Robert George Woolfson

Robert Woolfson and his late father David Lawrence Woolfson in 2018.

Robert George Woolfson (b December 1977, Manchester) is a Manchester born Zionist who became a settler colonist in around 2006 and now lives in 'Tel Aviv'.

Zionist radicalisation

Robert was radicalised at school and in Zionist youth groups to which he was sent by his parents.

Education

• 1983-1990 (roughly) - Robert attended the Zionist North Cheshire Jewish Primary School in Stockport which is run under the auspices of United Synagogue and claims it is 'unashamedly Zionistic in our outlook.'
• 1990-1996 - He then went to Manchester Grammar School where the Jewish Activities in Mainstream Schools run by the UJIA has been active.

Educated in the UK up to PhD in Computer Science and finance, focusing on using AI/Machine learning methods to predict stockmarkets and building a framework for testing those models.

• 1998-2001 - The University of Manchester BSc, Computer Science 1998 - 2001 Grade: 2:1 Activities and societies: Cooked over 1000 Shabbat meals in 3 years as a student, every weekend we entertained our friends for a traditional Friday night dinner or Shabbat lunch, usually with 10 - 15 guests for each meal. General CS degree, with a bit more of a focus on AI.
• 2001-2006 - The University of Manchester PhD, Computer Science and Finance 2001 - 2006. Activities and societies: Worked as a mentor for new PhDs joining the program which I headed up towards the end of my degree; worked for widening participation, a program designed to encourage disadvantaged high school students to continue to higher education; Worked as a teaching assistant, taught classes on hardware and logic design, AI theory, and AI programming. Designed marking schemes for logic design and AI programming; Free time spent rock climbing and cooking.
  • Title: Using AI as a stockmarket prediction mechanism. Built a framework to optimize a variety of methods to predict stockmarket data. Regression to predict price data. Neural networks to predict price and volatility data. Genetic algorithms to optimize technical trading strategies. Bootstrapping to create randomized datasets with similar behaviour to that of the real stockmarket data.

Robert Woolfson on his Bnei Akiva UK radicalisation trip to occupied Palestine in 1994 when he was about 17.

Zionist youth groups

Robert was a member of Bnei Akiva UK a Zionist youth group which he attended in the 1990s including going on weekends away in Holland (in 1992), the UK (1993) and also on 'Israel trip' in 1994.

Becoming a settler colonist

Robert appears to have become a settler colonist in occupied Palestine before he finished his PhD working from February 2006 at Galilee Statistical Investments Ltd a hedge fund start up created on 8 January 2006. based in Zikhron Ya'akov some 30 miles south of Haifa. In February 2006 he would have been 28 years old and would thus have been past the age for mandatory conscription into the occupation forces: 'If someone arrives in Israel at 28 years old or more, they generally do not have to serve. This is known as the cutoff for army service.'

• Director of Research and Development Galilee Statistical Investments Feb 2006 - Nov 2006. Small start up Hedge Fund. 3 partners, 1 additional employee. We created models and strategies to predict stockmarket movements. First month of trading was June 2006 we were up 3.1% in a month where the market was down. We created automated trading systems that were statistically and robustly tested against historical data in a way that showed a high probability of success in the future. My role in the company was to create and test the models.

Career

Robert gives the following account on his LinkedIn page:

Currently working as Head of Data @ Deviant Art at Wix.com, building a strong team, and increasing the data driven approach taken at the company. Previously Team Leader of Data Science at Wix.com, having worked as CTO of small algorithmic trading company, and programmer for banking software. Main skills SQL, Financial Modelling, Data Analytics and visualization, Team management. some Python

Previously worked with Java, Perl, pig, R. Experience with Linux and shell scripting as well as messaging middleware. Spare time is taken up with peer to peer support for people with Diabetes, and cycling (endurance and shorter races)

Family

Parents: David Lawrence Woolfson (born on December 10 1951, in Edmonton, London, England, UK. - May 1987, at age 35 in Harrow, London, England, UK.) m. Irene Helen Woolfson (nee Naftalin b 1948 in Hillhead.) in Glasgow in 1975. They later divorced.

Robert's mother Irene Naftalin is a full time Zionist activist having worked for StandWithUs UK for more than a decade.

Affiliations

• Bnei Akiva UK

See also

• Woolfson family | Naftalin family