School of Risk and Actuarial Studies Undergraduate Research Award

About this scholarship

The purpose of the Scholarship is to encourage undergraduate coursework students who are considering honours and/or postgraduate research in the School of Risk and Actuarial Studies at UNSW in the future to participate in research projects and gain valuable research experience. The scholarship will be awarded to students undertaking summer research over the Summer Term 2025/6. Summer Research Projects Summer Research Projects Project Name Supervisor(s) Description Quantify and Manage the Extreme Heat Risk for Workers A/Prof Fei Huang Rising temperatures and extreme heat events pose increasing risks to occupational health and safety worldwide. This project will explore workers' compensation claims data and heat indices to quantify and manage the extreme heat risk for workers. It provides great opportunities to apply and sharpen data science and AI skills by engaging with an important topic with both academic and industry advisers. Prudential Regulation of Aged Care Providers in Australia Emeritus Prof Michael Sherris This summer scholarship project will critically examine the new Prudential Regulation framework for aged care providers in Australia, focusing on the recently introduced Investment and Liquidity Standards under the Aged Care Financial and Prudential Standards. The student will analyse the regulatory intent and design of these standards, comparing them with APRA's prudential requirements for authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs), such as APS 210 (Liquidity) and APS 220 (Credit Risk). The project includes basic financial risk modelling of aged care providers to assess the implications of the standards and identify potential vulnerabilities. The student will develop proposals for enhanced liquidity and investment requirements that better reflect the financial and operational characteristics of the aged care sector, contributing to more sustainable regulatory outcomes. Revisiting the Actuarial Modelling of Catastrophes in General Insurance Prof Bernard Wong Australia is heavily exposed to extreme weather events-with one of the highest losses per capita due to such events from 1980-2020 ( source ). These risks are expected to worsen under climate change. The (re)insurance industry has developed catastrophe (CAT) models using research in actuarial science, climate science, and engineering, alongside industry data, to simulate realistic losses. This project will review and summarise the key aspects of these models in the literature and, as a stretch goal, explore how recent advances in actuarial modelling, probabilistic techniques, machine learning / AI methods, and financial modelling (e.g., DFA ) can be incorporated. Desired skills: ACTL3162, ACTL3301, ACTL3142; optionally ACTL3143 for AI-related developments. Exploring Vulnerability and Response in the Context of Climate Risk Dr Matteo Malavasi, Prof Bernard Wong Along with exposure and hazard, vulnerability and response are core components of climate risk assessments, yet remain underexplored. This project investigates how shared vulnerabilities across exposures could exacerbate hazards and weaken response effectiveness. It also explores how AI and large language models could generate stress testing scenarios to analyse these interrelationships. Skills required/developed during the project: Understanding of climate risk modelling, AI tools, and scenario generation. Actuarial Aspects of Insurability of People Living with HIV and Hepatitis B/C A/Prof Andres Villegas & A/Prof Francesco Ungolo HIV affects over 40 million people worldwide. Advances in antiretroviral therapy (ART) have made HIV a manageable chronic condition, yet people living with HIV (PLHIV) still face barriers to obtaining insurance. This project develops an actuarial modelling framework to assess the insurability of PLHIV under critical illness policies, focusing on the Australian market. Tasks include analysing the impact of individual risk characteristics on premiums and policy values, and examining: Effects of adverse selection under moratoria or anti-discrimination laws Influence of cohort effects and medical advancements in HIV treatment Role of market size, waiting periods, and benefit structures Models will be calibrated using clinical data and include key markers such as viral load, CD4 count, and ART status. The results will highlight both challenges and opportunities in designing equitable and sustainable insurance products for PLHIV.

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