The Phiatus Award: Actuaries can win £5,000 for their chosen charity
The news feels especially downbeat and depressing at the moment but amid the doom and gloom one bright spark on the horizon is the Phiatus Award. This terrific award offers a prize of up to £5,000 to an actuary for their chosen charity. But before getting into the details, let’s go back in time briefly to find out how the award started.
It's the end of the Second World War and an actuarial dining club called the Phiatus Club has just been formed in London for those actuaries who had had their qualification delayed because of serving in the armed forces. The name of the club was derived from the consequent hiatus the members had experienced in gaining their FIAs, which might be described as a FIAtus – reworded Phiatus by the founding members.
The club thrived as these young actuaries pursued their careers. But with no new members, by definition, over the years the numbers declined and in 2010 the decision was taken to wind the club up. The remaining members arranged to gift the club’s fund to the trustees of the Worshipful Company of Actuaries Charitable Trust and the Phiatus Award was established in memory of the Phiatus Club. Each year the award would be presented to an actuary who has made an impressive contribution to charity, not simply for fundraising but in recognition of all forms of charitable work and activity.
Back in the present day and the Worshipful Company of Actuaries has reviewed its Phiatus Award. From this year the prize is now £5,000! In addition to the prize money for their charity, the winner will be invited to a livery dinner in London on 26 January 2023 to be presented with the award, which includes their name being inscribed on a silver salver alongside winners from previous years.
Here’s a brief overview of some of the inspirational recipients of the award from previous years
Actuarial Altruism: Spurred on by the death of a friend at a young age, James Robinson persuaded his actuarial firm to change its charitable giving facility for staff so that those who wished to do so could convert the value of some of their professional time into charitable donations. The idea caught the imagination of many of his colleagues and substantial sums have been raised in this way since then.
Trees That Feed Foundation: The remarkable story of how Mike McLaughlin, an actuary based in the USA, and his wife Mary founded and grew the Foundation to feed populations, create jobs and benefit the environment in the Caribbean, Central America and Africa, based initially on the breadfruit tree.
The Wild Wheelchairs Project: David Collinson and Alex, a quadruple amputee, founded this project together so that, alongside local wheelchair basketball star Emebet, they could climb Ethiopia’s highest mountain, Ras Dashen (4,550m), to demonstrate what it is possible for disabled people to achieve. Alex and Emebet had the use of a specially designed off-road solar-powered hand cycle designed and built from scratch by a team of Masters students from Southampton University for use by quadruple amputees. The Wild Wheelchairs Project provided the funding for a wheelchair production facility to be established in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. The new factory was opened in 2019 and is now producing wheelchairs, hand cycles and other mobility aids.
From disaster to recovery on Mount Everest: In 2015 Robert Ross embarked on the mission of a lifetime – to scale the peak of Everest. But his attempt was thwarted by horrific avalanches. Having escaped death, on his return home he, with others, set about raising significant sums towards the rebuilding of the village of over 300 buildings in the Langtang Valley in which the support staff who had been killed and their families had lived, and which had vanished in a landslide. The reconstruction was planned to incorporate specialist design and building techniques so that future schools and health posts could be built to withstand tremors.
If you are an actuary, or know of an actuary, who you think might meet the criteria for the Phiatus Award, please email Ian Farr, Liveryman and Trustee of the Worshipful Company of Actuaries Charitable Trust, at ianafarr@gmail.com. The deadline for entries is 31 October 2022, so now’s the time to get cracking and get in touch. Applications are welcome from around the world.
