The project frame InterAct is an ambitious, strategic, and long-term strengthening of the collaboration concerning research and education in actuarial mathematics between the Danish insurance and pension sector and the University of Copenhagen. InterAct elevates the University of Copenhagen's research and education activities in actuarial mathematics with and towards the industry by creating significant increases in volume, variation, and practical relevance to the benefit of all parties.

InterAct forms the foundation for intensified research and development of actuarial courses within a number of areas that influence the evolution of the insurance and pension sector – now and in the years to come. This includes

• data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence
• sustainability and decision making under sustainability risk
• prevention and containment as a form of risk mitigation
• emerging risks such as climate risk, cyber risk, and pandemic risk.

The studies take balanced account of applications to both life and non-life insurance; for instance, multiple of the studies build bridges between these two areas of application thematically as well as methodologically.

The University of Copenhagen receives knowledge and ideas in the form of active participation and influence from the insurance and pension sector – and resources in the form of external funding therefrom. The University of Copenhagen also provides to the project frame knowledge, ideas, and resources. The outcome is research in topics derived directly from problems of high market proximity, additional and stronger actuarial mathematicians on both the master's and PhD level, and continuing and professional education targeted the Industrial Partners.

The Steering Committee of InterAct continuously assesses the frame's progress with respect to the purpose of the project frame. It consists of one representative from each of the Industrial Partners and three representatives from the Department of Mathematical Sciences (MATH). Currently, the Steering Committee is composed of the following members:

• Mogens Steffensen, MATH
• Tinne Hoff Kjeldsen, MATH
• Christian Furrer, MATH
• Kristian Buchardt, AP Pension
• Bo Søndergaard, Danica
• Rikke Sylow Francis, Industriens Pension
• Line Dahlbæk, PensionDanmark
• Bjørn Lunding Sandqvist, Tryg
• Magnus Tor Ry Warburg Hessler, Velliv
• Anders Damgaard, PFA.

The Steering Committee has set up an advisory body, the so-called Temaudvalg, which is tasked with discussing and proposing project topics. Besides one representative from each of the Industrial Partners, it consists of up to five representatives from the Department of Mathematical Sciences and two representatives from Den Danske Aktuarforening. Currently, it comprises the following members:

• Mogens Steffensen, MATH
• Christian Furrer, MATH
• Mogens Bladt, MATH
• Munir Hiabu, MATH 
• Kristian Buchardt, AP Pension
• Anders Druedahl, Danica
• Jonas Gylden, Industriens Pension
• Samuel Achord, PensionDanmark
• Bjørn Lunding Sandqvist, Tryg
• Magnus Tor Ry Warburg Hessler, Velliv
• Niklas Lindholm, PFA 
• Lars Sommer Hansen, Den Danske Aktuarforening
• Jesper Sonne, Den Danske Aktuarforening.

Publications:

• Steffensen, Mogens & Savannah H. Vikkelsøe (2024). On Smoothing and Habit Formation of Variable Life Annuity Benefits. Journal of Risk and Financial Management 17(2), pp. 1-27.
• Bladt, Martin and Christian Furrer (2023). Expert Kaplan–Meier estimation. Scandinavian Actuarial Journal 2024, pp. 1-27.
• Francis, Laura and Mogens Steffensen (2023). Individual life insurance during epidemics. Annals of Actuarial Science, advance online publication.
  
• Desmettre, Sascha and Mogens Steffensen (2023). Equilibrium investment with random risk aversion. Mathematical Finance 33(3), pp. 946-975.
• Hiabu, Munir, Joseph T. Meyer, and Marvin N. Wright (2023). Unifying local and global model explanations by functional decomposition of low dimensional structures. Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics, PMLR: 206.
• Christiansen, Marcus C. and Christian Furrer (2022). Extension of as-if-Markov modeling to scaled payments. Insurance: Mathematics and Economics 107, pp. 288-306.

Manuscripts:

• Hornung, Philipp, and Mogens Steffensen (2024). Optimal Smooth Consumption and its Trade-Offs.
• Pittarello, Gabriele, Munir Hiabu, and Andrés M. Villegas (2023). Chain Ladder Plus: a versatile approach for claims reserving.
  

Selected talks:

• Philipp C. Hornung: Investigating trade-offs in the design of smooth pension products. 12th Conference of Actuarial Science and Finance, Samos, Greece, 2024.
• Mogens Steffensen: Individual Life Insurance During Epidemics. 26th International Congress on Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 2023.
• Christian Furrer: Expert Kaplan–Meier estimation. Seminar in Mathematical Statistics, Stockholm University, Sweden, 2022.
• Munir Hiabu: Chain Ladder Plus. ASTIN's efterårsdag, Den Danske ASTIN Forening, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2022.
• Christian Furrer: Extension of as-if-Markov modeling to scaled payments. The 5th European Actuarial Journal
  Conference, Tartu, Estonia, 2022.
• Mogens Steffensen: Equilibrium Investment with Random Risk Aversion. IMS Annual Meeting, London, United Kingdom, 2022.

We are currently looking for PhD students. Click on the following link to learn more about the Department of Mathematical Sciences' PhD program and how to apply.