Virtual Summit Snapshot – Week Four

In the final week we awarded the Young Actuaries’ Public Policy Essay Competition winner and the 2021 Melville Actuaries Summit Prize.

Summit snapshot:

• >80 hours of actuarial content
• >680 attendees from 16 countries
• 189 Presenters and 69 Chairs from >10 countries

Session highlights

1. Life Plenary: Disability Insurance Taskforce. The hard part: making it happen

• The backstory behind the formation of the Institute’s Disability Insurance Taskforce (DITF), and purpose and key objectives
• The role actuaries can play in promoting disability insurance, along with other key people who should and have been engaged
• What else can actuaries do?

Presented by Ian Laughlin (Ex-Non-Executive Director/Ex-Chairman) and Hoa Bui (Bui Advisory and 2020 Institute President). Chaired by Kate Lyons (Suncorp).

2. The needle and the damage done – life post pandemic

• The profession’s response to the initial outbreak of COVID-19
• Key policy learning from COVID-19
• Comparisons with the COVID-19 response from South Africa

Presented by Russell Gruen (ANU College of Health and Medicine), Tan Suee Chieh (President, Institute and Faculty of Actuaries) and Thayendran Naidoo (ConvergeHEALTH Africa Leader). Chaired by Jennifer Lang (Non-executive Director and Convenor, COVID-19 Working Group).

3. Data Plenary: Future of Actuaries in Data Analytics

• The potential growth areas for actuaries in data analytics
• How actuaries can leverage their skillset to enhance commercial impact
• Extensive Q&A session with attendees

Presented by Bartosz Piwcewicz (Partner – Data Analytics & Actuarial, KPMG Australia), Ean Chan (Manager, Actuarial Services, EY), Chris Dolman (Director, Data and Algorithmic Ethics, IAG) and Victor Bajanov (Executive, Product Analytics, Quantium).

4. Whichtech? The technology trends that really matter

• Analysis of discussion question ‘What do you think is the technology that will have the biggest impact on your work in the next 10 years?’
• The shift in consumer expectations in the age of technology and data
• Keys to a successful startup

Presented by Walter de Oude (Singlife). Chaired by Annette King (Institute Senior Vice President).

5. Recipients of the 2021 Melville Actuaries Summit Prize announced

In closing the Virtual Summit, Institute President Jefferson Gibbs announced two winners of the 2021 Melville Actuaries Summit Prize. The Prize is presented to the author(s) of the paper submitted for the Virtual Summit which the judging panel consider to have achieved an advancement in the profession’s understanding or knowledge of a specific subject, or collected or presented existing material to raise the awareness of the profession regarding an important or contemporary issue.

This year, the authors of two papers were awarded the prize. Congratulations to:

• Chris Dolman, William You and Hannah Sakai, who co-authored the paper Predictive Total Loss: Using AI and Automation to Improve Motor Vehicle Claims in a Responsible Way .
• David Knox, Michael Rice and Richard Dunn, who co-authored the paper Gender Inequality in Retirement Savings .

6. Congratulations to Laura Dixie, winner of the 2021 Young Actuaries’ Public Policy Essay Competition

Also in the closing of the Virtual Summit, Jefferson and Anthony Lowe (Convenor, Public Policy Council Committee), took the opportunity to officially congratulate Laura Dixie (Manager, Taylor Fry) who was previously announced as the winner of this year’s Young Actuaries’ Public Policy Essay Competition .

Laura’s essay demonstrated a strong understanding how public policy generally describes the intersection of legal, regulatory and/or political action that is taken to tackle problems affecting society and the many ways in which actuaries can be involved in such work.

The next Young Actuaries’ Public Policy Essay Competition will be announced late in 2022.

7. In-person networking returns

For the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, official in-person networking events took place throughout the second half of the Virtual Summit.

The events, held in Brisbane (11 May), Melbourne (18 May), Hong Kong (18 May) and Sydney (19 May), enabled Members the opportunity to reconnect with one another, while also getting the chance to engage with some Institute Councillors.

Jefferson was on hand for each of the Australia-based events, where he presented his vision for his presidential year and the future of the actuarial profession. Annette joined Jefferson to co-host the Melbourne event, while Councillors Iris Lun and Steve Hui co-hosted the Hong Kong event.

Multiple virtual networking events, hosted by a variety of Institute Councillors, were also held throughout the course of the Virtual Summit.

8. Catch up on sessions on-demand through the official Virtual Summit platform

While the Virtual Summit itself has concluded, registrants of the Virtual Summit can still access all Plenary and Concurrent sessions though the official Virtual Summit platform .