Episode 95: Academic Actuaries with Simon Guthrie and Martin Mulcare
“We don’t need to be able to predict the future in order to be able to prepare the students for it, but we want to give them that really solid foundation so that they can do things that I can’t even imagine at the moment.”
Simon Guthrie
Actuary and Senior Lecturer
This interview is part of the “Academic Actuaries” mini-series with guest host Martin Mulcare. You can also listen to the interview on the We Are Actuaries podcast episode number 95.
Martin Mulcare asks Simon Guthrie to share his experience as an actuary in academia.
In this interview Simon reflects on the following:
Foundations are essential. Every actuary who’s taken the profession somewhere new started with the same training as everyone else.
The syllabus debate has a catch. Whenever someone says we should teach more, Simon asks: what would we take out?
Research can be practical. His PhD on the long-term costs of severe brain injury links straight into insurance and disability policy.
The joy of teaching. For Simon, nothing beats watching former students return as qualified actuaries and share the great work they’re doing.
Simon Guthrie, FIAA, is a Senior Lecturer in actuarial studies at Macquarie Business School, where he teaches the actuarial control cycle. He looks after the Actuarial Co-op Program and Macquarie's accreditation with the Actuaries Institute. He is currently completing a PhD program of research on the long-term health and care costs associated with severe Traumatic Brain Injury in Australia. Prior to joining Macquarie as an academic, Simon worked in general insurance and accident compensation at PwC and was one of the founding members of the actuarial team at the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Our guest host, Martin Mulcare, is a qualified actuary, experienced senior leader and a talented facilitator. He enjoys working with different types of people and he loves sharing ideas. Formerly the facilitator of the Professionalism Course, Martin is a member of both the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Ethics Centre and is the Chair of the Board of The Growth Project.
Connect with Simon on LinkedIn.
Connect with Martin on LinkedIn.
Views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not represent the views of their places of work.
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