2025 SOA Research Institute Student Research Case Study Challenge

Overview

The Society of Actuaries (SOA) Research Institute is dedicated to advancing education and research for the actuarial profession. As part of its mission, the SOA Research Institute recognizes the importance of partnering with colleges and universities to help develop future actuaries. With this in mind, the SOA Research Institute holds an annual Student Research Case Study Challenge, which provides an opportunity for teams of students to apply their actuarial skills on a real-world problem in a business setting.

Teams of two to five students will research a case study situation, conduct an actuarial analysis, formulate solutions, and present recommendations in a report. The work will require a team approach to identify issues and organize priorities. The team will need to understand and select from potential data sources, develop models with appropriate accuracy metrics, summarize relevant results, and then present recommendations in a written format for a target audience of executives from a broad array of professional backgrounds. Teams can look forward to showcasing their creativity while building synergies within an actuarial setting. Teams are encouraged to seek guidance from a faculty advisor to assist them in their overall approach.

Submissions will be graded by a panel of SOA Research Institute judges, and the teams with the top submissions will be invited to present their submissions to the judges virtually. All teams meeting a minimum standard will be recognized in official SOA publications and team members will be awarded a certificate of participation.

Finalists

First Place: University of Waterloo, Canada - Factuarial (winning a 5000 USD grant)
Second Place: Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia – Young Begawan Aktuaria (winning a 3000 USD grant)
Third Place: Australian National University, Australia - Black-Scholes Bros (winning a 2000 USD grant)
Monash University, Australia – Interstellar
National Economics University, Vietnam – Damsguard Solution
Universitas Pelita Harapan, Indonesia – Norm Consulting

Semifinalists

We are pleased to announce the following 19 teams, alphabetical by university, advanced to the semi-final round of the 2025 Challenge:

Australian National University, Australia
Ball State University, USA
Brigham Young University – Idaho, USA
Monash University, Australia
National Economics University, Vietnam
New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA
Ohio University, USA
Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, China
Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Universitas Gadjah Mada (2 teams), Indonesia
Universitas Pelita Harapan (2 teams), Indonesia
University of California, San Diego, USA
University of Dodoma, Tanzania
University of Melbourne, Australia
University of Mumbai, India
University of Rochester, USA
University of Waterloo, Canada

Participants and Submissions

The SOA Research Institute received submissions from 68 teams of students attending the following 42 universities, spanning 17 countries and 6 continents. A total of 278 students participated in the 2025 Challenge.

Participating University

Country/Territory

Australian National University

Ball State University

Boston University

Brigham Young University – Idaho

Georgia State University

Hunan University

Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology

King Saud University

Monash University

National Chengchi University

National Economics University

New Jersey Institute of Technology

Ohio University

Pennsylvania State University

Southwestern University of Finance and Economics

Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning

Stony Brook University

Strathmore University

Sunway University

Towson University

Tribhuvan University

UCLouvain

UCSI University

Universidad de Buenos Aires

Universitas Gadjah Mada

Universitas Pelita Harapan

University College Dublin

University of California, San Diego

University of Dar es salaam

University of Dodoma

University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City

University of Kent

University of Maryland, College Park

University of Melbourne

University of Missouri–Columbia

University of Montreal

University of Mumbai

University of Rochester

University of Southern California

University of Waterloo

University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Yale University

Australia

USA

China

Kenya

Saudi Arabia

Australia

Taiwan

Vietnam

USA

China

India

USA

Kenya

Malaysia

USA

Nepal

Belgium

Malaysia

Argentina

Indonesia

Ireland

USA

Tanzania

Vietnam

USA

Australia

USA

Canada

India

USA

Canada

USA

Key Dates for the 2025 Challenge

Release case study	January 17, 2025
Intent to participate form due	March 9, 2025
Student submissions due	March 21, 2025, 5:00 PM U.S. Central Daylight Time (CDT)
Finalists announced	April 11, 2025 (approximate)
Finalist presentations	April 22-25, 2025
Winners announced	May 2, 2025 (approximate)