More About the SFRA

Download the SFRA Flyer

To find out more about the objectives, plans and activities of the Risk Academy, download a copy of our flyer here.

Knowledge Exchange

The Scottish Financial Risk Academy (SFRA) was established in April 2010 with a £335,000 grant from the Scottish Funding Council following a competitive call for proposals for demand-led Knowledge Exchange (KE) projects involving Scottish universities and key sectors of the Scottish economy. The founder members of the SFRA set out to create an Academy that would provide financial services companies with an efficient, streamlined framework for interacting with Academia on a regular basis.

Response to the Financial Crisis

The financial crisis of 2007-08 served to illustrate the vulnerability of the Scottish financial services sector to financial risk. The increasing sophistication of financial instruments, the increasing complexity of financial risks and the increasing importance of financial regulation make it essential for Scotland to promote knowledge-exchange activities that focus on the quantitative side of financial risk with its foundations in mathematical modelling. The current and future competitive advantage of Scottish companies is critically dependent on having access to a highly technically-skilled and knowledgeable labour force, and the involvement of the academic sector is crucial to guaranteeing this.

A Demand-Led Initiative

A process of consultation established that there is demand in particular for activities that: (1) provide advanced technical training opportunities for employees and clients; (2) give access to the most able and best-trained students; (3) allow rapid evaluation of the latest research coming from Academia; (4) foster interaction on a more regular basis with academic experts, both Scottish-based and international; (5) stimulate interaction between industry peers on matters of common interest such as financial services regulation.

Three Activity Streams

To meet this demand the SFRA has three main streams of activities:

  • Knowledge-Exchange Events: a vibrant programme of events including biannual Risk Colloquia, short intensive Knowledge Transfer Workshops, and visits by leading risk scholars and industry experts will put the SFRA on the map and help develop the financial risk community in Scotland.
  • Student-Centred Activities: a programme for placing postgraduate students (MSc and PhD) in financial services companies on short projects will allow companies to explore the benefits of research collaboration with the university sector.
  • Industry Taught Courses: by contributing short lectures on topical subjects to MSc programmes, companies can help create a virtuous circle that attracts top students to Scottish MSc courses and enhances the talent pool available to the financial services sector.

Building a Community

The SFRA aims to be inclusive and to extend the benefits of its activities to all Scottish financial services companies and universities. Although innovation in financial services thrives on competition, it is in the general interest that the financial and academic sectors are strong in Scotland, and this can be achieved by wide participation in the Knowledge Exchange agenda of the Academy. Risk management, in particular, is an area where a pre-competitive approach to research and training is possible.

Creating a Centre of Excellence

The SFRA seeks to provide an innovative example of how to manage Knowledge Exchange with the financial services sector and to help position Scotland's university sector internationally as a centre of excellence in financial risk education.



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