AIFMRM Abroad: Dr Coetzee Marais heads to Limerick

In October this year, AIFMRM launched its AIFMRM Abroad programme – a new series that sees AIFMRM staff travel to universities around the world to connect, collaborate, and gather insights to bring back to Cape Town. Dr Coetzee Marais inaugurated the series with a visit to the University of Limerick’s Centre for Emerging Risk Studies (CERS) and the Kemmy Business School in Ireland.

Both CERS and AIFMRM are closely aligned in their efforts to prepare students for careers in banking and insurance. CERS also conducts research focused on insurer operations, which dovetails well with AIFMRM expertise.

“But they also balance this with work on trust, courage, and interconnectedness,” Coetzee says. That’s the first insight he brought home – that there are opportunities to research both the quantitative and qualitative sides of banking and insurance.

The second takeaway for Coetzee was the way the Central Bank of Ireland and other regulators value the academic work coming out of CERS. “Most researchers would like to know that their work has practical application – and that certainly seems to be the case here.”

And finally, there’s the matter of collaboration. It’s more of a reminder than a new learning, but it’s taken on a distinct quality post-pandemic. Being physically present at the University of Limerick, walking through the campus while discussing research concepts – it’s a fresh way of meeting, and one that builds more confidence and trust than a series of emails or virtual meetings ever could.

“You say things you wouldn’t normally say; you pick up on the conversation the following day, return to it, and expand on ideas,” Coetzee says. “You need this sort of experience, especially when you’re located at the southernmost tip of Africa, separated from international colleagues.”

That physical distance can translate into a feeling of academic isolation. AIFMRM Abroad helps bridge that gap. And for Coetzee, who is all smiles while settling back into the city and preparing final-year exams, it seems to have done just that.

The AIFMRM Abroad series plans to continue with one or two trips each year, selecting destinations and participants based on interest and alignment with AIFMRM’s research focus. The aim is to visit comparable academic centres worldwide, expand networks and deepen learning opportunities for staff.

In the meantime, next year’s World Finance Conference, hosted by the University of Limerick, will provide another exciting platform for face-to-face engagement. AIFMRM staff may even have the chance to continue building on the relationships established through the AIFMRM Abroad series – and that might involve another stroll.

As for Coetzee? He’s already thinking ahead. “The Society of Actuaries in the United States has designated certain institutions as Centres of Excellence,” he says. “Visiting any one of those would be worthwhile.”