Policy Dialogue on Decision Making for and in Old Age

Renée Fry-McKibbin is the Interim Director of Crawford School of Public Policy in the College of Asia and the Pacific. She is also the co-director of the Finance and the Macroeconomy research program and the Commodities and the Macroeconomy research program within the Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis (CAMA). Renée also holds positions as a research associate in the H.O Stekler Research Project on Forecasting at George Washington University, and the Centre for Applied Macro- and Petroleum Analysis at the B.I. Norwegian Business School. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia where she is Chair of the disciplines in Panel B: Business and Economics.  She is a board member of the Australasian Macroeconomics Society and a steering committee member on the University of York Asian Research Network Meeting. She is Editor of the Economic Record, and an Associate Editor for Finance Research Letters. Renée publishes in the area of financial market and macroeconometrics, mainly focusing on developing frameworks to model the transmission of international economic and financial market shocks to small open economies, such as those sourced in commodity markets, global business cycles and financial market crises. Her principal publications appear in the Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, the Journal of Economic Literature, the Journal of Banking and Finance, and Quantitative Finance.

Rafal Chomik is a Senior Research Fellow at CEPAR, located in the UNSW Business School. He joined CEPAR in 2012 to lead the centre’s research translation effort. Rafal has worked in economic and business consulting, as an economic advisor in the British civil service, and a pensions economist at the OECD in Paris. He specialises in demography, social policy analysis, and the visual presentation of quantitative information: charts.

Kaarin Anstey is a CEPAR Co-Deputy Director, ARC Laureate, Director of the UNSW Sydney Ageing Futures Institute focused on enabling optimal ageing for individuals and society, and Senior Principal Research Scientist at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA).  Kaarin’s research programs focus on the causes, consequences and prevention of cognitive ageing, dementia, and common mental disorders in adulthood. A second focus is on older drivers’ risk assessment and safety. Kaarin has worked extensively with longitudinal studies, the development of risk assessment tools, and interventions to optimise healthy ageing and mobility. Kaarin also leads the PATH Through Life Project, a large cohort study focusing on common mental disorders and cognitive function, based in the ACT and surrounding regions.

Dr Diane Hosking is the senior research officer at National Seniors Australia where she manages the organisation’s research program. Diane completed her PhD in Psychology at the University of Adelaide and CSIRO Human Nutrition. She moved to Canberra to take up a post-doc position with CEPAR at the Centre for Research into Ageing Health and Wellbeing at ANU where she worked on a number projects focused on the outcomes and prevention of cognitive decline and dementia. Diane joined the National Seniors research team in 2019 and is enjoying the opportunity to contribute across research, advocacy and policy work. 

Michael Lye joined the Department of Health in December 2019 as Deputy Secretary responsible for Ageing and Aged Care. Prior to joining the Department, Michael was a Deputy Secretary at the Department of Social Services, where his responsibilities included disability and carers policy and programs, the National Disability Strategy, the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Disability Employment Services. Prior to this, Michael held the position of Chief Operating Officer at the Department of Social Services. Michael has a Bachelor of Arts, double majoring in psychology and law and industrial relations, and a Masters of Social Welfare Administration and Planning.

Duke Han, PhD, is the Director of the Neuropsychology Division in the Department of Family Medicine and a tenured Full Professor of Family Medicine, Neurology, Psychology, and Gerontology at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. He is also a diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology in Clinical Neuropsychology and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the National Academy of Neuropsychology. Dr. Han is interested in the factors that affect cognition and decision making in aging. He also has special interests in using novel neuroimaging and statistical approaches to better understand these factors. He was the recipient of the prestigious Paul B. Beeson Career Development Award from the National Institutes on Aging, and is the primary investigator on numerous research grants extramurally funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and private foundations. He is a founding Governance Committee member of the Global Council on Brain Health, an independent science collaborative supported by AARP with help from AgeUK. His work has been featured in multiple international media outlets, including Reuters, CBS, PBS, Forbes, and U.S. News and World Report.

Michael Keane is a CEPAR Chief Investigator and Professor of Economics in the UNSW Business School. Several independent sources have placed Michael Keane among the top economists internationally in terms of citations and the impact of his work. In 2013 he was ranked as top economist in the 1990 PhD cohort by Research Papers in Economics (RePEc). He is considered to be a world leader in choice modelling and his expertise is sought both nationally and internationally. In 2009 he prepared a report on tax transfers and labour supply for the Australian Treasury’s Commission on Australia’s Future Tax System. He has been a visiting scholar at the International Monetary Fund at various times throughout his career. He was elected a Fellow of the Econometric Society in 2005 and in 2018 was elected to the Econometric Society Council. He won the Kenneth Arrow Award in 2008, was named an Australian Federation Fellow in 2005 and was awarded an Australian Laureate Fellowship in 2011. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Econometrics and Quantitative Marketing and Economics.

Suzanne B. Shu is the Dean of Faculty and Research for the Cornell University SC Johnson College of Business, and the John S. Dyson Professor in Marketing at Cornell’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. Her main area of research is in consumer financial decision making, especially regarding retirement income decisions. Dean Shu received a PhD from the University of Chicago and holds degrees in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University. She is currently an NBER Research Associate and has been a visiting scholar for several years at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Hazel Bateman is a Professor in the School of Risk & Actuarial Studies, UNSW Sydney, and Co-Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR).  Hazel’s research focusses on consumer financial decision making especially as it relates to retirement accumulation and decumulation with an emphasis on interventions to facilitate better financial decisions. Her current research investigates the role of choice and information architecture on lifecycle financial decisions including superannuation and housing. She also works on design of and demand for retirement products including annuities, aged care insurance and home equity release products. She is the author of over 70 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters and has been a Chief Investigator on over a dozen Australian Research Council funded projects. Hazel has consulted on retirement income issues to international organisations including the OECD, the World Bank, the Social Insurance Administration (China) and the Korean Institute of Health and Social Affairs. She is the Chair of Netspar’s Scientific Council and President of the International Pension Research Association (IPRA) and serves on the UniSuper Consultative Committee and the Advisory Boards of the Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index, the Conexus Institute and the Centre for Behavioural Economics, Science and Technology (BEST).

As the Chief Marketing and Growth Officer at UniSuper, Dani Murrie is responsible for telling the story of one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds, and achieving ongoing growth as a fund open to all Australians. Dani joined UniSuper in January 2022 following an extensive career in finance, working across Colonial First State, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and First Abu Dhabi Bank in the United Arab Emirates. Most recently, she led the operationalisation of an enterprise-wide digital transformation program at MetLife Australia. Dani has a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Accounting from UNSW and further qualifications in digital marketing, advertising and financial planning.

Shang Wu is an Associate Portfolio Manager in the Investment Strategy team at Aware Super. Shang’s role focuses on investment and retirement strategy research including members’ investment choices and developing retirement solutions for the fund. He is also responsible for the research collaboration between the fund and academia in these fields. Shang has over 10 years of experience in the investment and retirement strategy research. Shang obtained his PhD in Actuarial Studies at UNSW Australia. His academic research focuses on financial decision making in retirement. He is a CEPAR Associate Investigator, and he has published several papers in leading international economic journals. Shang is a qualified actuary and a member of the Actuaries Institute’s Superannuation and Investments Practice Committee and the Retirement Income Work Group. 

Mark Oliver is the Chief Distribution Officer at Insignia Financial and the Group executive responsible for Product, Sales and Relationship Management functions across Platforms, Investments and Private Trustee Services. Mark joined Insignia in 2016 from BlackRock, where he was Managing Director, Head of Wholesale Advisory and iShares having previously held executive roles at SSgA and Credit Suisse Asset Management. He has over 25 years’ experience in the financial services in Australia and the UK. As an experienced wealth management distribution, product and marketing professional, Mark has a strong track record of building and reconfiguring businesses and leading multi-functional teams in Institutional, Wholesale and Direct Retail channels across a diverse range of wealth management products and services.

Lynn Kelly is the First Assistant Secretary for the Retirement, Advice and Investment Division at Treasury, who are responsible for providing policy and legislative advice to Government on initiatives to improve Australians’ financial security and raise retirement standards. Lynn’s previous roles at Treasury have included the Interim Chief Executive Officer of the Board of Tax and Chief Adviser, Corporate and International Taxation Division. Lynn joined Treasury’s Sydney office in December 2016 after over twenty years as a tax professional in the private sector where she worked across diverse industries, including banking, media and consulting.

Susan Thorp is Professor of Finance and Associate Dean Research at the University of Sydney Business School. She researches consumer finance, focusing on retirement savings. She uses theoretical, empirical and experimental techniques to test consumer responses to advice, disclosures and choice architecture. Her research has been published in leading international academic journals including Management Science, the Review of Finance and the Economic Journal, and has attracted over four million dollars in public and industry funding. Susan is a member of the Steering Committee of the Mercer CFA Institute Global Pensions Index, a member of the Research Committee of the OECD/International Network on Financial Education and a Director of Super Consumers Australia.

Marc J de Cure is Chair of the CEPAR Advisory Board and Adjunct Professor, CEPAR, UNSW Business School. Marc has recognised since 2001 the social and economic significance of demographic change and the need to undertake and promulgate research to inform government policy, social awareness and commercial responses. He played a key role in establishing CEPAR and provides critical input to the development of the Centre’s ongoing strategy, research translation and engagement activities. He has chaired both the Advisory Board and the Leaders’ Forum since inception. Marc has been a member of the Business Advisory Council of the UNSW Business School since 2001 and was appointed as an Adjunct Professor at the UNSW Business School in 2015. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from UNSW and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants ANZ. Marc has been a non-executive company director and senior executive in financial and professional services groups globally. He was AIA Group’s Executive Vice President & CFO and AMP Group’s CFO, Executive General Manager Strategy and Executive General Manager responsible for AMP Bank and Virgin Money, and a senior partner in PwC and Bain & Co and AMP’s Asian and European Operations.

Information for the live-stream

If you are registering for the live-stream, the weblink with instructions on how to join online will be sent via email ahead of the event.

Information for the in person on-site event

If you are registering for the in person on-site event, you agree you have read and follow all ANU COVID-safety measures when you come to campus to help protect the health of yourself and others. The latest COVID-19 Safety Advice at ANU can be found here: https://www.anu.edu.au/covid-19-advice

ANU COVID-19 measures

Do not come to the event/ANU Campus on the day if you:

• are unwell;
• have tested positive for COVID-19 or are awaiting test results;
• are required to self-isolate;
• have had contact with someone with a proven or suspected case of COVID-19.

All visitors to ANU campus venues must adhere to the following:

• Follow the COVID-safe measures: https://www.anu.edu.au/covid-19-advice
• Follow the instructions of ANU staff regarding COVID-safe protocol

COVID-safe measures at ANU (status as of October 2022):

• Wear a mask indoors
• Keep your distance from others where possible
• Keep your vaccinations up to date
• Hand hygiene – use hand sanitiser or wash hands frequently
• Stay in touch with the latest health advice in your area and respond when required

Masks:

• Mask mandate maintained indoors on campus: Masks must be worn indoors and at all ANU-organised events at ANU.
• This applies in all teaching spaces and work areas. There are some exemptions - find out more.
• In line with standard exemptions, if refreshments are available, event guests may remove their masks to eat or drink. In line with accessible event guidelines, presenters may remove their masks to present and speak, to assist those who are speech reading.