2023 Chubb/UNSW Data Science Hub Hackathon
22–26 May 2023.
Published on the 16 June 2023
The Chubb/UNSW Data Science Hub hackathon presentation day.
The second annual Chubb and UNSW Data Science Hub (uDASH) Hackathon was held in late May at the Chubb premises on Sydney’s North Shore. 14 UNSW students spanning different degree programs across data science, business and actuarial studies—all at different degree stages—were split across five teams. They worked during the week-long hackathon on real-life business use cases that were put forward by Chubb Insurance.
The first part of the week was spent understanding the data and the problem. The data were real, unfettered and unrestricted data straight from the Chubb database, and directly relevant to Chubb’s core business. By Thursday evening, the teams had arrived at their solutions and business cases. They began working on their presentations for Friday.
Friday was a big day with all teams in formal business attire, their presentations refined and nerves setting in.
The teams presented to peers, Chubb executives and employees, as well as uDASH researchers.
Two of Chubb’s senior leaders, Chief Financial Officer Gerard Sitaramayya and Chief Actuary Stephen Wilson, dropped by to provide some words of encouragement to the teams.
The judges were Stephen Humphreys (CFO Steadfast), Dr Fei Huang (uDASH, and UNSW Senior Lecturer in Risk and Actuarial Studies), Paul McNamee (SVP Chubb Regional President APAC) and Demetra Day (Chubb Head of Distribution).
All teams presented exceptionally well and articulated their processes clearly. Special attention was paid to developing the business case, as a solution without a business case is not implementable. The panel asked some challenging and perceptive questions which the teams responded to with clear and well thought out answers.
The winning team—Anastasia, Max and Billy—not only addressed the problem and the business question but provided some additional insights that got Chubb employees thinking about how to include these within their business.
The Chubb/UNSW Data Science Hub hackathon 2023 winning team: Anastasia Pavli, Max Chong and Billy Bourdaniotis.