present

Foundations of Finance, 2021 - present

All-round Academic Excellence Award, 2022 & 2023;

独墅湖高教区科教骨干人才，2022；

PGRS scholarship, 2022