International Inter-University Hackathon
In these challenging times, we rolled out CodeBook to allow students to access easy-to-use coding interfaces to learn to code and apply what they’ve learned - be it in Management, Finance, Economics, Computer Science or Data Science. In line with this capability, Alida Hafiz started Refinitiv's Inter-University Hackathon initiative where students were given access to Refinitiv data and CodeBook to compete in constructing a Python CodeBook-app/Jupyter-Notebook or a workflow using R / Java / Excel that could be chosen to be published on our Refinitiv Developer Portal’s Article Catalogue – were it to win. This is part of a push in which we are starting to empower students to learn finance and coding – alongside our Article Competition.
The aim of the Hackathon is to aid students to apply their academic knowledge within both a commercial and technically secure environment, enabling students to put themselves in the shoes of the professional working in financial and commercial fields.
The above describes technical aspects of our Hackathon, but - as aforementioned - this Hackathon is open to many students, including non-computer-science studying ones; indeed, many participating students did not use CodeBook in our 1st Hackathon.
How to Participate
If you - as a University Representative or Professor - are interested in participating in our Inter-University Hackathons, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our University Hackathon organizer - Haykaz Aramyan - to outline your interest. We are ready to take on all infrastructure and communication needs (using our own servers – for CodeBook – and Microsoft Teams respectively).
Hackathon Proposed Subjects
The participating teams are free to select any subject area related to Financial Industries, however, If you need inspiration for a subject, we would love to see solutions to be chosen from the bellow subjects:
| Subject | Description | For inspiration visit these usecase pages |
| AI and Data Analytics | This will include Machine Learning (ML) and Natural Language processing (NLP) applications which utilize wide range and depth of Refinitiv Data to solve various problems in financial industry. | Artificial Intelligence |
| ESG | Environmental, Social and Governance subjects are sensitive topics in society overall and there is a lot of controversies around thes. Building custome ESG scores, measuring these controversies, using ESG scores in wide range of analytics inclusing in portfolio management might be a great topic to explore. | Sustainable Finance & Investing |
| Quant/ Technical Analysis | This subject involve building quantative investment strategies in different asset categories using mathematical, statistical as well AI based approaches. This may include also deriving wide range of investment signals to enrich the investment strategy | See usecases from Portfolio Optimization and Risk Management and AI/Data Analytics |
| Portfolio Optimization and Risk Management | Use Refinitiv APIs to build solutions for portfolio selection, portfolio management, and portfolio optimization. | Portfolio Optimization and Risk Management |
| Build and Manage Apps | Build Apps to be potentially used by Fiinancial companies which utilize refinitiv data via Typescript, UI Elements and SDKs. | Build and Manage Apps |
Hackathon Structure
After establishing a line of communication with a contact at your University, we split our Hackathon in steps for simplicity:
- Step 1 - Kick-off: An introductory session, when the organizers will present the Hackathon, including the process and the proposed subjects. Particularly, we inform Students of the opportunity (e.g.: via email) and provide a non-exhaustive list of subjects curated with their professors that they can choose to work on. This is a perfect opportunity to introduce certain aspects and functionalities of Refinitiv Workspace for Students, CodeBook, or any introductory material (e.g.: for Datastream) or training material (e.g.: tutorial videos). No presentation needed from the students
- Step 2 - Feedback Session: Participating Students give a presentation (i) explaining their subject choice, (ii) giving an outline of their goals in this Hackathon. Jurors will give feedback on the chosen topics based on which the teams will adjust their approach and build the prototype for the semi-finals. Depending on the number of Student participants, this may be an elimination Step. Presentation format: 5-minute presentation followed by 5-minute feedback
- Step 3 - Prototype Presentation/Semi Final: One/Two weeks later, Students give a presentation/demonstration of their work. This is an elimination stage based on teams' presentations, where jurors (including professors) will choose the top groups per University who will go on to the final stage. Students will have to upload their work (completed or not) prior to this step, either by email (to Haykaz Aramyan) or via the Article Competition portal. Presentation format: 15-minute presentation followed by 15-minute Q&A
- Step 4 - Final Presentations: One/Two weeks later, we have a virtual meeting where Students give a presentation/demonstration of their final work. Jurors will then decide on a winner. Students will have to upload their work prior to this step, either by email (to Haykaz Aramyan) or via the Article Competition portal. Presentation format: 15-minute presentation followed by 15-minute Q&A
This will allow students to put themselves in the shoes of the professional working on such subjects.
Winners will be awarded with an e-Certificate and Refinitiv merchandise (subject to availability). The former will help anyone in getting an LSEG Internship interview, if they so wish. Winners producing work of sufficient quality may also be chosen to be published on our Refinitiv Developer Portal’s Article Catalogue.
Past, Present & Future Hackathons
- 2020: Refinitiv Inter-University Hackathon 1
Alida Hafiz spearheaded the first University Hackathon in France with the IESEG School of Management. It was a resounding success, as reflected in their article ‘A look back at an innovative online hackathon with Refinitiv’.
- May 2021: Refinitiv Inter-University Hackathon 2
Refinitiv is proud to have hosted the second Hackathon in May/June 2021 with The University of Edinburgh and the IESEG School of Management. Well done to The University of Edinburgh's 'Team 9', including Haykaz Aramyan and Evana Kuruvilla, for winning the competition.
- May 2022: Refinitiv Inter-University Hackathon 3
The 3rd Hack will be from 03 May 2022 to 25 May 2022, seeing The University of Edinburgh and the IESEG School of Management compete yet again! Don't hesitate to read more here.
- November 2022: Refinitiv Inter-University Hackathon 4
In November 2022, we were proud to host a Hackathon for Imperial College London, FOM, and TUM Universities. It was great to host several countries again, breaking barriers for students and professionals alike. Well done to teams 'EequalsMCsquare' from Imperial & 'TUM Group 1' from TUM for their amazing work and respective articles on Bayesian Statistics and Refinitiv Data Library for TypeScript respectively.
- May 2023: Refinitiv Inter-University Hackathon 5
The May 2023 Hack hosted 11 teams from the The University of Edinburgh and the IESEG School of Management to compete yet again! UoE Team 2/ Mayora Green Hack, including Radhea Permata Dewi, Maia Stasevich and Yogi Tri Cahyono, won the the Hackathon with Predictive ESG Scores using Sentiment Analysis prototype.
