We warmly invite alumni of the MSc and BSc programmes in Econometrics and Operations Research back to VU Amsterdam for an evening of keynote talks, an interactive quiz and networking drinks.
Join us for this opportunity to connect with former classmates and professors, meet industry peers, and reconnect with the Extrie board. MSc Programme Director Hande Karabiyik will give you a warm welcome and MSc Programme Coordinator Bernd Heidergott will moderate the evening.
Keynote 'The future of our field: promises and pitfalls of the AI-augmented econometrician'
Drawing on his experience as Head of Global Clients Scenarios & Asset Valuation at Ortec Finance, alumnus Patrick Tuijp will take us through the promises and pitfalls of AI in our field. Including:
- Effective prompting. Are you prompting your way through emails, or even orchestrating complex, multi-agent workflows? Either way it's an art to do it efficiently and effectively, while avoiding hallucinations and AI slop.
- Keeping agents in check. Anthropic (Mythos), Replit and OpenAI agents went rogue to achieve their goals, so how can we make sure AI doesn't go against our governance and morals?
- Where will these techniques go? Which avenues look most promising for general use, statistics, and optimization? Which knowledge and skills do we need as econometricians to make the most of it?
Keynote by a professor from the programmes
We also look forward to featuring a keynote from a familiar face within our faculty, connecting foundations you built as students with the questions our field is grappling with today. More details will follow soon.
Econometrics quiz with Extrie board member Pieter Maarse
Let's see how much VU actually stuck! Pieter Maarse will put your econometrics knowledge to the test with an interactive quiz.
Networking drinks
We'll close the evening with a highlight: drinks with old classmates, possible new industry contacts, and faculty. This will be a moment to catch up properly and pick up conversations that may have been on pause since graduation. We are excited to reconnect and hear where your careers have taken you so far! A light meal will be served with the drinks.
For this event, we kindly request a participation fee of €19.50.