By Anthony Cappelletti
Editor’s Note: Since declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 by the World Health Organization, no SOA in-person events were held in 2020. In-person events will occur in 2021 in locations where the COVID-19 pandemic is deemed to be under control and government restrictions on travel and public gatherings are no longer in place.
The following is a list of recent and upcoming professional development (PD) opportunities with general insurance (GI) relevant content by the SOA:
- “COVID Today: What is Scientifically Settled and What is Not?” Jan. 21—Webcast
- “Inside the Black Box: Machine Learning for Actuaries,” March 2—Webcast
- “A Changing Tide: Distribution, Technology, And Evolution In The New Wave of Microinsurance,” April 8—Webcast
- Inside InsurTech: Virtual Roundtable, April 22—Online event
- “Data Science: Novel Applications for Actuaries,” April 28—Webcast
- 2021 SOA China Symposium, June 3–4—Shanghai Shi, China
- Predictive Analytics Seminar, June 14—Online event
- The SOA Asia-Pacific Annual Symposium, June 17–18—Hybrid Event, Taipei, Taiwan
If you miss a webcast, remember that recordings of past webcasts are available on-demand.
Session planning is underway for the 2021 SOA Annual Meeting & Exhibit. It will be a hybrid in-person/virtual event—the in-person element will be in Pittsburgh. We expect it to include some GI relevant sessions.
The SOA offers the following GI relevant e-courses for PD:
- Applications of Statistical Techniques for Professional Development e-Course, and
- Enterprise Risk Management e-Course.
Be sure to have a look at the SOA’s webpage for professional development opportunities. The webpage allows filtering on many levels to facilitate searching for opportunities. It also includes links to past events that may include access to the presentation slide deck.
Reading actuarial papers is a good source of PD. The North American Actuarial Journal often includes many interesting GI papers. Volume 24 published in 2020 included many GI relevant articles.
Reading research papers can be a good source of professional development. Check out the SOA’s research for general insurance related topics at SOA General Insurance Research, SOA Climate Research and SOA Risk Management Research. Research briefs and statistics on COVID-19 can be found at Society of Actuaries COVID-19 Research.
The SOA counts on everyone’s support and ideas to make the most of our continuing education opportunities. If you have any GI specific (or GI relevant) ideas for seminars, meeting sessions, and webcast topics, or would like to write a GI relevant article, please forward them to SOA staff fellow Anthony Cappelletti at acappelletti@soa.org.
There are also volunteer opportunities to work on the GI Track exams as an item writer and/or grader. Refer to the SOA website for volunteering—select View Volunteer Opportunities and then select General Insurance Exams Item Writers.
In addition to offerings from the SOA, many GI related PD opportunities are to be expected during the year from other sources. For example, from March to May, the following were offered by other organizations:
- In March, the European Actuarial Academy held the virtual sessions “Non-Life Pricing Using Statistical Techniques with R Applications,” the International Actuarial Association held the webinar “Introduction to Climate-Related Scenarios,” and Pinnacle Actuaries Resources Inc. held the webinar “Reinsurance 101 in 2021.”
- In April, the American Academy of Actuaries held the webinar “How to Read an ASOP—and Other Nuggets from ASOP No. 1,” the Canadian Institute of Actuaries held the webinar “IFRS 17 Discount Rate Educational Note External Consultation Update,” and the Casualty Actuarial Society held the webinar “Natural Catastrophe Recap and Outlook for the 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season.”
- In May, the European Actuarial Academy held the webinar “Understanding IFRS 17,” the Casualty Actuarial Society held the webinar “Data Visualizations for Actuaries,” and the International Actuarial Association held the ASTIN 2021 Online Colloquium.
Statements of fact and opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily those of the Society of Actuaries, the editors, or the respective authors’ employers.
Anthony Cappelletti, FSA, FCIA, FCAS, is a staff fellow for the SOA. He can be contacted at acappelletti@soa.org.