Associate Professor Wai-Man Liu
Recipient, Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence
College of Business and Economics
Synopsis
Dr. Wai-Man (Raymond) Liu is an Associate Professor in Finance at the ANU College of Business and Economics with over 25 years’ experience in market microstructure research and education. He established the first market microstructure course in Australia at Monash University in 2000, introducing real-time trading simulations to immerse students in market dynamics.
At ANU, Dr. Liu redeveloped Trading & Markets (FINM8017/4017) into a rigorous postgraduate and honours elective that integrates experiential, research-led, and student-centred learning. The course examines market structure, trading processes, price behaviour, and exchange policy. A real time trading simulator co-developed with colleagues enables students to experience price discovery, liquidity, and trading strategies first-hand. The course adopts a flipped learning model, allowing students to prepare independently and using face-to-face sessions to consolidate knowledge, analyse trades, and strengthen oral communication.
A key innovation is the replacement of written exams with oral assessments. Underutilised in finance education, oral assessment is a preferred and more dynamic approach to evaluating problem-solving, critical thinking, and mastery of concepts. Its interactive nature allows flexible questioning, giving all students equitable opportunities to demonstrate their understanding. Oral assessment also enhances employability and addresses concerns about plagiarism and AI-assisted writing. Students further consolidate learning through trading reports, which require critical analysis of their own trades and strategies using empirical data.
Dr. Liu’s holistic, multimodal teaching philosophy fosters motivation, equity, and independence. His innovations have transformed finance teaching at ANU, strengthening student outcomes, shaping colleagues’ practice, and setting new benchmarks for excellence in the discipline.
(Photo by Tangyao Zhang)