The inaugural ASTIN Bulletin Conference at ETH Zurich
Audience: All
The first ASTIN Bulletin Conference brought together actuarial researchers and practitioners for two days of cutting-edge presentations and discussions.
Mario Wüthrich, Editor-in-Chief of the ASTIN Bulletin – Journal of the IAA, opened the event with welcoming remarks. IAA President-elect, Max Happacher, then addressed attendees, emphasizing the Journal's critical role in advancing actuarial research and supporting the profession as it navigates evolving challenges.
The conference featured four distinguished keynote presentations:
- Professor Ruodu Wang introduced e-values and their applications in risk management
- Kornelia Papp explored the theme of trusting machines with risk
- Ron Richman presented actuarial explorations of representation learning
- Steven Vanduffel discussed optimal life-contingent payoffs without insurers
Beyond the keynotes, 103 presentations covered the latest developments in AI and data science, climate change and mortality modeling, risk measures, and insurance applications, demonstrating how actuarial science is evolving to address emerging risks and leverage technological innovation.
Save the Date: The 2nd ASTIN Bulletin Conference will take place at the University of Naples "Parthenope" from January 20-22, 2027.
For more information, please visit the ASTIN Bulletin’s LinkedIn page
IAA Volunteers
Audience: All
We are pleased to announce the appointments of our incoming volunteers for 2026. We look forward to their contributions and dedication in advancing the work of our committees and initiatives throughout the year.
Incoming Volunteers:
- Alexander Wong, Executive Committee Member
- Yosuke Fujisawa, Nominations Committee Member
- Kendra Felisky, Nominations Committee Member
- Simon Curtis, Actuarial Standards Committee Co-Vice-Chair
- Lisa Ullman, Actuarial Standards Committee Member
- Nicola Barrett, Actuarial Standards Committee Member
- Christiaan Ahlers, Insurance Regulation Co-Vice-Chair
- Laurence Frappier, Pensions, Benefits and Social Security Forum Co-Vice-Chair
- Stephen Walker, IAA Section Delegate to IACA
We also to extend our heartfelt thanks to the volunteers who completed their terms at the end of 2025. We are grateful for the time and energy you contributed and for the impact you have had advancing our mission. Please join us in acknowledging and celebrating their valuable service.
Outgoing Volunteers:
- Jill Hoffman, Executive Committee Member
- Mike McDougall, Nominations Committee Member
- Jason Vary, Nominations Committee Member
- Luc Farmer, Actuarial Standards Co-Vice-Chair
- Norma Alicia Rosas Rodriguez, Insurance Regulation Vice-Chair
- Guillaume Moussa, Membership Assistance Committee Co-Chair
- Kathy Wong, Enterprise and Financial Risk Forum Vice-Chair
- Matthew Webster, General Insurance Forum Vice-Chair
- Adrian Baskir, Health Forum Chair
- Lisa Wade, IAA Section Delegate to IACA
IAA AI Task Force – 2025 Update
Audience: All
The IAA AI Task Force continues to equip actuaries with the knowledge and tools to understand and apply Artificial Intelligence responsibly. Its work focuses on raising awareness of AI risks and opportunities, expanding the actuary’s role in emerging fields, and supporting engagement with supranational organizations.
Key Highlights 2025:
- Engage & Foundations: Launched a global online community at AIforActuaries.org to share, discuss, and collaborate on AI topics. Curated learning paths help newcomers navigate AI technologies.
- Research & Advancement: Developed an AI knowledge base, identified relevant research areas, and built a framework to communicate AI insights across the actuarial profession.
- Case Studies & Tools: Produced practical AI case studies and guidance on tools like ChatGPT and coding assistants, supporting actuaries in day-to-day applications.
- Adoption Framework: Creating a comprehensive methodology for responsible AI adoption, covering governance, ethics, regulatory alignment, and implementation of best practices.
Events & Achievements:
- First AI hackathon with 250+ participants; winners shared creative projects.
- Looking ahead: 3rd AI Summit in Tokyo (Nov 2026) and a dedicated AI segment at ICA 2026, featuring 50 presentations on AI and data science.
For more details, see the full report here and visit the AI Task Force website at AIforActuaries.org
Announcing the Winners of the IAA Kaggle Hackathon!
Audience: All
Thank you to all participants who took part in the IAA Kaggle Hackathon. We were truly impressed by the creativity, experimentation, and thoughtful use of Generative AI across the submissions.
After a rigorous three stage judging process, we are excited to announce the winners:
🥇 1st Place — Ryoichi Asashiba
Negoto delivered the strongest holistic GenAI enhanced workflow, standing out in both interpretability and AI supported reasoning.
🥈 2nd Place — Funky Turtles (venansiusrt)
Funky Turtles demonstrated the most creative and pervasive use of GenAI among all submissions.
🥉 3rd Place — Tajmahal Ghaza Antoni
Notebook: https://www.kaggle.com/code/tajmahalghazaantoni/final-submission?scriptVersionId=283009883
Tajmahal delivered one of the best predictive models in the entire competition.
🌟 Special Mention — Kohei Kudo
GitHub Repository: https://github.com/wideflat/kaggle-iaa-hackathon
Although not part of the top three, wideflat deserves special recognition for demonstrating a forward‑thinking agentic workflow approach.
How Judging Worked (3 Stage Process)
Stage 1 — AI Assisted Screening
Stage 2 — AI + Human Hybrid Ranking
Stage 3 — Final Human Judging
Thank You for participating in the first IAA hosted hackathon, we look forward to hosting more in the future and continue to provide opportunities for Actuaries to work with AI. We hope that these events continue to provide valuable learning, testing and practical experience to everyone taking part.
We appreciate the effort, creativity, and curiosity each participant put into this hackathon. Your work demonstrates what’s possible when actuaries, data scientists, and AI collaborate to push analytical thinking forward.
We will share takeaways and learning materials based on the top submissions soon.
Congratulations again to our winners!
Young Actuaries World Cup - Western Hemisphere Semifinals Results
Audience: All
We are thrilled to announce the two semifinalists from the Western Hemisphere advancing to the finals of the Young Actuaries World Cup!
After presenting their ideas in an elevator speech and answering the judges' questions with outstanding demonstrations of professionalism, we are excited to announce that Hannah Giliomee and Shiela Nicole Cruz will be attending the International Congress of Actuaries (ICA) 2026 in Tokyo, Japan to represent their region on the world stage.
We extend our warmest congratulations to both Hannah and Shiela and wish them the very best as they prepare for the finals. The entire actuarial community looks forward to witnessing this exciting competition in Tokyo!
Don’t miss the Eastern Hemisphere Semifinals! Register to vote for your favorite candidate on January 28th at 6AM EST
Executive Committee Reports to Council
Audience: Council Delegates
The minutes from the 20 and 23 November meetings are now available online.
For any questions, please contact Anne Lamarche, Executive Coordinator.
Upcoming Webinars
Audience: All Section Members
AFIR-ERM: A data science approach to climate change risk assessment applied to pluvial flood occurrences for the United States and Canada
12 February, 2026 | Time: 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
AFIR-ERM: Signature-based Validation of Real-world Economic Scenarios
17 March 2026 | Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Institute and Faculty of Actuaries Questionnaire
Audience: Member Association Correspondents
The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries has commissioned a working group to explore the value actuaries bring to society. As part of this project, the group has created a short questionnaire to identify common ways actuaries add value across different practice areas.
Member associations are kindly invited to share their valuable insights and gather input from their stakeholders, including non-actuaries.
Please complete the questionnaire by February 15th.
