Winners of the Belgian Master Theses Awards 2025
✅ First prize
Mr. Victor Anciaux - LSM
Thesis: Prediction of future stock returns using an ensemble of machine learning
models.
Supervised by Professor Frederic Vrins.
✅ Second prize
Ms. Anne Lopez - ULiege
Thesis: Do hedge funds managers misreporting of returns follows monetary policies?
Evidence from macro-funds during the great moderation.
Supervised by Professor Julien Hambuckers.
✅ Third prize
Mr. Louis De Proft - ICHEC
Thesis: Factor premia and business cycle dynamics in European equity markets.
Supervised by Professor Christophe Desagre.
✅ In promoting the highest standards of education, the CFA Society Belgium supports the local development of future investment professionals. 11 Universities (College of Europe, HEC Liege, ICHEC, KU Leuven, LSM, UAntwerpen, UGent, UHasselt, ULB, UNamur, VUB) participated with their students' best work for the 5th edition of the Belgian Best Master Thesis in Finance for the academic year 2025-2026. The deadline for receiving the entries was Friday 26th September 2025, noting that we only accepted the best two Theses as decided by each university. All Theses came through the university, we did not take direct entries from students. We accepted Theses in English, Dutch or French. The prizes will include a monetary award of € 3.000 (first prize), € 2.000 (second prize) and € 1.000 (third prize). The allocation of the awards is at the full discretion of the CFA Society Belgium's board.
✅ The CFA Society Belgium thanks the 2024-2025 jury, which consisted of:
-
Bruno Van der Schueren, CFA, Board member
-
Philippe Longerstaey, CFA, Board member
-
Professor Theo Vermaelen, Insead – Chair
-
Shelley Forrester, CFA
-
Xavier Timmermans
Winners of the 2024 Awards
CFA Society Belgium received and reviewed high quality entries for the third edition of the Master Thesis Awards from the following universities for the academic year 2023-2024:
- HEC Liege
- ULB
- ICHEC
- KU Leuven
- UAntwerpen
- UNamur
First prize
Ms. Lison Christiaens - HEC Liège
Thesis: Navigating high inflation: Is the ECB's monetary anchor holding firm? A study of the impact of monetary policy shocks on inflation expectations.
Supervised by Professor Julien Hambuckers.
Second prize
Ms. Marie-Laure De Breuck - UAntwerpen
Thesis: Goals based wealth management: two implementation issues.
Supervised by Professor Annaert and Professor De Ceuster,
Third prize
Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Khanh Van - KU Leuven
Thesis: Earnings management prior to voluntary de-listings via LBOs and MBOs: A European perspective.
Supervised by Assistant Professor Praet
Winners of the 2023 Awards
CFA Society Belgium received and reviewed high quality entries for the third edition of the Master Thesis Awards from the following universities for the academic year 2022-2023:
- College of Europe
- HEC Liege
- ICHEC
- KU Leuven
- ULB Solvay
- University Gent
First Prize
Mr Damien Assa - HEC Liège
Thesis: Tmax strategy and lottery-like demand in the cryptocurrency and mutual funds market.
Supervised by Professor Julien Hambuckers and Professor Wouter Torsi
Second Prize
Antoine Duysinx - HEC Liège
Thesis: Financial uncertainty and asset volatility dynamics: insights from an extended stochastic volatility model.
Supervised by Professor Julien Hambuckers, Professor Maren Ulm and Professor Romain Crucil
Third prize
Leanne Strum - ULB Solvay
Thesis: Identifying the contagion risk from extreme events between Europe and North America during the 2006-2020 period.
Supervised by Professor Mathias Schmit and Professor Marie-Paule Laurent