Seminar: Current topics in Finance - Q3

Course Content

The purpose of this seminar is to develop the ability to evaluate academic publications, condense the resulting insights into a written academic report, and effectively communicate the main findings to peers. Overall, this seminar serves as an ideal preparation for the Bachelor's Thesis.

Intended Learning Outcomes and Competencies

Students who participate in this seminar gather valuable experience on how to search for relevant literature, conduct a literature review, and present their findings in front of an audience.

Instruction Type

The kick-off session and final block seminar will take place on campus. The one-to-one meetings with the lecturer will be conducted online or in person.

Form of Examination

The examination is based on a term paper and a presentation. The term paper consists of a literature review on a self-selected topic in the areas of sustainable finance or recent trends in financial intermediation, such as robo-advice, fintech, new financial products (including cryptocurrencies), the impact of AI and blockchain technology, recent regulations, and cyber risk. The presentation consists of a talk on the term paper's main findings followed by a Q&A session. Students should take an active role in the Q&A sessions of their peers.

The final grade consists of the following components:

- Written term paper, 5-6 pages (60%)

- Presentation of the results, 5-minute talk followed by a 5-minute Q&A (40%)