Business student wins scholarship for study on diversifying investments

UQ Business School PhD student Anthony Hatherley has been awarded the prestigious A H
Pollard Scholarship 2006 by the Institute of Actuaries of Australia.

Mr Hatherley said the $8,000 scholarship would help offset the costs involved in completing his PhD.

“My PhD is a mathematical analysis of the relationship between different stocks to come up with a new way to select assets in a diversified portfolio,” Mr Hatherley said.

“The whole idea of diversification is to provide insulation against downturns in the market but the current model of asset selection, which has been in use for around 50 years, doesn’t work very well in practice.

“I’m hoping to show that by taking a different view of the correlations between stocks, it is possible to diversify intelligently and mitigate some of the downside risk.”

The scholarship was awarded on Wednesday April 12 at the institute’s annual Brisbane Presidential Dinner.

Martin Stevenson, President of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia, said the scholarship recognised the late Professor Alfred Hurlstone Pollard.

“Professor Pollard is widely recognised as one of Australia’s most outstanding actuaries and is especially remembered for his contributions in the field of actuarial education,” Mr Stevenson said.

“Recognising the financial hardship Professor Pollard had to endure in order to gain his own PhD, the scholarship was established in 2002 to provide assistance to a member of the institute who is studying for a PhD at a recognised university in an actuarial or related field.”

For more information contact, Cathy Stacey (07) 3365 6179, 0434 074 372