I've just completed my exams on the MSc Finance at Birkbeck, and I'm hunting for a suitable topic for my dissertation. My first-cut choice was to look at Fourier Transform pricing of spark-spread options and their calibration, but this is well covered in the literature (IMO), and I can't see what extra I could add (although it should be remembered that this is a taught MSc dissertation, and does not require the same degree of originality as a research MSc or PhD). I would like to stay in the area of commodities, but would prefer something a bit more general Finance, rather than a pure quant. topic. Can anyone suggest some open problems that would be suitable for investigation at this level? Ideally I would like to mix in some econometrics too.CheersB

I am not a commodities person, but it seems to me an interestingtopic is what I would call the 'anti-leverage effect' -- volatility and pricegoing up together. Is there any theory of it? If so, which commodities would bepredicted to have this? Is it stable? I suspect there are many open questions and lotsof opportunities for econometrics.regards,

I'm currently looking on Fuzzy Methods and Fuzzy Networks applications in finance. Seems to be an interesting topic to base some research on. As far as I know A. Nedosekin (Siemens Business Services, Russia) is one of the few publishing a lot in this area. Maybe this will generate some ideas for you dissertation.I guess that on of the first was Ypke Hiemstra who published a paper "A Sock Market Forecasting Support System Based on Fuzzy Logic" 1994, but a lot has been done since then. The paper can be obtained from IEEE library and gives more or less general idea of the topic. Certainly works of L. Zadeh will give good insight. ;-)regards

Hi there,I am interested in MSc Financial Engineering at Birkbeck, do you think it is too late to apply for entrance in 2006?Thanks in advance.

What are the deadlines (on their website) ?

There is no deadline on the website.I wonder if it is quite competitive, and hard to get an offer?

Do you think I need to contact Prof. R. Brummelhuis directly?

Why don't you just contact the school administrator for the Fin. Eng. programme. I don't think you're too late, but you're pushing it.

Hi Bill, I'm currently studying MSc Finance at Birkbeck and I'm looking for a dissertation topic so I searched and you post was the first that came up! How did you find the course? Where are you working now? How did you manage to pass the econometrics exam? ¦; ¬ )

I have some interesting dissertation topics that would help my research team if any MSc students are interested please PM me.