
It is home to leading researchers in a wide range of areas, focusing on three primary areas: Risk (quantitative risk management, mortality, longevity and health risks, insurance risk modelling, climate change, AI/ML enhanced actuarial analytics, uncertainty); Insurance (general insurance, life insurance, insurance pricing, capital and reserving); and Superannuation (pension economics, retirement products, behavioural insights). The School has won high international recognition for its research excellence in these primary areas. In the UNL Global Research Rankings, the School is consistently ranked number 1 on the list of the top 50 business schools worldwide, based on research in actuarial science, risk management, and insurance.
The School is renowned for its interdisciplinarity. With key research strengths in these primary areas, the School has also made significant contributions to other related disciplines such as quantitative finance, data analytics, economics, operations research, probability, and statistics. This is evident from the School’s research publications in recent years.
The School has strong connections with the Australian insurance and superannuation industries, regulators, and government. It implements various strategies to develop and strengthen external relationships with industry partners, influence industry practices, and provide advice for regulators and government. The School has been extremely successful in obtaining external research funding through ARC discovery and linkage projects, as well as from professional actuarial bodies.
Associated with the School is the Innovations in Risk, Insurance, and Superannuation (IRIS) Knowledge Hub. The Hub is dedicated to industry-linked research and currently focuses on the following themes: Climate Change and Insurance; Financing Retirement; and AI and Digital Transformation for Insurance.
The School actively engages with the research community at both national and international levels by organising conferences and serving on the editorial boards of leading journals in the discipline. A few academic members from the School hold affiliations with the ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing and Research (CEPAR) as leaders and chief/associate investigators.
The School sets its ambition to become the world’s leading institution in risk and actuarial studies. This ambition aligns with the strategies of the Faculty and the University by producing world-leading research (Academic Excellence), establishing partnership with the financial and insurance industries (Social Engagement), and engaging with global knowledge networks (Global Impact).
Staff within our school are regularly active in conducting research in a wide range of areas of insurance and actuarial science with a focus on modelling, measuring, and managing risks. The risk management and actuarial studies programs are also active at an international level in its research excellence.
Grant |
Recipients |
Title |
Amount |
2017-2023 ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR) |
Hazel Bateman, Michael Sherris |
N/A |
AUD 27,250,000
|
2017-2020 ARC Discovery Project
|
Michael Sherris, Jonathan Ziveyi (PI: A. Olivieri) |
Retirement income product innovation |
AUD 350,000
|
2020-2023 ARC Linkage Project
|
Hazel Bateman (Joint CIs: S. Thorp, B. Newell, I. Dobrescu)
|
Better communication to solve the under-saving, under-spending puzzle |
AUD 392,445 |
2020-2023 ARC Discovery Project |
Qihe Tang, Bernard Wong (Joint CI: B. Avanzi, PI: J. Blanchet)
|
Extreme value theory approaches to insurance in a catastrophic environment |
AUD 310,000
|
2020-2023 ARC Discovery Project
|
Jae Kyung Woo, Eric Cheung (PIs: H. Albrecher, G.E. Willmot)
|
Shock model-based framework for modelling correlated large losses
|
AUD 334,000
|
2020-2022 ARC DECRA
|
Yang Shen
|
Demystifying puzzles in retirement planning |
AUD 420,039 |
2021-2024 ARC Discovery Project |
Jonathan Ziveyi, Yang Shen, Mike Sherris (Joint CI: J. Temple, PI: E. Pitacco) |
Forecasting and financing healthy ageing and aged care in Australia |
AUD 386,139
|
2022-2024 ARC Discovery Project |
Qihe Tang, Katja Ignatieva (Joint CI: H. Li, PI: H. Lam) |
Quantitative analysis of systemic risk in insurance |
AUD 378,292
|
Grant |
Recipients |
Title |
Amount |
2022-2025 Orford Foundation |
Hazel Bateman, Katja Hanewald |
Investigating strategies that could enhance awareness, interest, understanding and take-up of lifetime annuities in Australia. |
AUD 525,000
|
Grant |
Recipients |
Title |
Amount |
2017-2020 Society of Actuaries (SOA) Center of Actuarial Excellence Research Grant
|
Mike Sherris, Jonathan Ziveyi, Andres Villegas
|
Longevity Risk: Actuarial and Predictive Models, Retirement Product Innovation, and Risk Management Strategies |
USD 248,678
|
2018-2019 SOA Grant |
Andres Villegas (Joint CI: S. Haberman, M. Bajekal) |
Analysis of historical U.S. population mortality improvement drivers since 1950 |
USD 50,000 |
2018-2020 CAE and SOA' CKER (Committee on Knowledge Extension Research) Grant |
Eric Cheung, Jae Kyung Woo (Lead)
|
Credibility theory under a general dependency structure of risk profile |
USD 20,000 |
2019-2020 SOA Research Expanding Boundaries (REX) Funding Pool |
Yang Shen (Lead) (Joint CI: J. Su) |
Demystifying the annuity puzzle: The role of model uncertainty in strategic retirement planning |
USD 16,000
|
2020-2021 CAS CKER Grant |
Yang Shen (Lead: E. Furman, Joint CI: A. Fleck) |
A realistic risk dependence via general additive models: Effects of heavy-tailedness and dependence on loss reserving |
USD 24,000
|