About

Harjoat Bhamra is Professor of Finance at Imperial College Business School, a CEPR Research Fellow, and a Fellow of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR). His research spans asset pricing theory, credit risk, monetary policy, household finance, and macro-finance, with publications in the Review of Financial Studies, American Economic Review, Journal of Economic Theory, and the Journal of Monetary Economics. He received his PhD in Finance from London Business School in 2003. Before LBS he read Mathematics at St. John’s College, Cambridge, including Part III of the Mathematical Tripos, and spent 1996–97 as an interest-rate derivatives trader at First National Bank of Chicago in London prior to entering academia.

Education

  • PhD, Finance — London Business School, University of London, England (1998-2003). Thesis: General Equilibrium Asset Pricing in Incomplete Markets; advisor Raman Uppal
  • MMath (Part III, Mathematical Tripos), Mathematics — St. John’s College, University of Cambridge, England (1997-1998)
  • MA, Mathematics — St. John’s College, University of Cambridge, England (1992-1996)
  • Heidelberg Exchange Scholar, Mathematics and Theoretical Physics — University of Heidelberg, Germany (1994-1995)

Academic Positions

  • 2024–present — Professor (with tenure), Imperial College Business School, London, UK
  • 2011–2024 — Associate Professor (with tenure), Imperial College Business School, London, UK
  • 2011–2014 — Associate Professor (with tenure), Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
  • 2003–2011 — Assistant Professor, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Industry Experience

  • 1996–1997 — Assistant Structured Products Trader (Interest Rate Derivatives), First National Bank of Chicago, London, UK Responsible for pricing exotic swaps (ratchets, quantos), producing daily risk reports and risk-managing a portfolio of structured products.

Research Visits

  • 2025-09 — Visitor, BI Norwegian Business School, Oslo
  • 2025-07 — Visitor, CUHK Business School, Hong Kong
  • 2018 — Associate, Centre for Macroeconomics, London School of Economics and Political Science, London
  • 2018 — Senior Visitor, Goethe University, Frankfurt
  • 2015 — Senior Visitor, Goethe University, Frankfurt
  • 2012 — Summer Visitor, Swiss Finance Institute at EPFL, Lausanne

Grants & Fellowships

  • 2020–present — Fellow, National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)
  • 2020–2021 — UKRI Research Grant — COVID-19 Industry Level Origins of Fluctuations in Growth Rates and Economic Welfare · Principal Investigator · £195,508

Service

Editorial

  • 2013–2024 — Associate Editor, Management Science

Program Committees & Reviewing

  • Adam Smith Asset Pricing — Program Committee Member — 2018–present
  • Western Finance Association (WFA) — Program Committee — Recurring 2007–present
  • Northern Finance Association (NFA) — Program Committee — Recurring 2006–present
  • European Finance Association (EFA) — Reviewer — Recurring
  • SFS Cavalcade — Reviewer — Recurring

Peer Review Panels

  • 2022 — ESRC Peer Review Panel — Large Grants in the Social Sciences

Keynote Speeches

  • 2022-03-18 — Financial Markets and Government Economic Policy — 8th Global Conference on Business Management and Social Sciences
  • 2022-03-04 — Households: Beliefs, Portfolios and Asset Prices — ECONCLAVE
  • 2020-06-23 — Financial Markets and Government Economic Policy — BEF Forum

PhD Students

Current Advisees

  • Artur Anschukov (Imperial College Business School, Finance, since 2018) — Main Advisor. Coauthor on Leverage Dynamics and Learning About Economic Crises.
  • Nicola Ceneda (Imperial College Business School, Finance, since 2021) — Main Advisor
  • Omar Idrissi (Imperial College Business School, Finance, since 2023) — Main Advisor

Past Advisees

  • Daren Wei (Imperial College Business School, Finance, 2017) — Main Advisor. Now: Barclays Global Investors (offered Assistant Professorship at Tsinghua University)
  • Edward Golosov (Imperial College Business School, Finance, 2017) — Main Advisor. Now: Running own business
  • Lei Ding (Imperial College Business School, Finance, 2014) — Main Advisor
  • Can Gao (Imperial College Business School, Finance, 2015-2020) — Initial Advisor. Now: Assistant Professor, University of St. Gallen (formerly SAFE, Frankfurt)

Notable Committee Roles

  • Lars Kuehn (University of British Columbia, Finance, 2008) — Committee Member. Now: Professor, Carnegie Mellon University
  • Paul Whelan (Imperial College Business School, Finance, 2014) — Committee Member & Internal Examiner. Now: Associate Professor, Copenhagen Business School

Contact

  • Email: h.bhamra@imperial.ac.uk
  • Phone: +44 (0)20 7594 9077
  • Office: 53 Prince’s Gate, Business School Building, Office 4.03
  • Address:
Imperial College Business School
South Kensington Campus
London SW7 2AZ
United Kingdom