IFoA Life Conference 2025: call for speakers

The Life Conference 2025 Organising Committee is starting the search for speakers to present at its premier annual Life Conference, with a focus on customers at the core of the insurance industry.

If you would like to propose a workshop session for this year’s conference, we want to hear from you.

Conference dates and venue: 5 to 7 November 2025, EICC, Edinburgh

Submission deadline: 12:00pm Friday 25 April 2025

 

Life Conference 2024 stage
Life Conference 2024 audience
Life Conference 2024 speaker

 

Overview

We are looking for topics and sessions:

  • delivered by a range of professional colleagues working in life offices, consultancies, reinsurers, sole practitioners, start-ups and insurtechs
  • delivered from participants with diverse backgrounds and non-actuaries, including experts in disciplines such as risk, underwriting, accounting, marketing, legal and compliance, digital health experts and policymakers working in health and care
  • that bring an international perspective to the conference where co-presenters who reside abroad can opt for virtual presentations, for example topics from Bermuda, US, and developing nations
  • that showcase results from working parties where there has been new or further developed research

 

Categories

We are looking for enthusiastic speakers to generate thought provoking discussion and debate. We will be looking to select a range of talks across:

  • product innovation / design in life, health and investment business
  • impact on customers, consumer experience/customer journeys and consumer duty
  • annuities, including both individual and the bulk annuity market, pensions risk transfer market
  • ESG considerations, including: biodiversity, nature loss, carbon footprint, addressing inequalities in access to care, mental health support and the role of insurers in supporting wellness, prevention, and rehabilitation initiatives
  • opportunities for growth in the UK market
  • technology, for example: data science, AI
  • economic and political issues and solutions
  • regulatory, for example: Solvency UK, ICS, IFRS/UK GAAP, funded reinsurance, liquidity risk, solvent exit planning.
  • soft skills, for example: team management, mental health

 

Format

As with last year, as part of continual improvement and to encourage submissions, some of the content can be delivered virtually with at least one co-presenter present in the room for the in-person audience.

We encourage sessions in the form of roundtables, panels, demos or collaborations.

The workshop sessions will be 45 minutes long and should include at least 10 minutes for questions and answers.

 

Proposal details

We would be grateful if you could include a 200-word summary of your chosen subject (which may or may not be from the categories list above).

This should cover:

  • target audience and assumed knowledge level
  • key outcomes / knowledge that attendees will take away 
  • other useful background information (for example, working party submission or results from a new survey carried out) 
  • the format of your session (for example debate or panel session)
  • company and contact details of all speakers presenting

For selected talks the submitted title and abstract will be included in the conference programme.

Please be aware that successful applicants will be required to provide slides in advance of the conference date to allow for a peer review process.

 

An example of a good submission:

Why isn’t machine learning (ML) used routinely in reserving as it is in personal lines pricing?

Although there is widespread interest in ML, we see the same questions come up time and time again on difficulties and obstacles to incorporating ML into reserving. These are topics of substance with no single, easy answer and include questions such as:

  • why use ML for reserving in the first place?
  • how do you get your stakeholders (including auditors) on board with using ML?
  • how can we research and apply ML techniques if we don’t have access to granular transactional data?
  • how do you incorporate judgement or external information into an ML-based reserving process
  • are actuaries going to be replaced by data scientists?

In this session we will have a panel discussion featuring various members of the Machine Learning in Reserving Working Party (MLRWP) and we will discuss these points and others. The MLRWP has shared many of our findings and material in talks and on our blog.

This will be delivered virtually and will be a high-level session rather than a technical one. It should be of interest to actuaries at all levels with an interest in ML including senior actuaries and team leaders who are interested in using ML in the reserving process and may be asking many of these same questions.

 

Submit your proposal

Please submit your session proposal by 12:00pm Friday 25 April 2025.

All submissions will be considered independently by the Life Conference 2025 Organising Committee.

If you have queries, please contact eventmanagement@actuaries.org.uk.

 

Submit proposal