Profile

George Tzougas

Associate Professor

Campus: Edinburgh
School: School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences
Department: Actuarial Mathematics and Statistics
Email: George.Tzougas@hw.ac.uk

Biography

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Actuarial Mathematics and Statistics at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh.

I am also the Academic Director of the Scottish Financial Risk Academy and the Academic Chair of the IFoA’s Data Science Research working party Statistical Learning in Actuarial Applications.

I previously held a tenured position in the Department of Statistics of the London School of Economics and Political Science, where I also served as Programme Director for the BSc in Actuarial Science and was the Liaison Officer with the IFoA. Previous to this I was a Lecturer in the Department of Statistics of University College Cork in Ireland.

My research interests are centered at the intersection of applied statistics, computational statistics, data science, and actuarial science. Specifically, my research is primarily focused on applying statistical learning and computational methodologies within the realms of non-life insurance and finance. This involves the development of univariate, multivariate, and time series models, as well as hybrid variations employing deep learning techniques. These models find applications in various areas, including insurance ratemaking, determination of optimal reserves and reinsurance levels, forecasting green bond prices, and predicting carbon prices, among others. Furthermore, my ongoing research is dedicated to exploring the influence of climate change on the finance and insurance sectors.

Finally, my professional activities include a membership of the American Risk and Insurance Association, a fellowship of the Royal Statistical Society and I am a member of the reviewer board of MDPI's Risks journal.

George Tzougas CV

‪George Tzougas‬ - ‪Google Scholar‬

Ithaka

As you set out for Ithaka

hope your road is a long one,

full of adventure, full of discovery.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops,

angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:

you’ll never find things like that on your way

as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,

as long as a rare excitement

stirs your spirit and your body.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops,

wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them

unless you bring them along inside your soul,

unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one.

May there be many summer mornings when,

with what pleasure, what joy,

you enter harbors you’re seeing for the first time;

may you stop at Phoenician trading stations

to buy fine things,

mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,

sensual perfume of every kind—

as many sensual perfumes as you can;

and may you visit many Egyptian cities

to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.

Arriving there is what you’re destined for.

But don’t hurry the journey at all.

Better if it lasts for years,

so you’re old by the time you reach the island,

wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,

not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.

Without her you wouldn't have set out.

She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.

Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,

you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

Constantine P. Cavafy (1911)