
Ph.D. (Finance), University of Sydney
Dr Kevin Liu is a UNSW Scientia Education Fellow and the Undergraduate Actuarial Program Director of the School of Risk and Actuarial Studies at the University of New South Wales. Prior to joining UNSW in 2011, Kevin served in the research department at the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). He has an honours degree and a PhD in Finance from the University of Sydney.
Kevin’s primary area of expertise is superannuation and retirement income policy. Kevin’s current research projects focus on the governance and performance of superannuation funds; regulation and supervision of superannuation and private pension funds; systemic risk in retirement systems; and retirement saving and investment decision making. Kevin has led and participated in grant projects attracting over $300,000 dollars in public and industry funding.
Kevin is also a regular contributor to superannuation policy discussions, and his research is cited by major public reviews and inquiries. He served on two APRA working groups on investment governance and trustee governance in conjunction with the post-Cooper Review (Super System Review) superannuation reforms. Kevin has been a consultant on superannuation governance and performance issues to APRA and Industry Super Australia (ISA), and was a member of the Productivity Commission’s Industry Roundtable on the efficiency and competitiveness of the superannuation system (2017), as well as a member of the Treasury's Your Future Your Super Review - Technical Working Group (2022).
In the education space, Kevin is a multi-award-winning educator who is committed to empowering students by developing inspirational learning experiences through the integration of a career-focused educational approach and innovative educational technologies. As an EF Academic, he has led the development of multiple academic programs, majors, and courses for undergraduate, postgraduate, and professional students at UNSW Business School, as well as new workplace learning programs for Mentem by UNSW, which offers contextualised education programs to industry and government organisations to help them upskill and reskill their workforces.
Kevin is Deputy Director of the UNSW Sandbox Program, which provides a platform to connect the industry, educators, and students, empowering them to co-create a career-focused learning experience through solving real-life challenges. He pioneered the StoryWall Formative Assessment Model, which has been adopted in over 40 courses at UNSW Business School to engage students as partners in co-creating authentic learning experiences and active online learning communities. Kevin also leads teaching innovation projects that use advanced digital technologies to support student learning, e.g. Online Personalised Adaptive Revision Tool, Retirement VR (Virtual Reality). He is a founding member of two Learning and Teaching Communities of Practice at UNSW, and has jointly received $407,800 in competitive learning and teaching funding. Kevin received multiple education excellence awards at the faculty, university, and national levels.
Kevin is also a director of Understanding Super, a not-for-profit start-up that provides free financial literacy education through its online platform and mobile app to help young people understand superannuation.
Research Grants
Learning and Teaching Grants
Kevin has research interests in the areas of superannuation and retirement income policy. His current research investigates the operation, structure and performance of superannuation funds; the governance and regulation of superannuation and pension funds; systemic risk in retirement systems; retirement saving and investment decisions.
Submissions
Media Coverage
My Teaching
Kevin is a UNSW Scientia Education Academy Fellow and a multi-award-winning educator who is committed to empowering students by developing inspirational learning experiences through the integration of a career-focused educational approach and innovative educational technologies. As an EF Academic, he has led the development of multiple academic programs, majors, and courses for undergraduate, postgraduate, and professional students at UNSW Business School, as well as new workplace learning programs for Mentem by UNSW, which offers contextualised education programs to industry and government organisations to help them upskill and reskill their workforces.
Kevin is Deputy Director of the UNSW Sandbox Program, which challenges the status quo that work-based learning is merely the “cherry on top”. The Program scaffolds real-world challenges into existing courses, connecting students with industry practitioners to co-create solutions for contemporary issues. Since its inception in November 2019, the Sandbox Program has transformed 22 undergraduate and postgraduate courses across four disciplines at the UNSW Business School. Over 6,300 students have gained work-based experience through working directly with 100 industry experts from 24 leading industry partners, including Microsoft, Australian Red Cross, APRA (Australian Regulation Authority), AwareSuper, Ernst & Young, KPMG, Deloitte, IAG, Suncorp, Salesforce and WWF Australia, to address 55 contemporary business and societal challenges.
Kevin also pioneered the StoryWall Formative Assessment Model, which has been adopted in over 40 courses at UNSW Business School (over 12,000 StoryWall assessment completions by UG and PG students in 40+ courses across four schools) to engage students as partners in co-creating authentic learning experiences and active online learning communities.
Kevin also leads teaching innovation projects that use advanced digital technologies to support student learning, e.g. Online Personalised Adaptive Revision Tool, Retirement VR (Virtual Reality). He is a founding member of two Learning and Teaching Communities of Practice at UNSW, and has jointly received $407,800 in competitive learning and teaching funding.
Kevin received multiple education excellence awards at the faculty, university, and national levels.
Learning and Teaching Leadership
Learning and Teaching Presentation and Showcase
Learning and Teaching Innovation
Courses Taught