About | Waterloo Student Conference in Statistics, Actuarial Science and Finance

The Waterloo Student Conference in Statistics, Actuarial Science and Finance is a conference for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers hosted by the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at the University of Waterloo.

The sixth conference iteration will be held on October 23-24, 2026 in person at the University of Waterloo.

Registration is open to all graduate students and postdoctoral researchers enrolled at a university in Canada or the United States. Travel awards are available but limited. Keynote speakers are leading researchers in statistics and actuarial science.

Share your research in statistics, actuarial science or finance with other graduate and postdoctoral researchers. Network and discuss career opportunities with peers and researchers in your field.

Please see the registration information here.

Keynote Speakers

Dr. Mike Hoy, University of Guelph

Mike Hoy joined the Department of Economics at the University of Guelph in 1985, following positions at Queen's University and the University of Western Ontario. He completed a B.Math from the University of Waterloo in 1974, an M.A. (Economics) from the University of Guelph in 1975, and a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics in 1982. His research topics include information in insurance markets, inequality measurement theory and applications, and various issues in public economics.

His research has been published in journals including the American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Economic Theory, Journal of Public Economics, Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance, and the Journal of Risk and Insurance.

He has been President of the European Group of Risk and Insurance Economists (EGRIE), 2021 – 2022 and The Risk Theory Society, 2010-2011. He was co-editor in chief of the Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, 2013 – 2019, and has served on the editorial boards of the Canadian Journal of Economics, Journal of Risk and Insurance and is currently on the editorial boards of the Journal of Economic Inequality and the Geneva Risk and Insurance Review.

Dr. Erica Moodie, McGill University

Erica E. M. Moodie is a Professor of Biostatistics and a Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Statistical Methods for Precision Medicine at McGill University, where she joined the faculty in 2006. Her main research interests are in causal inference and longitudinal data with a focus on precision medicine. She is the 2020 recipient of the CRM-SSC Prize in Statistics, an Elected Member of the International Statistical Institute and a Fellow of the American Statistical Society. Dr Moodie is also a Co-Editor of Biometrics and a Statistical Editor of Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Valued sponsor

Pacific Life and Pacific Life Re

Pacific Life and Pacific Life Re supports the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, as well as this conference.

Organizing Committee

Laura Bumbulis, Co-Chair

Benjamin Côté, Co-Chair

Jay Sivathayalan, Co-Chair

Faculty Advisors:

Greg Rice

Leilei Zeng

About the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science

The Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at the University of Waterloo is among the top academic units for statistical and actuarial science in the world and is home to more than 60 active full-time research faculty working in diverse and exciting areas. We offer bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in Statistics and Actuarial Science and numerous joint programs with other Departments.

We offer a vibrant research environment for a wide range of areas including foundations of statistics, analysis of longitudinal and life history data, computational inference, finance, risk management, ruin theory, survey methods, industrial statistics and interdisciplinary collaborative work.

This Department benefits from close relationships with several research groups on campus including the Flood Impacts, Carbon Pricing, and Ecosystem Sustainability (FINCAPES), the Business and Industrial Research Group (BISRG), Propel Centre for Population Health Impact (PROPEL), Centre for Computational Mathematics in Industry and Commerce (CCMIC), Statistical Consulting and Survey Research Unit (SCSRU) and many others.

We are home to over 1000 undergraduate students and about 175 graduate students in MMath and PhD in areas including actuarial science, biostatistics, statistics and statistics computing. We also offer professional master's programs in Master of Actuarial Science (M.Act.Sc.) and Master of Quantitative Finance (MQF).