Young Actuaries' Public Policy Essay Competition

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Congratulations to Laura Dixie - Winner of the 2021 Young Actuaries’ Public Policy Essay Competition


  
The Actuaries Institute is pleased to announce Laura Dixie (Manager at Taylor Fry) as the winner of this year’s Young Actuaries' Public Policy Essay Competition.

The topic for this year’s essay asked entrants to explain how the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the value of actuarial thinking. The judging panel, consisting of Institute President Jefferson Gibbs, CEO Elayne Grace, and Convenor of the Public Policy Council Committee, Anthony Lowe, looked for evidence of lessons learnt, future implications and responses from the actuarial profession in a 4,000-word essay focusing on public policy issues.

Laura’s essay demonstrated a strong understanding how public policy generally describes the intersection of legal, regulatory and/or political action that is taken to tackle problems affecting society and the many ways in which actuaries can be involved in such work.

The judging panel also highly commended Samantha Chew (BUPA), Georgia Knowles (PwC) and James Pyne (EY) for the insights outlined in their entries.

More information, including the criteria for this year’s competition, can be found here.

The next Young Actuaries’ Public Policy Essay Competition will be announced late in 2022.

Congratulations, Laura!

Laura Dixie
 
  
“It is exciting to see younger members apply their actuarial skills and way of thinking to such diverse topics to improve outcomes, particularly for the most disadvantaged, and make society stronger. I am pleased that Laura, as a young actuary, had the confidence to note the broader application of our skills.”
President Jefferson Gibbs

“Contributing to public policy discussions is a key attribute of the profession. It’s great the next generation is demonstrating such strong skills.” 
CEO Elayne Grace

2018 Public Policy Essay Competition


In 2018, The Institute’s Public Policy Essay Competition attracted a host of young authors whose essays demonstrated that actuaries can apply their skills across a range of fascinating topics; from mental health to blockchain, road pricing, the gig economy, complexity in retirement, genetic testing and many more.

The winning essay ‘Modern government service delivery’ by Hugh Miller was singled out for its clear communication, logical structure and innovative approach to a growing issue for governments – how to deliver important services within ever tightening budgets. In the below video, Hugh discusses the key points and conclusions in his essay.