Welcome to the latest edition of IUMI Eye.
It feels incredible to be marking the second anniversary of the Covid-19 pandemic. During this difficult phase, IUMI has coped remarkably well with the challenges of an online remote working environment, though we have certainly missed our face-to-face interactions. It is exciting therefore to be able to report that two years on from our last in-person meeting, we were able to hold our traditional Winter meeting in London (courtesy of the IUA) in February, albeit on a hybrid basis.
The Winter meeting marks the real start of IUMI’s year – and it is in this forum that we bring together the IUMI Secretariat, the Executive Committee and the Technical and Forum Chairs and a number of the Secretaries.
One of the pivotal tasks of this event is to select a Common Theme for our main conference in September. Our common theme changes each year. It provides a banner and acts as a rallying point for the conference. Our workshops in September will have topics that embrace the Common Theme and feed off it.
This year’s common theme will be:
“Adapting to a World in Transition.”
We can draw on some important topics off the back of this theme:
- The pandemic continues to evolve, and we will likely have to learn to live with it in our communities for many years to come.
- There is the ongoing theme of environmental pressures, as the world transitions towards a more decarbonised future.
- In the wake of the pandemic, vulnerability in global supply chains will be a key point of focus.
- ‘Data and digitalisation’ is a major driver of change, in both our client base and the marine insurance sector itself.
- And we will have the opportunity to think further about the people skills that will be required for our industry to be successful in the next few decades.
So, all in all, I think we have devised a vibrant and energetic banner for our conference in the Autumn.
Finally, a reminder to our members to keep the conference dates – 18th to 21st September – free in your calendars. The US conference organisers are pulling out the stops to enable us to have an in-person event in Chicago, so I hope to see you there later this year.
Enjoy the publication. Stay safe and well.
