Postgraduate

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Actuarial Science PhD

This is a research programme within the Actuarial Science subject area.

Outline

The PhD in Actuarial Science offers the opportunity to begin or consolidate your research career under the guidance of internationally renowned researchers and professionals at the SMSAS. The School has a strong reputation for world-class research and a well-established system of support and training, with a high level of contact between staff and research students.

Areas of interest include economic capital and risk management for financial services firms, and all areas of mortality and longevity research. Other research topics in the School include genetics and insurance, insurance economics, pensions and corporate reporting.

Find out more on the CASRI website.

Key facts

Research groups

Genetics and insurance risks

Advances in human genetics, and medical sciences in general, have led to many gene discoveries; a number of single-gene disorders have been successfully identified and studied in detail. Researchers are now increasingly focusing on common multifactorial genetic disorders such as cancer, heart attack and stroke, caused by interaction of genes and environmental factors. It is important for the insurance industry to understand the full implications of these latest developments. First, can an insurer justify charging different premium rates to different risk groups? Second, if insurers are not allowed to discriminate between individuals based on their genes, by regulation or by law, is there a risk of adverse selection?

From a public policy perspective, regulators and governments face the dilemma of whether to regulate against genetic underwriting or to allow market economies to take their own course. On one hand, there is a moral obligation not to discriminate against individuals for their genetic make-up. On the other hand, risk of adverse selection against insurance firms cannot be ruled out altogether. Maintaining an appropriate balance between the two is key.

Economic capital and financial risk management

Financial services firms are in the business of accepting risks on behalf of their customers. Customers do not always have the time or expertise to handle financial risks on their own, so they pass these on to financial services firms. However, even the most reputable firms can sometimes get it wrong, so it is fundamentally important for all stakeholders that financial services firms hold an appropriate amount of capital calculated on a robust scientific basis, to back the risks they are running. Economic capital can provide answers by specifying a unifying approach to calculating risk-based capital for any firm in the financial

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Staff research

Full details of staff research interests can be found on our website.

Dr Doug Andrews: Senior Lecturer in Actuarial Science

Pensions; Social Security funding, for example the income needs of retired individuals

Dr Antonis Alexandris

Financial derivative modelling, pricing and forecasting, weather Risk Management, machine learning, computer science, neural and wavelet networks, stochastic calculus, wavelet analysis and signal denoising.

Jaideep Oberoi: Lecturer in Finance

Risk management and asset pricing.

Professor Paul Sweeting: Professor of Actuarial Science

Enterprise risk management; longevity; pensions. Recent publications include: Handbook of Mortality and Longevity: Factors, Models and Markets (2009); Financial Enterprise Risk Management (2011).

Dr Pradip Tapadar: Lecturer in Actuarial Science

Economic capital and financial risk management; genetics and insurance.

Guy Thomas: Honorary Lecturer in Actuarial Science

Risk classification and loss coverage; price optimisation in general insurance; taxable portfolio management.

Huamao Wang: Lecturer in Finance

Portfolio choice under forecasted stock dynamics and transaction costs; momentum, mean reversion and reaction to the fundamentals of price returns.

Further information:

Key facts

Contact details

Admissions enquiries
T: +44 (0)1227 827272
E: information@kent.ac.uk

Subject enquiries
The Admissions Officer,
Postgraduate Studies in Actuarial Science,
School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science,
Cornwallis Building, University of Kent,
Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NF, UK
T: +44 (0)1227 827181
F: +44 (0)1227 827932
E: imsadmin@kent.ac.uk

Key facts

How to apply

Before applying, please read our ‘How to apply’ section.

You can then go straight to the online application form by clicking the programme below:

Key facts

Publishing Office - © University of Kent

The University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NZ, T: +44 (0)1227 764000

Last Updated: 13/09/2011