Understand blockchain fundamentals and financial applications.

Analyze risks and systemic implications of blockchain-based assets.

Explore opportunities and limitations of DeFi, NFTs, and digital assets.

Engage with reproducible research through Quantlet and Quantinar.

Begin developing doctoral projects to be presented at final sessions.

3–6 November: Foundation modules on blockchain, digital assets, and risk modeling (4 ECTS)

7 November: Research writing and publishing tutorials (1 ECTS)

30 January 2026: Final online group presentations

Basic understanding of finance, asset pricing, and risk measures

Programming experience in Python or R (data analysis, visualization, econometrics)

Knowledge of statistics, linear algebra, and time-series analysis

08:50 - 09:20 → Registration

09:20 – 09:25 → Welcome  – Constantin Marius Profiroiu (Vice-Rector for International Relations),
Dorel Paraschiv (Vice-rector for Liaison with the Social and Business Environment, Student Cooperation)

09:30 – 09:40 → Introduction to MSCA Digital Finance Training Week  – Daniel Traian Pele, Joerg Osterrieder

09:40 – 10:40 → Blockchain Technology  – Wolfgang Karl Härdle

11:00 – 12:00 → Blockchain for Social Good: The Case of Sarafu Network Community Asset Vouchers in Kenya  – Patricia Marcella Evite & Will Ruddick

13:00 – 15:00 → Blockchain Business Models  – Frederik Bernard

15:20 – 17:00 → Project: description and coding  – All

09:40 – 10:40 → Do Investors Buy Innovation: Market Responses to Ethereum Development Milestones  – Daniel Traian Pele

11:00 – 12:00 → Stochastic Dominance in the Crypto Market  – Radu Lupu

13:00 – 14:00 → Transformer CoVaR  – Weining Wang

14:00 – 15:00 → No shortfall of ES estimators: Insights from cryptocurrency portfolios  – Matúš Horváth

15:20 – 16:10 → Bayesian Estimation of Regime-Switching Bubbles with Time-Varying Probabilities  – Petre Caraiani

16:10 – 17:00 → Project: description and coding  – All

09:40 – 10:40 → Blockchain Mechanism and Distributional Characteristics of Cryptos – Wolfgang Karl Härdle

11:00 – 12:00 → NFT and other Digital Assets  – Wolfgang Karl Härdle

13:00 – 14:40 → Project: updates   – All

15:00 – 16:00 → Rough Volatility and Correlated Jumps  – Xiaorui Zuo

16:00 – 17:00 → Pricing Kernels and Risk Premia  – Julian Winkel

09:00 – 10:00 → FRM for Cryptos  – Daniel Traian Pele

10:00 – 11:00 → Blockchain Characteristics and Systematic Risk: A Neural Network Based Factor Model for Cryptocurrencies  – Alla Petukhina

11:20 – 12:00 → Project Progress Presentations & Discussions  – All

13:00 – 13:30 → Review and Coordination of MSCA Digital Finance  – Joerg Osterrieder

13:30 – 14:30 → Blockchain in Finance: Research, Tools, and Visualisation Techniques  – Liana Stanca

14:50 – 15:50 → Uncovering Hidden Structures: Latent Factor Models for Cryptocurrencies  – Rui Ren

15:50 – 16:50 → Transmission Dynamics in Crypto Markets: Comparing Volatility and Liquidity Spillover Networks  – Barbara Bedowska Sojka

08:30 – 10:30 → What Makes a Good Paper  – Christina Sichtmann

11:00 – 12:30 → The Review Process  – Christina Sichtmann

14:00 – 15:30 → Tutorial: Find Ideas and Develop a Vision  – Christina Sichtmann

16:00 – 18:00 → Tutorial: Establish a Writing Habit  – Christina Sichtmann

13:00 - 16:00 → Final Group Presentations (Online)

Alla Petukhina
Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin (HTW Berlin), Germany

Barbara Bedowska Sojka
University of Poznan, Poland

Christina Sichtmann
Bern University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland

Daniel Traian Pele
IDA Institute Digital Assets, Bucharest University of Economic Studies; Institute for Economic Forecasting, Romanian Academy, Romania;

Frederik Bernard
University of Twente, Netherlands

Joerg Osterrieder
Coordinator MSCA Digital Finance

Julian Winkel
Royalton Partners, Luxembourg

Lennart John Baals
University of Twente, Netherlands

Liana Stanca
Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Matúš Horváth
Masaryk University Brno, Slovakia

Patricia Marcella Evite
University of Naples Federico II, Italy

Petre Caraiani
Institute for Economic Forecasting, Romanian Academy; Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania

Radu Lupu
IDA Institute Digital Assets, Bucharest University of Economic Studies; Institute for Economic Forecasting, Romanian Academy, Romania;

Rui Ren
University of Augsburg, Germany

Weining Wang
School of Economics, University of Bristol, UK; IDA Institute Digital Assets, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania

Will Ruddick
Grassroots Economics Foundation, Kenya

Wolfgang Karl Härdle
IDA Institute Digital Assets, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania

Xiaorui Zuo
Technische Universität Berlin, Germany