Skip to main content
The Actuary: The magazine of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries - return to the homepage Logo of The Actuary website
  • Search
  • Visit The Actuary Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit The Actuary Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @TheActuaryMag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries Logo of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries

Main navigation

  • News
  • Features
    • General Features
    • Interviews
    • Students
    • Opinion
  • Topics
  • Knowledge
    • Business Skills
    • Careers
    • Events
    • Predictions by The Actuary
    • Whitepapers
    • Moody's - Climate Risk Insurers series
    • Webinars
    • Podcasts
  • Jobs
  • IFoA
    • CEO Comment
    • IFoA News
    • People & Social News
    • President Comment
  • Archive
Quick links:
  • Home
  • The Actuary Issues
  • September 2014
09

Conference Report: R in Insurance 2014

Open-access content Wednesday 3rd September 2014 — updated 5.13pm, Wednesday 29th April 2020

Practitioners and academics talking R

The 2nd R in Insurance conference took place at Cass Business School London on 14 July.

This one-day conference focused once more on the wide range of applications of R in insurance, actuarial science and beyond. The conference programme covered topics including reserving, pricing, loss modelling, the use of R in a production environment and much more.

The audience of the conference included both practitioners (70%) and academics (30%) who are active or interested in the applications of R in Insurance. It was a truly international event with speakers and delegates from many different countries, including USA, Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland, Argentina, France, Spain and of course the UK. The coffee breaks and conference dinner at Ironmongers Hall offered great networking opportunities.

In the first plenary session, Montserrat Guillen (Riskcenter, University of Barcelona) and Leo Guelman (Royal Bank of Canada, RBC Insurance) spoke about the rise of uplift models. These predictive models are used for improved targeting of policyholders by marketing campaigns, through the use of experimental data. The presenters illustrated the use of their uplift package (available on CRAN), which they have developed for such applications.

Thereafter, the programme consisted of a combination of contributed presentations and lightning talks, as well as a panel discusson on R at the interface of practitioner / academic interraction. The panel, drawn from academia and practice, discussed the efforts made in bridging through the use of R cultural and communication divides, as well as the challenges of developing collaborative business models that respond to market needs and the incentives of academic researchers.

In the closing plenary, Arthur Charpentier (Professor of Actuarial Science at UQAM, Canada) gave a non-Bayesian's account of Bayesian modelling in R. While many are sympathetic to the Bayesian paradigm, it is easy access to computational tools that makes its wider application a realistic prospect. The presenter demonstrated how Bayesian methods can be used to offer alternative analyses of standard actuarial problems.

All conference presentations are available on request, contact: [email protected]


Scientific committee and sponsors

The members of the scientific committee were: Katrien Antonio (University of Amsterdam and KU Leuven), Christophe Dutang (Universite du Maine, France), Jens Nielsen (Cass Business School), Andreas Tsanakas (Cass Business School) and Markus Gesmann (ChainLadder project).

Finally, we are grateful to our sponsors Mango Solutions, CYBAEA, PwC and RStudio. This conference would not have been possible without their generous support.


R in Insurance 2015

We are delighted to announce next year's event already. Following two years in London at Cass Business School, the conference will travel across the Channel to Amsterdam, 29 June 2015.

We are looking forward to seeing you there. Further details will be published on www.rininsurance.com.

This article appeared in our September 2014 issue of The Actuary .
Click here to view this issue

You may also be interested in...

2

A copula approach to volatility index in India

Chinnaraja Chendur Pandian provides an overview of measuring volatility in India
Wednesday 3rd September 2014
Open-access content
2

Career comparison

Jonny Plews reports on the results of a recent salary survey of actuaries in Asia, how IFoA Fellows compare and why
Thursday 4th September 2014
Open-access content
2

The hidden risk of inflation

With inflationary pressures reappearing in several economies, Graham Fulcher questions whether building an implicit allowance for inflation into projections based on historical data is an overly relaxed approach
Tuesday 2nd September 2014
Open-access content
2

Bridging the divide

Chris Lewin looks at the risk initiative between the actuarial and civil engineering professions
Tuesday 2nd September 2014
Open-access content
2

Money in the pipeline

Theresa Ruhayel looks at financing pre-construction and operational renewable energy assets
Wednesday 27th August 2014
Open-access content
2

Africa rising

Tavaziva Madzinga reports on Africa’s fast-growing economies and what this means for savings and insurance on the continent
Wednesday 27th August 2014
Open-access content
Filed in
09
Topics
Professional
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Latest Jobs

Senior Reserving Analyst

London (City of)
Negotiable
Reference
149485

Senior GI Modeler - Capital and Planning

London (Central)
£ excellent
Reference
149436

Risk Oversight Manager

Flexible / hybrid with a minimum of 2 days per week office-based
£ excellent
Reference
149435
See all jobs »
 
 

Today's top reads

 
 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to The Actuary

Receive the print edition straight to your door

Subscribe
Spread-iPad-slantB-june.png

Topics

  • Data Science
  • Investment
  • Risk & ERM
  • Pensions
  • Environment
  • Soft skills
  • General Insurance
  • Regulation Standards
  • Health care
  • Technology
  • Reinsurance
  • Global
  • Life insurance
​
FOLLOW US
The Actuary on LinkedIn
@TheActuaryMag on Twitter
Facebook: The Actuary Magazine
CONTACT US
The Actuary
Tel: (+44) 020 7880 6200
​

IFoA

About IFoA
Become an actuary
IFoA Events
About membership

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to The Actuary Magazine
Contribute

The Actuary Jobs

Actuarial job search
Pensions jobs
General insurance jobs
Solvency II jobs

© 2023 The Actuary. The Actuary is published on behalf of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries by Redactive Publishing Limited. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ