Each year, SCOR rewards the best academic work in the field of actuarial science with prizes in several countries throughout the world. These prizes are designed to promote actuarial science, to develop and encourage research in this field, and to contribute to the improvement of risk knowledge and management. They are recognized in the insurance and reinsurance industries as a mark of excellence. 

 

From October to December 2015, the SCOR Actuarial Awards were held in five countries: France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the UK. 

 

The SCOR Actuarial Awards juries are composed of internationally recognised researchers and insurance, reinsurance and finance professionals. The winners are selected for their command of actuarial concepts, the quality of their analytical methods, and the originality of their research in terms of scientific advances and potential practical applications to the world of risk management.

 

Denis Kessler, Chairman and CEO of SCOR, comments: “The SCOR Actuarial Awards in 2015 reward young actuaries from across the globe for their innovative work in risk analysis and management. SCOR has been sponsoring these awards for almost 20 years, thereby supporting the development of actuarial science and promoting new talent on the global insurance and reinsurance market. The awards are in line with SCOR’s commitment to research and with the work of the SCOR Corporate Foundation for Science.”

 

 

 

 

On 16 October in Stockholm, Sweden, Malcolm Newman, Head of the Paris-London Hub, awarded the Swedish prize during the annual SCOR Sweden Re conference on Life insurance, organised in conjunction with the Swedish Institute of Actuaries. The prize was awarded to Anna Flodström, of the University of Stockholm, for her dissertation entitiled “Separation av IBNYR och IBNER i reservsättningen för sjuk- och olycks-fallsskador” (“Separation of IBNYR and IBNER in the reserve composition of sickness and accident injuries”). Also present at the ceremony were Svein Børre Solvang, CEO of SCOR Sweden Re, Jan Åke Persson, Chairman of the Swedish Institute of Actuaries, Gunnar Andersson, President of the jury, David O’Brien, Group Head of Financial Solutions and Longevity, Renato Di Iorio, Head of Financial Solutions EMEA, and Fredrik Reinfeldt, Prime Minister of Sweden from 2006 to 2014. 

 

On 16 November in Dresden, Germany, Frieder Knüpling, Chief Risk Officer of SCOR and President of the jury, presented the Actuarial Awards for Germany to Lukas Josef Hahn, of the University of Ulm, for his dissertation entitled “A Bayesian Multi-Population Mortality Projection Model” (first prize), to Jonas Hirz, of the Vienna University of Technology, for his thesis entitled “Advanced Conditional Risk Measurement and Risk Aggregation with Applications to Credit and Life Insurance” (second prize) and to Andreas J. Niemeyer, of the University of Ulm, for his thesis entitled “Risk management and regulatory aspects of life insurance companies with a special focus on disability insurance” (third prize).

 

On 24 November in London, UK, Denis Kessler and William Hague, former British Foreign Minister and former MP for Richmond, Yorkshire, presented the UK Actuarial Awards to Cho Yeung Chan, from the Cass Business School of City University, London, for her dissertation entitled “The Impact of Gender-neutral Pricing on the Life Insurance Industry” and to Brian Brady, also from the Cass Business School, for his dissertation entitled “Periodic Payment Orders : Shifting the Focus of a General Insurer’s Balance Sheet”.

 

On 26 November in Paris, France, Denis Kessler and André Lévy-Lang, Chairman of the Louis Bachelier Institute and President of the jury, presented the actuarial awards for France, in conjunction with the French Institute of Actuaries. Pierre-Olivier Goffard, from the Institute of Financial and Insurance Sciences (ISFA), received the Young Doctors’ prize for his thesis entitled “Approximations polynomiales de densités de probabilité et applications en assurance” (“Polynomial approximations of probability density functions with applications to insurance”). Laura Cohen and Dulcy Joyce Gninghaye, from the Paris Graduate School of Economics, Statistics and Finance (ENSAE), received the Young Actuaries’ prize for their joint dissertation entitled “Modélisation du risque gel en France”(“Modelling the risk of frost in France”). 

 

On 10 December in Milan, Italy, Professor Ricardo Ottaviani of La Sapienza University in Rome, President of the Italian Institute of Actuaries (Istituto Italiano degli Attuari) and President of the jury, presented the Italian awards. These went to Alessandro Ricotta and Andrea Riva, both from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, for their dissertations respectively entitled “Una estensione del Collective Risk Model per la valutazione della riserva sinistri” (“Extension of the Collective Risk Model to the evaluation of the Claims Reserve”) and “Support Vector Machine in ambito assicurativo: teorie e una applicazione al rischio frode” (“Support Vector Machine in insurance: theory and application to fraud risk”).

 

To consult all of the award-winning dissertations and theses, go to the SCOR website pages devoted to the Group’s support for actuarial science.