Notes from the 2025 Insurance Data Science conference

The Insurance Data Science Conference (IDSC 2025) concluded last Friday, 20 June, following two days of insightful presentations, dynamic discussions, and invaluable networking at Bayes Business School, City St George’s, University of London. The conference brought together leading experts from academia and industry worldwide, underscoring the transformative power of data science and AI in the insurance sector.

IDSC 2025 reinforced its reputation as the premier international forum for advancing insurance data science. Attendees from across the world with diverse professional backgrounds, shared ideas, highlighting how innovation is happening globally in this fast-changing field.

Pioneering Advances in AI and Data Science

Presentations at IDSC 2025 highlighted cutting-edge research and real-world applications that are reshaping the insurance landscape. Various thematic highlights emerged from the sessions:

• Advanced regression methods, evidencing a wide range of approaches and innovative problem-focused architecture, including tree-based, neural, graphical and Bayesian models.
• Pricing and portfolio management – from sophisticated utilisations of market data to market analytics.
• The deployment of language models and AI in applications ranging from claims processing to data granularity improvement and risk identification.
• Sustainability and climate risks – from the design of insurance indices to advanced modelling of climate effects.
• Fairness and explainability – from measuring discriminatory pricing effects to designing interpretability into model architectures.

All talks and abstracts can be found in the conference programme.

Inspiring Keynote Speakers

The conference was further enriched by three distinguished keynote speakers who shared their expertise and vision for the future of insurance data science. Magdalena Ramada from WTW opened the conference by discussing the current impact of emerging technologies on the insurance value chain. James David Long, CTO of Palomar, provided a thought-provoking address on whether data engineering is the new data science. Finally, Johanna Ziegel from ETH Zurich delivered insights on conformal calibration guarantees for reliable predictions, offering technical tools for assessing uncertainty and building trust in predictive models.

Their presentations provided a high-level view of the strategic directions and critical considerations within the field.

Bridging Academia and Industry

A core theme of the conference was the critical collaboration between academics and insurance practitioners, together exploring research frontiers and industry applications. Professor Andreas Tsanakas from Bayes Business School and co-founder of the conference, commented, “The conference once again provided a platform for academics to present their research and discuss with industry practitioners how theoretical breakthroughs can be effectively translated into practical solutions for insurers.”

Valued Support from Sponsors

The success of IDSC 2025 was made possible by the generous support of its sponsors. Posit and Ledger Investing served as Gold Sponsors, while Mirai Solutions, Markel, and Ki were valued Silver Sponsors. Markus Gesmann, Honorary Visting Fellow at Bayes Business School and co-founder of Insurance Capital Markets Research, expressed his gratitude, stating, “We are incredibly thankful for the unwavering support of our industry sponsors. Their commitment is absolutely crucial in enabling this conference to grow and provide a vital forum for innovation and collaboration within the insurance data science community.”

See you again next year

We look forward to continuing this tradition of excellence at next year’s conference, which will take place on 9 - 10 June in Hannover, Germany, organised by the House of Insurance at the Leibniz University of Hannover, and hosted by HDI.