Team
Principal Investigators
External Advisors
Prof. Stephen Chan
External Advisor
American University of Sharjah, UAE
Prof. Yuanyuan Zhang
External Advisor
American University of Sharjah / University of Manchester
PhD Researchers
Yiting Liu
PhD Researcher
University of Twente & BFH
Lennart John Baals
PhD Researcher
University of Twente & BFH
Institutional Partners
| Institution | Country | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH) | Switzerland | Lead Institution |
| Renmin University of China | China | Partner Institution |
| American University of Sharjah | UAE | Advisory Partner |
| University of Manchester | UK | Advisory Partner |
Expertise and Complementarities
Swiss Partners
Prof. Dr. Joerg Osterrieder has 15+ years of experience in financial statistics, quantitative finance, and algorithmic trading. He chairs the European COST Action 19130 “Fintech and AI in Finance” (300+ researchers, 51 countries) and coordinates the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action Industrial Doctoral Network on Digital Finance. Previously he worked as Executive Director at Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch, and as a member of senior management at Credit Suisse Group.
Chinese Partners
Prof. Jeffrey Chu has extensive experience in digital finance research with 2000+ citations. His theoretical background in economics and statistics complements the industrial experience of Swiss partners.
External Advisors
Prof. Stephen Chan and Prof. Yuanyuan Zhang bring expertise in risk analytics, risk measures, and digital assets. Prof. Chan has developed numerous R risk measure software packages and is a member of the Society of Actuaries Project Oversight Group.
PhD Researchers
Yiting Liu and Lennart John Baals focus on graph-based P2P lending credit risk modeling, directly aligned with this project’s research questions.
Collaboration History
The Swiss-Chinese collaboration dates back to 2017, with:
- Joint Publications: Multiple papers on cryptocurrency markets (400+ citations combined)
- Funded Projects: Beijing NSF project IS23126 on digital cryptocurrency networks (2023-2025)
- Networks: COST Action CA19130, MSCA Digital Finance Network
- Events: Regular international weeks and conference co-organization
Contact
| Team Member | |
|---|---|
| Prof. Joerg Osterrieder | joerg.osterrieder@utwente.nl |
| Prof. Jeffrey Chu | jeffrey.jchu@ruc.edu.cn |
(c) Joerg Osterrieder 2025