Community
Creating connections across the profession
A strong community is essential to our members. From all corners of the world, they use it to connect to peers, learn from each other, and to work together in the public interest.
This year was no different. Members met up at our flagship conferences, started engaging discussions on our new online platform, and volunteered on several of society’s pressing issues.
IFoA conferences
From Asia to Edinburgh, members came together at four major conferences
The conference calendar got underway with the second outing of the IFoA Conference, attended by 1,036 delegates. Baroness Camilla Cavendish drew crowds for the opening plenary, while members brought the actuarial angle to other headline sessions.
The IFoA Asia Conference welcomed back delegates in person after a few years online, this time in Kuala Lumpur. Set to the theme ‘Making actuarial sense of a sustainable future’, 1,035 guests spent two days discussing innovation and change in the region.
Back in the UK, Life Conference and GIRO enjoyed success too. Both conferences are member-led, with volunteers curating the content and bringing them to life.
In Birmingham, we welcomed Professor Lord Robert Winston who gave the opening keynote at Life Conference 2023. 1,319 conference goers heard talks on varied subjects, from microinsurance in Africa to understanding the complexity of mental health.
Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, GIRO turned 50. After half a century, this popular conference is still going strong, drawing 844 delegates to its 2023 session. The event’s 50th anniversary gave members the opportunity to dive into talks on generative AI, geopolitical risk, neural networks, and much more.
At GIRO acclaimed mathematician Dr Marcus du Sautoy gave a fascinating talk exploring the maths behind the games we love to play. IFoA past president Louise Pryor picked up a much-deserved lifetime achievement award. And the General Insurance Climate Change Reserving Working Party was this year’s Brian Hey Prize winner.
Baroness Camilla Cavendish
Former head of the Number 10 Policy Unit and crossbench peer
I enjoyed the opportunity to join the IFoA’s cross-practice conference in June, where I participated in a panel discussing how actuaries can help navigate the ‘permacrisis’. It was great to see the IFoA leading on this important topic, and I enjoyed hearing the insights of members who shared their expertise as long-term risk modellers.
Wan Saiful
Chair, IFoA Asia Conference 2023 organising committee
Thought provoking topics, getting new insights and building great connections. Overall a great conference.
Volunteers brought their expertise to bear on several of society’s pressing issues
The place of the volunteer at the IFoA is embedded in our DNA. Without our volunteers, the IFoA would not be what it is today. As the driving force behind everything we do, 3,121 were involved in various projects this year. Below are just a few highlights.
Several working parties focus on the use of AI in insurance, including the General Insurance Machine Learning in Reserving Working Party. It presented an interesting session on neural network models and produced a useful short book that gathers its blog posts in an accessible format.
The Finance and Investment Board’s Capital Backed Funding Arrangements Working Party published a paper on scheme funding arrangements in the British Actuarial Journal. The research was picked up across the trade press, covered by Professional Pensions, IPE, Actuarial Post, and Pensions Age.
On the cyber risk front, two working parties gave fascinating talks on their recent work. At IFoA Asia Conference 2023, the General Insurance Asia International Working Party’s members talked delegates through their work on cybersecurity risks in Asia. And the Risk Management Cyber Risk Working Party introduced its paper on cyber risk within capital models.
Within the life practice area, the Post-Covid Biometric Assumption Setting Working Party published a set of recommendations for actuaries, underwriters, and insurers. The recommendations look at updated approaches to setting and updating mortality and longevity assumptions in a post COVID-19 world.
The Health and Care Board’s Mental Health Working Party presented at Life Conference 2023 on the value of digital mental health tools in insurance. It also contributed to the IFoA member survey, which took a measure of members’ wellbeing in the workplace.
The IFoA’s Sustainability Board supported our Regulatory Board on writing new ethical and professional guidance for members on understanding climate risks and opportunities.
The Pensions Board oversaw strong responses to the Mansions House ‘defined benefit options’ call for evidence and Financial Reporting Council’s Technical Actuarial Standards 300 consultation.
Our members also did some award-winning work on climate. Read about these prized outputs, and several examples of members at the forefront of policymaking, in ‘engaging with impact’.
Amanda Latham
IFoA Sustainability Board
I’ve got to work with amazing, dedicated and interesting people, in the UK and globally, on important issues that are shaping our world and the way we live and work.
Vicky Webb
Chair, IFoA Life Research Committee
Volunteering gives me an opportunity to learn about subjects that I would not necessarily come across in my day-to-day work, broadening my experiences and knowledge base. And it’s a great way to expand your network.
Graeme Jones
IFoA Scottish Board
Volunteering is very fulfilling and at times challenging in the right way. It is a great way of using many years of accumulated experience to contribute to the profession and its standing in the business community and wider society.
Lisa Balboa
Co-chair, IFoA Mental Health Working Party
I’d highly recommend volunteering as a way to explore topics of interest in more depth and share those learnings with the wider actuarial community and beyond.
Darshan Purmessur
IFoA Career Ambassador
Being a career ambassador has allowed me to give back to the community, share insights about the exciting opportunities in the actuarial field, and foster a greater understanding of our profession among aspiring students.
IFoA communities
One year on from launch, our new digital community signed up nearly 4,000 members
IFoA communities brings members together in a place where they can share expertise, lead open discussions, and connect with others in our actuarial community.
In a strong first year for the platform, we signed up 3,866 members, most of whom were Fellows and students. The UK and India had the most members, while the majority of users were aged 21 to 30. All 10 community groups, which reflect the practice areas and several other important topics, saw upticks in numbers throughout the year.
Within the practice areas, content with the most views was about risk management, sustainability, and pensions. Posts about AI, climate scenario modelling, and the future of pensions actuaries all attracted large audiences.
As we head into the platform’s second year we are exploring options for an app, which will make it easier to use the platform on-the-go. We look forward to IFoA communities opening up more and more opportunities for members and volunteers to enrich their careers.
Sarah MacDonnell
IFoA Fellow and Senior Consultant, LCP
I am finding IFoA communities very useful for IFoA related information. Everything is in one place, I can look up things when I want to, as well as hear of news as it happens. I also like that there is a chance for members to work with the IFoA to get it working in the best way for us. I encourage more people to use the platform to see what those with similar interests are thinking.
Rosalind Rossouw
IFoA Fellow and Senior Audit Manager, UK Group Audit, Zurich Insurance
The IFoA communities platform is a new way to connect and engage with members of the actuarial profession. I’ve helped to shape and lead engagement in the sustainability communities platform page, and I’ve used the platform to exchange sustainability ideas, to learn and share informative updates with others, and to help promote opportunities for actuaries in this space. I’d encourage any member who hasn’t already joined the communities platform to do so!
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