Yogyakarta – The Young Begawan Aktuaria (YBA) team from the Actuarial Science Program, Department of Mathematics, FMIPA UGM, secured 2nd place in the 2025 Student Research Case Study Challenge, an international competition held virtually by the Society of Actuaries (SOA) from the United States. The award was announced on May 2, 2025, after the YBA team successfully passed the selection process and presented their proposal titled “TerraDam For A Better Tarrodan: A Holistic Approach to Tarrodan’s Financial and Infrastructure Resilience.”
The YBA team consists of Mohammad Firdaus (2021), Rafael Wicaksono Hadi (2022), Victorius Chendryanto (2022), Dewa Ayu Maharani Adithi Kirana (2022), and Enricko Wisnu Arkana (2022), under the supervision of Dr. Danang Teguh Qoyyimi. This achievement is a significant milestone for UGM, considering that the Actuarial Science Program was only established in 2019.
In their proposal, the YBA team designed a national insurance program for the fictional region of Tarrodan, which faces the risk of earth dam failure. The program integrates a holistic approach through four main pillars: TerraDam Insurance, TerraDam Regulation, TerraDam Grant, and TerraDam Token, to reduce the risk of dam failure, which could result in economic losses of over $182 billion, with an average failure probability of nearly 10% over the next 10 years.
Rafael Wicaksono Hadi shared that the main challenge for the YBA team was applying actuarial methods to the context of dams, an area they had never studied before. “Although our approach is actuarial, we are typically focused on insurance or pension funds. This time, we started from scratch to understand the context,” he said.
Another challenge the team faced was time management, as several members were juggling internships, thesis work, and jobs during peak season. “Some team members also had to work overtime on weekends, so balancing time amid such busy schedules was a major challenge for us,” Rafael added.
According to Rafael, the strength of the YBA team’s proposal lies in its holistic approach, covering all stages of risk reduction: pre-event, mid-event, and post-event. “The sub-programs we proposed also aim to involve all stakeholders fairly. We also used a fairly complex mathematical model to address a major issue in this case study, namely missing values,” he explained.
Upon being announced as winners, the YBA team was both surprised and thrilled. “Honestly, we were very surprised because historically, no team from Indonesia has won; the farthest anyone has reached was the final in 2021. Moreover, the Actuarial Science program at UGM is still relatively new (established in 2019), so bringing UGM’s name to the international stage is something we are incredibly proud of,” he said.
One of the most memorable moments for the team was presenting their idea in front of distinguished judges, including professors, actuarial program directors from various developed countries, and top executives from different companies. “They took the time to listen to our presentation. It felt amazing—we never imagined having such an opportunity,” he added.
This success is not only a significant milestone for the YBA team and the Actuarial Science Program at UGM, but also serves as a testament to the capacity of Indonesian students to compete on a global level through data-driven innovation and actuarial modeling.
Keywords: Young Begawan Aktuaria, SOA, Actuarial Science
Author: Iin Nauli Rahmawati
Photo: Mohammad Firdaus