People and society news: December

Actuaries supporting others 

As a member of our global community of actuaries, you are part of a profession that has always given back. If this is one of the reasons why you chose a career as an actuary, please read on.

The IFoA Foundation is creating more opportunities for actuaries to support others, opening doors for the next generation and helping to solve some of the biggest societal challenges. The Foundation has three objectives: rewarding excellence in education and research at the cutting edge of our profession; supporting our community of tomorrow’s actuaries, including those facing financial hardship and in developing nations; and addressing future challenges and critical global issues in support of our public interest responsibilities.

Aligned with the IFoA’s firm belief that diversity makes us stronger, the Foundation’s trustees have identified opportunities to enhance the actuarial profession worldwide, such as through teaching actuarial science in East Africa, where more actuaries are needed. International projects will sit alongside grassroots projects such as the recent Maths Week Scotland quiz, which engaged school pupils in actuarial science and its role in tackling big societal issues. 

The Foundation is reliant on the support of donors and partners to meet its objectives, and hopes to attract the generosity of our members worldwide who are passionate about actuarial science. The trustees are immensely grateful for any donations you feel able to make, big or small, that will enable them to fund more projects – and you to make a positive difference. 

Please visit bit.ly/ifoafoundation to find out more, or email our general manager Belinda Dee at [email protected]. Thank you for your support.
 

Book release: The boogie woogie monster

FIA qualified investment consultant Shyam Gharial found an unusual project when he went on a year’s break in 2015-16. His love of jungle music and being a radio MC led him to explore the idea of writing a children’s story using some of the rhyming patterns (if not all the vocabulary!) that he uses in his music. He set out the ideas for illustrating the story with references to hip hop landmarks, human rights events and 1990s culture. The result was a 34-page rhyming story for five-to-seven-year-olds, with multi-ethnic representation, telling the story of a young boy and the boogie monster that lives in his room. The book is illustrated by Dan Mynard, who used to be a graffiti writer, and is due for publication on 1 December by ShookBop, which describes the offering as: “A strong and positive message about misperceptions, pre-judgment, and acceptance… a rapper’s delight.” For details, go to: bit.ly/BoogieMon
 

Lessons from COVID-19

By Lyndon Jones

Every autumn the Worshipful Company of Actuaries holds a lecture in Staple Inn Hall for Masters of other livery companies. We were unable to do that this year, but were delighted to host a Zoom lecture by Chris Hopson, CEO of NHS Providers, on 26 October. 

NHS Providers is an organisation representing the 217 NHS hospital, ambulance, mental health and community trusts that have been at the forefront of dealing with the pandemic. Chris has been a frequent media commentator throughout the last six months, appearing on programmes from Question Time and Any Questions to major news bulletins and the Today programme. 

Chris’s lecture, ‘What lessons should we learn, as a nation, from COVID-19?’, was extremely interesting and informative. He focused on five questions:

• Do we need to do more, as a nation, to manage the big way life is changing?
• Should we establish an international infrastructure to manage supranational risks?
• How are we going tackle the inequalities that COVID-19 has highlighted?
• Do we need to rebalance our state machinery and devolve more power to local government?
• What is the future of our public finances, given the size of public borrowing?

The presentation resulted in a very busy Q&A session that was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Well over 100 people attended, representing around 60 livery companies and some of the IFoA’s top team.
 

Call for your news… 

We would be delighted to hear from you. If you have any newsworthy items for these pages, please contact us at: [email protected]