Achievements

A team of students from Duy Tan University (DTU) and the Foreign Trade University won first prize at the 2026 Econometrics & Applications Olympiad with a project on AI-powered risk management.

The 11th nationwide round of the Student Scientific Olympiad in Econometrics & Applications was held on June 14, 2026, at the Academy of Finance in Hanoi. It attracted more than 422 research projects from over thirty universities and academies in Vietnam and Singapore. From hundreds of submissions in multiple disciplines, the jury selected the eleven most outstanding projects for the final round.

The first-prize winning research team consists of Nguyen Van Thang, a third-year DTU student of Data Science; Phan Vu Minh Tue, a first-year student in Computer Science in DTU’s Troy program; and Le Thi Quynh Anh, a third-year student in International Economics at the Foreign Trade University.

The students from DTU and the Foreign Trade University who received first prize. Photo: DTU

The project was supervised by Assoc. Prof. Dr Nguyen Gia Nhu, Vice Provost of DTU and Provost of the School of Computer Science and AI (SCA), together with MSc Nguyen Nhu Hien Hoa, a lecturer at the DTU International School.

The project bears the title “RCCR++: A Regime-Conditioned Conformal Risk Framework for Tail Risk Management in Emerging Stock Markets”.

It addresses a pressing challenge in modern finance: how to accurately predict and effectively manage extreme financial risks across multiple markets, and particularly in emerging markets like Vietnam.

The students presenting their research at the 2026 Econometrics & Applications Olympiad. Photo: DTU

About the development of the model, Phan Vu Minh Tue explains that, instead of relying on traditional risk assessment models that assume relatively stable market conditions, the team developed RCCR++, which integrates several layers of modern models, such as GARCH, EVT, HMM, and conformal calibration.

According to Tue, this approach enables identification of market regimes, assessment of risk levels, and “establishment of warning thresholds tailored to different market conditions”, thereby improving risk management efficiency in emerging markets.

Le Thi Quynh Anh notes that the project’s innovation lies in how it combines multiple models into a flexible risk-management framework capable of adapting to strong market fluctuations and unexpected shocks that are common in emerging markets, rather than developing a single standalone model.

“One of our greatest challenges was working with financial market data with many complex fluctuations while ensuring that the model not only performs well on training data but also that it can make effective predictions in practice,” she says.

To test and refine the model, they drew upon knowledge in econometrics, quantitative finance, statistics, data science, programming, and artificial intelligence. In addition to the students’ efforts, the guidance of the advising lecturers and DTU’s research environment played an important role in the successful completion of the project.

Nguyen Van Thang explains that Assoc. Prof. Dr Nguyen Gia Nhu provided guidance and research inspiration throughout the project.

“He always emphasizes that a high-quality research project requires not only a strong model, but also rigorous logic, reliable data, and convincing explanation,” he adds.

Assoc. Prof. Dr Nguyen Gia Nhu (third from left) and other lecturers with the first-prize winning team. Photo: DTU

According to a representative of DTU, winning first prize at the 2026 Econometrics & Applications Olympiad demonstrates the research capacity of students at the university while reaffirming its strengths in education driven by innovation and scientific research. The achievement will also inspire DTU students to continue pursuing their research passions and to develop practical solutions.

The Econometrics & Applications Olympiad is jointly organized by the Central Committee of the Vietnam National Union of Students, the Academy of Finance, and the Institute of Mathematics. Over its eleven editions, the competition has become a prestigious academic contest for students in econometrics, data science, artificial intelligence, and modern quantitative research methods.

(Nedia Center)