Cass PhD student awarded prestigious Dimitris N. Chorafas Foundation Award

Munir Hiabu, a third year PhD actuarial science student at Cass, has been awarded the 2016 Dimitris N. Chorafas Foundation Award for his thesis In-Sample Forecasting: Reserving and Structured Models.

The prestigious award offers a prize of $5,000 that rewards scientific contributions made independently by junior scientists in their last year of PhD thesis preparation.  Prizes are awarded annually by the Swiss-based Chorafas Foundation with the goal of stimulating promising young researchers.

Munir is due to complete his PhD later this month.  His thesis investigates the connection between the world of mathematical statistics and the reserving practice in general insurance.

Munir said: “This award is a great honour and very encouraging for me as  a young researcher.  I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Jens Perch Nielsen, and my co-authors/co-supervisors Lola Martinez Miranda and Enno Mammen, for their guidance and support throughout my PhD.”

Professor Marianne Lewis, Dean, Cass Business School, said:  "We warmly congratulate Munir on this significant achievement which will further launch his research career.  Our Faculty of Actuarial Science and Insurance is one of the leading actuarial departments in the world, providing thought leadership that shapes policy and regulation.  Munir's research is an excellent example."

The awards of the Chorafas Foundation are granted directly to prize winners selected by partner universities in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia. They are given to the best doctorate students as chosen by each partner university and confirmed by the Board of the Foundation.

The prize is awarded for clarity of the work, the originality and efficiency of the proposed numerical techniques, the ability to fix previously reported limitations in the relevant literature, and the student's practical applicability.

The Dimitris N. Chorafas Foundation was established in March 1992. It is a collaboration with the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences, Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences, Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences, and Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences.

The Foundation is dedicated to rewarding outstanding performance and helping individuals complete higher degrees and significant research projects. It aims to encourage significant future contributions to science and technology.