Hello!


I am Tren Ma, an Assistant Professor of Finance at the University of Nottingham. My research lies in financial economics, with particular interests in:

  • financial econometrics
  • machine learning in finance
  • empirical asset pricing
  • international finance
  • mutual fund and hedge fund

I hold degrees in Mathematics (Bachelor, Master) from Hanoi National University of Education, and in Economics (MRes, PhD) from the University of Glasgow. During my doctoral studies, I was also a visiting scholar at Washington University in St. Louis.


Contact details:

  • Office: C40, South Building, Jubilee Campus, Wollaton Rd, Lenton, Nottingham, NG8 1BB
  • Email: Please click here
  • Official Webpage: NUBS

Employment


Assistant Professor of Finance, the University of Nottingham, 2023 - Present

Lecturer in Mathematics, Thang Long University (Hanoi, Vietnam), 2011 - 2017


Research


Publication

Mutual Funds’ Conditional Performance Free of Data Snooping Bias SSRN JFQA

Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, May 2025, Vol. 60(3), pp. 1373–1400.

(with Po-Hsuan Hsu, Ioannis Kyriakou, Georgios Sermpinis)

Working papers

Multivariate Functional False Discovery Rate Control in Large-Scale Multiple Testing SSRN

(with Ilias Filippou, Po-Hsuan Hsu, Georgios Sermpinis, Mark P. Taylor)

Assessing Hedge Fund Performance with Information-based Tests SSRN

(with Po-Hsuan Hsu, Ioannis Psaradellis, Georgios Sermpinis)

Data Breaches, ChatGPT and Firm Value SSRN

(with Fearghal Kearney, Hadi Movaghari, Georgios Sermpinis)

Selected work in progress

Chartists against the Machine: FX Technical Trading via Machine Learning

(with Ilias Filippou, Mark P. Taylor, and Guofu Zhou)

Technical Analysis versus Economic Fundamentals in Currency Markets: A Machine-Learning Analysis

(with Ilias Filippou, Mark P. Taylor)


Teaching


University of Nottingham

Current year

  • Data Analytics and Machine Learning for Finance (MSc in Financial Technology)
  • Financial Markets and Investment (BSc in Finance, Accounting and Management)

Previous years

  • Topics in Advanced Econometrics II (PhD in Finance)
  • Quantitative Support (Mathematics sessions, MSc in Finance and Investment)
  • Financial Markets and Investment (BSc in Finance, Accounting and Management)

University of Glasgow (Graduate Teaching Assistant)

  • Mathematical Methods (MRes in Economics)

  • Advances of Machine Learning in Finance (MSc in Fintech)

  • Portfolio Analysis and Investment (MSc)

  • Econometrics Method for Accounting and Finance (Honour)

  • Financial Derivatives (Honour)

  • Introductory Statistics for Economics (Undergraduate)

Thang Long University (Lecturer)

  • Econometrics (Fourth year)

  • Statistical Methods for Economics and Social Sciences (Third year)

  • Mathematical Methods for Economics (Second year)

  • Logic and Mathematical Reasoning (First year)


Conferences


2022: American Finance Association Annual Meeting (AFA, Poster Session); China International Conference in Finance (CICF); Financial Management Association Annual Meeting (FMA); Paris Financial Management Conference

2023: World Finance Banking Symposiumc

2024: INQUIRE Conference (UK); European Financial Management Association Annual Meetingc; Spanish Finance Association Conferencec

2025: Vietnam Economist Annual Meeting (scheduled), Australasian Finance and Banking Conference (accepted); Finance and Business Analytics Conference; IFABS 2025 Oxford Conference

c Presented by co-authors


Others


Grants:

  • MRes + PhD Studentship in Economics (5-year fully funded program: full tuition and living stipend), University of Glasgow, 2017–2022
  • Visiting Research Stipend, Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis, 2022

Award: Adam Smith Scholar Award for Excellence, University of Glasgow, 2019

Computer skils: R, Python, Julia, SQL, Latex

Languages: Tay Language (Mother tongue), Vietnamese, English