GAUSS Prize for Prof. Damir Filipovic and Nicolas Camenzind
© 2025 EPFL
They were awarded the prestigious 2025 GAUSS Prize by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Versicherungs- und Finanzmathematik e.V. (DGVFM) and the Deutsche Aktuarvereinigung e.V. (DAV). The prize recognizes contributions that combine both high scientific quality and particular practical relevance in the field of financial and actuarial mathematics.
The prize is awarded to the best paper in the European Actuarial Journal in 2024 and the ceremony took place on May 12, 2025 during the online General Assembly of the German Society for Insurance and Financial Mathematics (DGVFM).
This main prize goes to CDM researchers Nicolas Camenzind and Prof. Damir Filipovic for their paper “Stripping the Swiss discount curve using kernel ridge regression” published in the European Actuarial Journal. The paper makes an innovative contribution to the modeling of discount curves in Switzerland and combines advanced machine learning techniques with actuarial methodology. “The work is an exemplary combination of mathematical precision in the presentation of the underlying theory and a deep understanding of the application problem in the calibration of the Swiss yield curve,” emphasizes Prof. Dr. Ralf Korn, Chairman of the DGVFM. “At the same time, it impressively demonstrates the advantage of using the machine learning method of ridge regression over simple linear regression.”