The announcement that Stellenbosch University (SU) will host the 14th World Congress of the Bachelier Finance Society (BFS) in 2028 – the first time the prestigious event will be held on the African continent – marks a career milestone for Prof Mesias Alfeus.

Currently attending the 13th World Congress at the University of Bologna in Italy, Alfeus was present when it was announced that SU had won the bid to host the next congress.

The BFS World Congress is one of the leading international gatherings in quantitative finance, bringing together researchers and practitioners working in financial mathematics, stochastic modelling, derivatives pricing and financial risk management.

Already widely recognised in his field and NRF-rated, the associate professor in SU’s Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science had set his sights on bringing the congress to Stellenbosch. “For me personally, leading the successful bid is one of the proudest moments of my academic career. It is an opportunity to help bring global attention to SU and to the growing strength of quantitative finance research in Africa.”

The mathematician who discovered a love for numbers while playing a traditional game involving mathematical thinking in Okadila village, Namibia, will be the lead local organiser for the 2028 congress. 

He says the successful bid was made possible through the support of SU, the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, the National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences (NITheCS) through its Quantitative Finance Research Programme, and a local organising committee comprising colleagues from SU, the University of Cape Town, North-West University and the University of Johannesburg.

The 2028 congress is expected to bring approximately 350–500 international delegates to Stellenbosch over five days. 

“Hosting the 2028 Bachelier Finance Society World Congress is an important achievement SU and for Africa,” concludes Alfeus. “As it will be the first time this major international conference in quantitative finance and financial mathematics is held in Africa, it will give African researchers and students a rare opportunity to meet and learn from leading scholars in the field.”