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Boulis Ibrahim

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Boulis Ibrahim, PhD, MSc, BSc, SFHEA

Doctor, Associate Professor

 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0181-0155

  • Riccarton

    EH14 4AS Edinburgh

    United Kingdom

Accepting PhD Students

PhD projects

Finance Microstructure; Climate Resilience;

1997 …2025

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Research interests

I have varied interdisciplinary research interests at the intersection between finance, FinTech, economics, mathematics, accounting and psychology. In particular, I am fascinated by how financial markets work and trading participants act at ultra-high frequencies. My research has been in Portfolio theory; Asset pricing theory; Asset-liability modelling; Microstructure of financial markets; Liquidity and co-liquidity; Market integration; Information transfer; Return predictability; Trading strategies; Carbon emission trading; Climate risk and resilience; FinTech applications; Capital structure; Trade credit; Financial conservatism; Duration modelling; Volatility modelling; Time series econometric analysis; and Machine Learning applications.

Biography

Boulis is an experienced finance researcher and educator. He joined Heriot Watt's Accountancy and Finance Department as an Assistant Professor in 1996, and teaches doctoral, postgraduate, and undergraduate courses. He has a BSc. in Actuarial Science from The London School of Economics and Political Schience, an MSc in Finance and a Ph.D. in Accounting and Finance from the University of Strathclyde and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). He was a member of the Energy Theme Committee that shaped Heriot Watt University's future plans in Energy and is currently a member of the Centre for Financing a Sustainable Future at Heriot Watt. He held various administrative positions including directorships of degree programmes, mentorship of junior staff, and headship of the Finance Subject Area Group (2017-19) and currently is the Finance Accreditation Officer. Boulis publishes in internationally-renowned journals including the Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of International Money and Finance, and the Journal of Financial Markets; is a reviewer of several (12) finance journals and grant-awarding agencies (British Academy and Govenment of Poland); and has secured grant awards from The Energy Technology Partnership, The British Academy, The Datalab, and industry partners for projects in carbon and energy price forecasting, hybrid Machine Learning applications in portfolio management, and high performance computing applications in FinTech. Boulis has first-supervised 8 and second-supervised 3 PhD and 1 DBA students to successful completion, and currently supervises three doctoral students in Resilient Investments, Housing Market Regulatory Spillovers, and Commodity Trading.

Research Grants and Projects

 

 1. Climate Transition Risk and the Emerging 'Brown Discount' in Sottish Housing: Pricing, Behaviour, and Financial Stability

Award£5000
StatusLive
Funding BodyHeriot Watt - CFSF (Centre)
Applicants (PI/CoPI)PI
Start Date15/April/2026
End Date15/Aug/2026

 

2. Data-driven Carbon and Energy Price Forecasting

Award£20,000
StatusComplete
Funding bodyThe Datalab

Applicants (PI/Co-PI)

PI
Start date11 July 2023
End date15 Dec 2023

 

3. High-performance Machine Learning for FinTech

Award£82,526
StatusLive
Funding body123 Invest GmBH (industry SME)
Applicants (PI/Co-PI)Co-PI
Start date2 Aug 2023
End date31 Mar 2029 

 

4. Automated Hybrid Machine Learning Module for Investment Strategy Development

Award£9,921.6
StatusLive (Final report - 28 Feb 2025)
Funding bodyThe British Academy
Applicants (PI/Co-PI)PI
Start date1 May 2023
End date31 Oct 2024

 

5. Carbon Factor Pricing

Award£19,255
StatusComplete
Funding bodyEnergy Technology Partnership (ETP)
Applicants (PI/Co-P)PI
Start date27 July 2017
End date31 Oct 2017

 

Key Research Words/Phrases

Key words: Microstructure; Crowdedness; Flash crashes; Extreme events; Ultra-high-frequency trading; Algorithmic trading; Order submission; Trading mechanisms; FinTech; Climate risk; Carbon price; Dynamic pricing; Survival analysis; Mark point processes.

 

Methodologies: Dynamic asset pricing models; Microstructure pricing and trading models; Asset-liability models; Volatility modelling; Survival analysis; Duration modelling; Time series and panel-data (spatial) econometrics; Hybrid machine learning; Fuzzy systems. 

Roles & Responsibilities

Boulis Ibrahim is an Associate Professor of Finance at Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University, where he has been a member of the academic staff since 1996. His role encompasses research, teaching, academic leadership, doctoral supervision, and professional service.

His teaching responsibilities span undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programmes in finance and related disciplines, including corporate finance, financial markets, risk management, derivatives, international finance, petroleum economics, and finance theory. Currently, he is responsible for global delivery and assessment of two undergraduate courses: Financial Derivatives and Risk Management and Derivatives Applications; one postgraduate course in Derivatives at Heriot Watt and part of a postgraduate course at the Scottish Graduate Programme in Economics (SGPE) at Edinburgh University. He contributes to curriculum development, Business School accreditation efforts, programme design, module leadership, and the continuous enhancement of the student learning experience. 

As a researcher, Boulis investigates issues at the intersection of finance, economics, mathematics, accounting, psychology, and FinTech. His research focuses on financial market microstructure, asset pricing, portfolio theory, market integration, liquidity, information transmission, trading strategies, carbon markets, climate risk and resilience, financial econometrics, machine learning applications, and sustainable finance. He has published extensively in leading international finance journals and has secured research funding from academic, industrial, and governmental partners.

He supervises PhD students and mentors early-career researchers in areas including market microstructure, sustainable finance, climate resilience, capital structure, econometrics, and quantitative finance. He is actively engaged in interdisciplinary research collaborations and is currently associated with initiatives supporting sustainable finance and energy transition research. 

Boulis also undertakes a range of academic leadership and professional service responsibilities. He has held several administrative and strategic roles, including Head of the Finance Subject Area, Programme Director, Global Alignment Officer, and currently is the Finance Accreditation Officer. He contributes to university governance, quality assurance, accreditation activities, academic mentoring, and research strategy development. He serves as a reviewer for leading international journals and research funding bodies, supporting excellence in finance scholarship worldwide.

Keywords

  • HG Finance
  • Financial Markets; Derivative Markets;
  • Microstructure; Econometrics
  • Climate Change
  • transition economies
  • Corporate Finance
  • Machine Learning

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  1. SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy
    SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy
  2. SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth
    SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
  3. SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
    SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
  4. SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production
    SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production

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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

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View all 31 research outputs
  • 15 Supervision
  • 10 Publication peer-review
  • 2 Editorial activity
View all 27 activities