The study period runs for 11 weeks, from 23 June to 5 September (final submission date for dissertations).

Allocation of students to all other projects and supervisors will be done by Ms Andrea Sneddon, taking into account practical constraints and students' overall performance in examinations and expressed preferences.

All projects offered are "Group" projects, each for 5 students working initially as a group and helping each other for about half of the period (perhaps with some taught classes in the first 2 or 3 weeks to start things off) and then working, perhaps in pairs, on different aspects of the topic for the second part of their work.   All students must write up their dissertations entirely separately - your dissertation must be essentially your own work (any assistance or guidance from others and any use of sources must be acknowledged).

We are very pleased to have the services this summer of some distinguished friends of the Department who will act as supervisors (in addition to many full-time members of staff of the Department). They are Roger Austin, David Forfar,  Jonathan Finn and Michael Sharp. They bring a vast amount of experience and expertise to the Department. We are thankful to them for their interest in the work of the Department and grateful to them for being willing to become actively involved. Brief details of these supervisors are given below. They will be here during the summer and are offering a variety of projects (all of which will run).

Roger Austin graduated from Heriot Watt University in 1992 with a BSc (Hons) in Actuarial Maths & Statistics, qualifying as a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries in 1994.  He worked for six years in Standard Life performing roles in a number of areas including statutory reporting and compliance, as well as acting as a Scheme Actuary.  He then moved on to Hazell Carr, a business process outsourcing company to the financial services sector.  Roger held a number of senior management positions at Hazell Carr including head of quality, head of technical and head of the actuarial placement business line.  During the review of personal pensions, Roger had operational responsibility for a team of 250 actuaries across eight countries.  Since leaving Hazell Carr, Roger has set up his own business, Austin Professional Resourcing LLP.  This is a rapidly growing interim resourcing company specialising in providing high quality actuarial personnel to assist clients as and when they need temporary additional resource, giving clients greater resourcing flexibility.

David Forfar is a consulting actuary. He is a graduate of Cambridge and Edinburgh Universities and a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries, the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, the Royal Statistical Society, and the London Mathematical Society. He is a former senior lecturer in the Department. Before that he had a distinguished career as a senior actuary with Scottish Widows (including holding the position of Appointed Actuary). For some years he was a consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers. He has extensive experience and expertise in the actuarial profession and in the management of financial institutions, both in the UK and in the wider Europe. He has particular expertise in the areas of pensions, accounting standards, demutualisations, and investment and has published widely in these areas.  Details of projects that David has supervised in the past are available from his website - http://www.davidforfar.com.

Jonathan Finn is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries. He graduated from Oxford University in 1988 with a degree in mathematics before working in pensions consultancy in London for a few years. He then moved on to Scottish Widows marketing department before working for a period on the review of personal pensions. Jonathan has been teaching part-time at Heriot Watt since 2003 and more recently was employed at HBOS as a pricing actuary.

Michael Sharp is a BSc Hons Maths graduate from Edinburgh University, and is a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries (since 1982). He worked for 26 years in the Life Assurance industry, almost wholly for Scottish Widows. His work has included a supervisory role in Actuarial Department, then Project Manager in IT, Training Manager and finally Pensions Manager and Scheme Actuary. Since 1998 he has been a self-employed Consultant Actuary focussing on Pensions Review work and on Endowment Mortgage Complaints. Most recently, since 2003, he has also been tutoring in Mathematics and Statistics to school pupils and to university students.

Members of the Department offering projects in 2008 for the MSc in Actuarial Science are  Andrew Cairns, Takis Konstantopoulos, George Streftaris and Howard Waters.

Please look over the lists below and think about which projects interest you most. I will bear your stated preferences in mind when allocating students to projects and will try to meet your wishes as far as is practicable. Some projects will definitely be used, others may or may not be used.  Only one of Mr Forfar's projects will be used.

I am sure that my colleagues will be happy to discuss their project suggestions with you if you are seriously interested in one of their titles - I suggest that you approach them first to ask what time is suitable for you to visit their offices for a short chat. In the case of Mr Austin, Mr Sharp, Mr Forfar or Mr Finn, please contact me and I will try to answer your questions or, if necessary, will arrange email contact at this stage.

The final decision on who will be invited to register for the MSc will be taken by the Exam board and details will be available on 19 June (see page 7 of the course guide for further details). Students will be informed as soon as possible after that meeting.

It is almost certain that interest in some projects will outstrip supply, or will be insufficient for the project to be viable, so it is quite possible that many students will not get their first/second preference. Indeed, it is possible that some students will have to be allocated projects not in their preferred lists at all. If this happens I am sorry - but it may turn out to be unavoidable.

Once projects have been allocated please contact your supervisor as soon as possible to discuss his/her timetable, and your timetable, for the summer. The usual practice is for students to see their supervisor on average about once per week, for a session lasting about an hour. In the first two or three weeks, there may be a need for more regular meetings. In the case of some projects, there may be some introductory taught classes.

In the first week of the project period (commencing June 23) introductory courses to Scientific Writing (compulsory for all students), Excel and R (both compulsory for some projects, optional for others) will be provided.  Your supervisor will advise which sessions you should attend.

In many cases lecturers will be taking a summer holiday during the period of your project. It is important that you discuss details with your supervisor to make sure that there are no prolonged periods without the possibility of a meeting.

During the dissertation period you are a full-time student. You should not be away for more than 2 weeks during the period. You must not have a "full-time" job nor a part-time job which makes excessive demands on your time during the dissertation period. If in doubt please discuss your situation with the Course Director.

DRAFT GUIDELINES for your information and guidance are available (go back to main course page where there is a link).

The official time period for work on MSc projects is the 11-week period beginning on Monday 23 June 2008. The final submission date is Friday 5 September.

Ms Andrea Sneddon