Prof. Barry Quinn

Professor of Finance and Financial Technology

Prof. Barry Quinn

Contact Information

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Personal Statement

As a Professor of Finance and FinTech at Ulster University Business School, I bridge the gap between cutting-edge quantitative research and practical financial applications. With 14 peer-reviewed publications (including 1 ABS4* and 11 ABS3 papers), over ÂŁ2M in research funding, and extensive industry collaboration, I specialize in applying statistical and machine learning techniques to complex problems in financial markets, regulation, and cooperative finance.

My research portfolio spans systemic risk assessment, market manipulation detection, and AI applications in finance, with particular expertise in regulatory technology (RegTech). I have successfully supervised 6 PhD completions to date, with 6 current doctoral students working on frontier topics including generative AI in finance and market anomaly detection.

My unique perspective combines 9 years of financial markets experience as a currency trader and liquidity manager with rigorous academic training. This practitioner background informs my approach to econometric research, ensuring practical relevance while maintaining statistical rigor. As a Chartered Statistician, I am particularly committed to promoting ethical approaches to data analysis and evidence-based decision-making in an era of increasing algorithmic complexity.

Currently pursuing an MSc in Artificial Intelligence to deepen my understanding of technologies reshaping finance, I aim to contribute meaningfully to conversations about harnessing technological advances while maintaining regulatory prudence and statistical integrity in financial services.

Education and Professional Qualifications

Degree Institution Year
B.Sc.(Hons) Accounting and Finance Queen’s University Belfast 1995
MSc Quantitative Finance RMIT University Melbourne 2006
Ph.D. Finance Queen’s University Belfast 2012
Chartered Statistician Royal Statistical Society 2019
MSc Artificial Intelligence Queen’s University Belfast Graduating 2025

Teaching

I have extensive teaching experience at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, specialising in:

  1. Quantitative Finance: My teaching integrates cutting-edge quantitative techniques with practical applications in financial markets.

  2. Financial Econometrics: Instructing students in econometrics as an applied statistics discipline, avoiding the statistical cavaliering that plagues the econometric publication playbook.

  3. AI and Machine Learning in Finance: Pioneering courses that explore the intersection of artificial intelligence and finance. Topics include machine learning for rule-based algorithmic trading, asset pricing, algorithmic trading, and AI-driven risk assessment.

Teaching Philosophy

I help students prepare for the future of finance and technology by teaching essential skills like analysing data, making evidence-based decisions under uncertainty, and applying advanced statistical techniques to real-world financial problems. My goal is to equip them with the knowledge and tools they’ll need to succeed in a rapidly evolving job market, while also fostering qualities like resilience, humility, and intellectual curiosity.

Teaching Publication

  • Quinn, Barry, Hanna, Alan, Gallagher, Aine (2018). Queen’s Student Managed Fund: Investing in the student Experience. Reflections, 27, p16-17

Research

I have published fourteen peer reviewed internationally acclaimed academic papers (1 ABS4, 11 ABS3s, and 2 ABS2s), three commission research reports, and two statistical software research packages. My research lies at the intersection of finance, economics, technology and data science, with a focus on developing innovative analytical approaches to address complex issues in financial markets, regulation, and sustainability. My work is characterised by the application of advanced statistical, econometric, and machine learning techniques across a diverse range of financial and economic contexts.

Peer-Reviewed Publications

  • Wang, Hui, Dai, Yongsheng, Spence, Ivor, Rafferty, Karen, Quinn, Barry, Huang, Ji (2025). TDSRL: Time Series Dual Self-Supervised Representation Learning for Anomaly Detection from Different Perspectives. IEEE Internet of Things Journal

  • McKillop, Donal, Liu, Kailong, Quinn, Barry, Peng, Qiao (Forthcoming). Modelling and Predicting Credit Union Failures. International Journal of Forecasting (ABS3)

  • Liu, Weilong, Zhang, Yong, Liu, Kailong, Quinn, Barry, Yang, Xingyu, Peng, Qiao (2024). Evolutionary Multi-Objective Optimisation for Large-Scale Portfolio Selection With Both Random and Uncertain Returns. IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation (ABS4)

  • Bouri, E., Quinn, B., Sheenan, L. & Tang, Y. (2024). Investigating extreme linkage topology in the aerospace and defence industry. International Review of Financial Analysis (ABS3)

  • Quinn, Barry, Gallagher, Ronan, Kuosmanen, Timo (2023). Lurking in the shadows: The impact of CO2 emissions target setting on carbon pricing in the Kyoto agreement period. Energy Economics (ABS3)

  • Liu, Jiadong, Papailias, Fotis, Quinn, Barry (2021). Direction-of-change forecasting in commodity futures markets. International Review of Financial Analysis (ABS3)

  • Gallagher, Ronan, Quinn, Barry (2020). Regulatory own goals: The unintended consequences of economic regulation in professional football. European Sport Management Quarterly (ABS3)

  • McKillop, Donal, French, Declan, Quinn, Barry, Sobiech, Anna L, Wilson, John OS (2020). Cooperative financial institutions: A review of the literature. International Review of Financial Analysis (ABS3)

  • Quinn, Barry, Hanna, Alan, MacDonald, Fred (2018). Picking up the pennies in front of the bulldozer: The profitability of gilt based trading strategies. Finance Research Letters (ABS2)

  • McKillop, Donal G, Quinn, Barry (2017). Irish credit unions: Differential regulation based on business model complexity. The British Accounting Review (ABS3)

  • Ayadi, Rym, Naceur, Sami Ben, Casu, Barbara, Quinn, Barry (2016). Does Basel compliance matter for bank performance? Journal of Financial Stability (ABS3)

  • Glass, J, McKillop, Donal, Quinn, Barry (2015). Modelling the Performance of Irish Credit Unions, 2002-2010. Financial Accountability & Management (ABS3)

  • McKillop, Donal G, Quinn, Barry (2015). Web adoption by Irish credit unions: Performance implications. Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics (ABS2)

  • Glass, J Colin, McKillop, Donal G, Quinn, Barry, Wilson, John (2014). Cooperative bank efficiency in Japan: a parametric distance function analysis. The European Journal of Finance (ABS3)

  • Quinn, Barry, McKillop, Donal (2009). Internet banking and Irish credit unions. International Journal of Cooperative Management (ABS2)

  • Quinn, Barry, McKillop, Donal (2009). Cost performance of Irish credit unions. Journal of Cooperative Studies (ABS2)

Software Publications

Table 1: Software Publications
Package Year Description Metrics
Time Series Econometrics (tsfe) 2022 R Package for time series analysis
Financial Machine Learning (fml) 2020 R Package for financial ML

Working Paper

  • Kearney, Fearghal, Quinn, Barry, Dai, Youngsheng (2025) Signal Amplification in Market Manipulation Detection

  • Zhang, Ying (Veronica), Quinn, Barry, Sheenan, Lisa (2025). Ownership Dynamics, Risk and Regulation in Chinese Banking: New Evidence. Centre for Responsible Banking & Finance Working Paper Series, WP No. 25-017.

  • Kearney, Fearghal, Quinn, Barry, Pramanick, Abhishek (Under Review at Journal of Business Venturing) Innovation Signals and Strategic Exits: How Technological Readiness Shapes RegTech Venture Outcomes

  • Quinn, Barry, Gallagher, Ronan Great Expectations: Managerial Turnover and Market Expectation in Association Football

Research Reports

  • Bryon Graham, Barry Quinn (2019). Price comparison and web analytics. (Commissioned by InvestNI)
  • Bryon Graham, Barry Quinn (2017). Machine learning and predictive analytics in the mall retail business. (Commissioned by InvestNI)
  • Fearghal Kearney, Barry Quinn (2020). The theoretical foundations of value at risk modelling. (Commissioned by InvestNI and Funds Axis Ltd)
  • French,Declan, McKillop, Donal, Quinn, Barry (2018). Landscape review of Northern Ireland Credit Union Sector.(Commissioned by the NI Department of Communities and Rural Affairs)
  • McKillop, Donal, Quinn, Barry (2012 )Report of the Irish Commission on Credit Unions (4* REF2014 Impact Case): An Efficiency Study

Research Impact and Knowledge Transfer

  1. Understanding and Enhancing regulatory compliance in the Investment Managent industry using AI with Funds Axis Ltd and Momentum 1.0 (Funded by UKFin+ and UKRI Nov 2024 - Nov 2025)
  2. Anomaly detection of large heterogeneous trading transaction and commmunication data with Citigroup Belfast and Momentum 1.0 (2022-2023)
  3. AI and Advanced Retail Analytics with Pearlai Ltd and Dr Byron Graham (KTP 2017-2019)
  4. E.S.G Fair Value Analytics with Research Associates, Dr. Lisa Sheenan, Dr. Byron Graham. (KTP 2021)
  5. Tail Risk Analytics, Stress Testing and Scenario Analytics with Funds Axis Ltd, Dr Fearghal Kearney, and Dr Colm Kelly. (KTP 2021 -2023)
  6. Financial Conduct Authority Tech Sprint Mentor (2023-present)
  7. AI and the Future of Financial Regulation with Fearghal Kearney and Abhishek Praminick published in The Economic Observatory (2023)

Completed PhD Supervisions

  1. Dr. Jiadong liu (graduated 2018): Momentum in Empirical Asset Pricing (Principal Supervisor)
  2. Dr. Ashleigh Neil (graduated 2019): Law and Financial Stability (Principal Supervisor)
  3. Dr. Colm Kelly (graduated 2021): Machine learning in Empirical Asset Pricing (Principal Supervisor)
  4. Veronica Zhang (graduating 2024): Capital policy and State sponsorship in Chinese banking (Principal Supervisor)
  5. Dr. Kevin Johnson (graduated 2019) A Case Study in Industrial Consolidation: The Irish Credit Union Sector (Co Supervised)
  6. Dr. Qiao (Olivia) Peng (graduated 2021) US Credit Union Mergers: Causes and Consequences (Co Supervised)

Current PhD Supervisions

  1. Fei Li Sustainable Investing, Report and Gender Diversity (fully-funded by QBS scholarship) (Principal Supervisor)
  2. Abhishek Pramnanick AI and the future of financial regulation (fully-funded by QBS scholarship) (Principal Supervisor)
  3. Dongwei (Jeffrey) Li The Economics of AI patents and productivity in finance (fully-funded by DofE scholarship) (Principal Supervisor)
  4. Yuqi Ding The Economics of Generative AI in Finance (fully-funded by QBS scholarship) (Principal Supervisor)
  5. Yongsheng Dai “Market Manipulation and Financial Anomaly Detection” (fully-funded by PWC scholarship) (Co Supervisor)
  6. Brandon Cochrane “Economic Cost of Cultural Displays in Northern Ireland” (fully-funded by DofE CAST scholarship) (Co Supervisor)

Visiting PhD Supervision

  1. Weilong Liu 2022 (From Lingnan University College of Yat-sen University (SYSU) in Guangzhou, China ) “Market Manipulation and AI Anomaly Detection”
  2. James Hannon 2023 (From UCD) “Leveraging Computer Vision to under and enhance Insurance Pricing”
  3. Birem Abderraouf 2025 (From UPEC Paris) “Generative AI in Capital Markets”

Conference presentations

  • Invited Talk, Rethinking Research Impact: Combining Effect Sizes and Economic Significance in Finance,Royal Statistics Society Annual Conference, Brighton UK, Sep 2024
  • Keynote Speaker, Estimating Systemic Risk, Irish Finance Association, Maynooth University, Ireland, April 2023
  • Invited Talk, Teaching data science in the age of FinTech, Royal Statistics Society Annual Conference, Aberdeen UK, Sep 2022
  • Invited Talk, Carbon pricing and machine learning, Multidisciplinary Workshop on Fintech, Islamic Finance and Sustainability (online), Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar, Nov 2022
  • Invited Speaker, Understanding fintech and financial stability, International Workshop on Financial System Architecture and Stability, Bayes Business School, London, Sept 2018
  • Invited Speaker, Systemic Risk and Basel Compliance, British Accounting and Finance Association Annual Conference, London, April 2018
  • Invited Speaker, Differential regulation of Irish credit unions: Does one size fit all?, 2nd Conference on Contemporary Issues in Banking, Centre for Responsible Banking and Finance, St Andrews, Dec 2017
  • Invited Speaker, Business model diversity, efficiency and productivity of cooperatives, European workshop in efficiency and productivity analysis, Aalto University, Finland, Jun 2017
  • Invited Panelist, Statistical inference and credibility in finance, Emerging Scholars in Banking and Finance, Bayes Business School, London, Dec 2016
  • Invited Speaker, Capital regulation compliance and the performance of European banks, International Workshop on Financial System Architecture and Stability, HEC Montreal, Aug 2016
  • Participant, Bloomberg Annual Educational Symposium, Bloomberg London HQ, Sep 2015
Table 2: Research Grant Income
Research Grant Income
Source Role Start End People Title Full Economic Costs (ÂŁ) Type
(UKFin+/ESPRC) PI 2024 2025 Jesus Del Rincon Martinez Abhishek Pramanick Darren Burrows (CEO of Funds Axis) Leveraging AI to understand and improve regulatory compliance in the Investment Management Industry ÂŁ100,000 Research
DofE CAST Award NI Co-I 2023 NA Declan French Exploring the Welfare Cost of Cultural Displays in Northern Ireland using multimodal Generative AI ÂŁ70,000 Research
Innovate UK PI 2022 2023 Lisa Sheenan Byron Graham E.S.G fair value analytics platform: using state-of-the-art financial data science and business analytics to design a fair-value ESG prediction engine ÂŁ173,000 Research
Innovate UK PI 2021 2023 Fearghal, Kearney Regulatory technology and portfolio analytics using state-of-the-art econometrics and financial machine learning ÂŁ173,000 Research
Innovate UK PI 2018 2021 Byron, Graham Designing and deploying a retail analytics platform using advanced analytics and machine learning ÂŁ165,000 Research
DofE CAST Award NI Co-I 2021 NA Donal McKillop PhD investigation into how AI innovation affect a highly valued financial service provision experience ÂŁ70,000 Research
Phoenix Natural Gas Ltd PI 2014 2015 Alan Hanna Fotis Papilias Forecasting daily demand for natural gas in Northern Ireland ÂŁ15,000 Consulting
DofE Co-I 2016 2018 Donal McKillop Declan French Landscape review of Northern Ireland Credit Unions ÂŁ32,000 Consulting
InvestNI Co-I 2018 NA Byron Graham Review of state-of-the-art machine learning in the context of retail analytics and monitoring ÂŁ5,000 Consulting
InvestNI Co-I 2019 2019 Byron Graham Review of AI and web analytics for price comparision ÂŁ5,000 Consulting
InvestNI Co-I 2021 2021 Fearghal Kearney Review of Value at Risk analytics at the intersection of econometrics and machine learning ÂŁ5,000 Consulting
QBS CEBR PI 2016 2019 Institute of Directors Estimation the costs and benefits of to corporation tax policy change in Northern Ireland ÂŁ3,500 Research

Citizenship

Academic Service

  • Co-director, Finance and AI Research lab, Queen’s University Belfast, 2022–2024.
  • Lead Developer, Queen’s Business School Remote Analytics Lab Platform (Q-RaP), 2021–2024.
  • QUB Academic Lead, Steering group for Northern Ireland global centre in secure connected intelligence for regulatory technology in finance, 2022–2024.
  • Programme Director, MSc Quantitative Finance, Queen’s University Belfast, 2018–2022.
  • Programme Director, MSc Computational Finance & Trading, Queen’s University Belfast, 2014–2018.
  • Co-Founder, Queen’s Student Managed Fund, 2012–2024.
  • Organiser of Symposium on AI and the Future of Financial Regulation, Queen’s University Belfast, November 2023
  • Organiser of Symposium on Safety and Assurance in Finance. Queen’s Business School, November 2024
  • Chair, Panel debate on “Digital Regulation: Shaping digital markets and safeguarding consumer rights in Northern Ireland”, Northern Ireland Competition Forum, May 2024

Professional Accreditations

Awards and Recognition

Professional Experience

Professional Experience
Period Position Institution
**2024 - Present** Professor of Finance and FinTech Ulster University Business School
**2024 - Present** Director, Centre for Financial and Regulatory Technology Ulster University Business School
**2020 - 2024** Senior Lecturer in Finance, Technology and Data Science Queen's Management School
**2010 - 2020** Lecturer Department of Finance, Queen's Management School
**2009 - 2009** Teaching Fellow Business School, Ulster University
**2005 - 2005** Teaching Fellow and Quantitative Researcher Department of Finance, RMIT University Melbourne
**1998 - 2004** Currency Trader and Liquidity Manager Janus Henderson Investors, London
**1995 - 1998** Financial Adviser City Financial Partners, London

Skills and Expertise