The winner of the Scholarship receives a package valued at up to AU$8,000 including return travel, accommodation, $1,000 cash and registration to one of the following overseas conferences of their choice:

• 2021 Eastern Claims Conference
• 2021 Life Insurance Conference
• 2021 Supplemental Health, DI & LTC Conference

If international travel restrictions are still in place when your chosen conference is scheduled, the prize may be awarded as cash in the sum of AU$8,000.

In addition to the major prize, the winner is invited to sit on the judging panel alongside senior industry leaders for next year’s scholarship and receives automatic membership to ALUCA and TurksLegal’s scholarship alumni program, Life Insurance Future Thinking (LIFT). The 1st runner-up will receive a AU$1,000 Visa pre-paid gift card and the 2nd runner-up will receive a AU$250 restaurant voucher.

Entrants are asked to submit a paper (2,500 words max) addressing one of the 7 topical life insurance industry questions in the application form.

The Scholarship is open to all members of ALUCA regardless of country of residence. Each entrant must be a current financial member of ALUCA as at 23:59pm AEST on Sunday, 20 September 2020 and work in the life insurance industry. Lawyers, accountants or medico-legal consultants who meet the above criteria are eligible to enter provided they are direct employees of life insurance companies, life reinsurance companies, superannuation trustees or superannuation administrators. Please note you need to be a current member of ALUCA to apply. If you are not a member and would like to become a member, ALUCA will waive the joining fee if you apply by 10 September 2020.

Submissions are assessed on:

• Understanding of and insight into the chosen topic
• Conclusions supported by sound evidence and research
• Clarity of thought
• Commercial insight
• Presentation

The judging panel comprises the following senior industry leaders:

• Jenny Oliver, Chief Claims Officer, TAL
• Gavin Pearce, Chief Operating Officer, Life & Investments, Zurich
• David Campbell, Chief Operating Officer, MetLife
• Malcolm Weir, Financial Services Executive
• Jeremy Houghton, Head of Strategy and Corporate Affairs, AIA
• Linda Winterbottom, Claims Rehabilitation Consultant, RGA Reinsurance
• Cy Lindeberg, Health Support Consultant, BT Financial (2019 Scholarship winner)
• Mark Raberger, Chair of ALUCA and Head of Health, MetLife
• Alph Edwards, Partner, TurksLegal
• Darryl Pereira, Partner, TurksLegal

The winner will be announced at the ALUCA Life Insurance Awards in Sydney on Thursday, 22 October 2020.

Cy Lindeberg, Health Support Consultant, BT Financial Group, was awarded the 2019 ALUCA Turks Scholarship for her paper on ‘The Role of Rehab Advisors in Improving Customer Outcomes’. In her well researched and compelling paper, Cy enlightened us to the many ways Rehab advisors operating in the life claims space can make a difference for the better in terms of the customer experience.

The 1st runner-up was Celeste McFadyen, Case Manager at CommInsure for her paper on ‘Developing Empathy Skills’. There were two 2nd runners-up this year; Honor Grant-Hennessy, Senior Underwriter, OnePath for her paper on ‘Will we really miss the duty of disclosure when it is gone?’ and Torrent Woodard, Senior Research and Development Underwriter, BT Financial Group for his paper on ‘The origins of Protecting Your Superannuation’.

Click here to read the full announcement.