Valentina Semenova

Valentina Semenova is a PhD candidate in mathematics at Oxford University, a member of the Institute for New Economic Thinking as well as the Oxford Man Institute of Quantitative Finance, and a recent visiting scholar at MIT and the Santa Fe Institute. Prior to her PhD, Valentina worked at Palantir and Goldman Sachs.

As her primary research focus, Valentina studies how granular data can help us understand the world we live in - from the influence that individual investors have on asset prices, to the ties between polarization and macroeconomic variables and the impact of the uptake of new investment technologies. Her work has received widespread attention in machine learning and finance, including publications in both research communities and several research awards. Her work has been covered more broadly in the LSE Business Review, Financial Times and other venues.

For her job market paper, Valentina studies the rise of the hype investor.  Over  61% of individuals are active social media users. A growing audience turns to social media for promising stock market gambles. How has this impacted the dynamics of retail investors and the stability of the markets? To answer this questions, Valentina looks at the data from WallStreetBets - the forum which started the hype.

Beyond her research, Valentina is committed to teaching and mentoring students. She has taught seven courses across three institutions, consistently receiving stellar student feedback, as well as co-advised research projects and led mentorship initiatives.