Better Sensing and Responding to Change Working Party – members

Application closing date: 14 December 2025 

The IFoA is seeking to appoint both members and suitably experienced non-members to join the general insurance practice area’s Better Sensing and Responding to Change Working Party. 

Background: ‘Redesigning actuarial science for complexity’

The actuarial practice has long rested on three familiar beliefs that: 

• The future will resemble the past
• Aggregation brings stability
• Uncertainty can be managed through prudent margins.

But today, rising volatility and mounting demands for deeper segmentation expose the limits of those foundations.

We are building on what works and expanding our toolkit – with ideas from systems science, industrial statistics and knowledge philosophy.

Help us craft resilient, practical methods for a world where: 

• New technologies both empower and complicate our work
• Stakeholders expect ever more detailed analysis
• Society itself is constantly evolving
• Climate change and technological disruption are rewriting the landscape we model.

If you find yourself wondering how to keep up, or worrying about the real impact of these changes, you are not alone.

Join us to help reshape actuarial science for what comes next.

Key opportunities

• Contribute to innovation: Help develop a problem-solving toolkit that replaces the traditional actuarial control cycle.
• Ambassador of change: Be part of shaping the future of actuarial science by promoting new methodologies.
• Networking and recognition: Engage with diverse professionals, gain recognition, and have fun while contributing to groundbreaking research.

We had a highly successful webinar in July on self-organising problem-solving approaches and are working on a series of short papers to illustrate our ideas. 

The ideal candidate would: 

• Be curious and willing to challenge ideas
• Have strong technical experience in at least one actuarial or relevant related discipline. 

Read more about the working party (PDF, 200 KB)

Time commitment

We typically meet for an hour every other week during office hours. We spend additional time exploring new ideas and developing presentations or writing/reviewing, but this is optional.

Next steps

If you are interested in this role and would like an informal conversation before applying, please email us at engagement.team@actuaries.org.uk.

If you have read all the above and would like to apply, please send us:

• brief details of your relevant experience
• your reasons for wishing to get involved
• your ARN (if you are a member)
• a brief copy of your CV and full contact details (if you are a non-member)
• confirmation that you have read, understood, and agree to the information and requirements laid out in our volunteer information pack (please be aware that until we have received this confirmation, we will not be able to appoint you as a volunteer)

Please email all the above to engagement.team@actuaries.org.uk. Please note, we are unable to accept late applications.

We are committed to promoting diversity, equality of opportunity, and inclusion, within all our vacancies and we actively encourage applications from a diverse range of potential candidates. Recognising and embracing the unique and diverse talents of our volunteers is fundamental to the success of our organisation.

What you need to know

Volunteering provides you with a wide range of opportunities. With all rights and opportunities come responsibilities and we ask all our volunteers to comply with the terms of the IFoA’s governance manual and volunteer information pack. Before offering to provide support, please read through: what you need to know.