A random talk down Quant Street, Ep. 11/11 – How important is the human factor in quant?

Exciting AI developments and technological innovation meet macroeconomic and geopolitical headwinds. Global economic growth will keep momentum, but it may be somewhat subdued in the next five years. Tune in to hear strategist Peter van der Welle and co-head of Investment Solutions, Colin Graham discuss the prospects for various asset classes and dig deeper into the findings of Robeco’s 5-year investment outlook.

Growth stocks have outpaced value stocks over the past decade, with growth’s lead particularly clear in the US market. That’s the high-level perspective – which suggests that value investors have been left out in the cold in recent years. But have they. really? Chris Hart, portfolio manager at Boston Partners, discusses what it takes to invest successfully in a world of hype, hyperbole, and very limited forward visibility.

What's next for AI in investing? In the final part of our AI summer course, we join our experts and look beyond the horizon. Discover how AI developments may redefine investment roles, strategy development, and asset classes, preparing investors and the industry for a future driven by innovation and technological evolution.

Who’s riding the AI wave? Which innovations are shaping investing today and tomorrow? Explore the dynamic AI trends shaping investing from 2023 through 2027 in the second podcast episode of our AI summer course, and how Robeco’s Dynamic Theme Machine ETF and incubator strategies use cutting-edge AI tools to identify emerging themes, optimize timing, and capture real-world opportunities. 

In the first podcast of our AI summer course, we trace AI’s journey from academic experiments to becoming a core driver of alpha in Robeco’s flagship quant strategies. This episode highlights key breakthroughs, innovative use cases, and how AI is reshaping investment decision-making in practical and powerful ways today

With so much reliance on technology in quant investing, what role do humans play in the process? In the eleventh and final episode of our series on quant investing, Harald Lohre discusses the human side of quant. Why, for example, is creativity important in such a data-driven and systematic field? What makes for good quant researchers at Robeco? Are they in fact all geniuses?

Disruption has been the trend of 2025. Upheaval is everywhere, from geopolitics and trade, to the fields of technology, payments, ways of working and more. Does a thematic approach help equity investors to cut through all the noise, or could it be that investment themes or trends are also being disrupted?

What kind of performance can investors expect from Active Quant? In this episode we look at what contributes to the stability of Active Quant, what makes it flexible, and what we really mean when we say ‘systematic alpha capture’.

How much risk are you comfortable with – and how should that affect your investment choices? In the ninth episode of this new series on quant investing, Jeroen Hagens unpacks how different levels of risk appetite influence the use of active quant strategies.

The high-yield bond market has rebounded from April’s tariff-driven sell-off, with US spreads having tightened and European yields holding steady. But investors are being kept on their toes: US policy risks continue to fuel volatility, while divergent dynamics are at play across regions-as-well-as-sectors. Sander Bus and Christiaan Lever discuss the present market environment and the key question: will their quality bias pay off?