Pension Day 2023: pension research in its full scope

From Groningen to Maastricht and even outside the Netherlands. From all directions, researchers came to Pension Day in Utrecht’s Beatrix Building on 12 October. And not only that: there was also great variety in terms of research disciplines. Three participants about this successful day of knowledge exchange.

Pension Day is an event where participants mainly explore the depth of the pension field. This is done by facilitating meetings between researchers working in the field of pensions, aging and retirement; this time it involved over a hundred researchers. At the same time, in terms of research themes, the full breadth is explored.

Testing ideas

University of Amsterdam associate professor Servaas van Bilsen can endorse this. He has long been involved with Netspar and has experienced many editions of Pension Day. “In the beginning, the focus was mainly on financial-economic topics, but now it also covers topics such as healthcare and climate, for example.”

This broad view can bring a lot to both academia and practice. “For example, you can say in theory: this is the way you should invest pensions. In practice, however, something like this can be very different. So in research that takes a very long time, it is nice to be able to test ideas. For example, during an event like Pension Day.”

Finding coauthors

From the research department of De Nederlandsche Bank Federica Teppa was present. She wants to keep up with the latest pension research. What appeals to her most about Pension Day? Teppa: “That’s the networking during the coffee breaks. You meet a lot of researchers here. In the process, I find co-authors in an informal way.”

She is also pleased with the atmosphere. “Pension Day has a very friendly, open and transparent atmosphere. Furthermore, you could describe it as intellectually free: when discussing a paper, participants are free to ask any question.”

Staying informed

Actuary Arjen Hussem of PGGM also came to Pension Day. He has both feet in the field, but has a background in science. Hussem: “I have done research myself in the past, but now I am here to stay informed of what is happening in this field. In addition, I was chair and discussant at a session.”

Hussem’s interests include research on participants’ attitude to risk, a topic that was also discussed during Pension Day. “From a legislative and regulatory perspective, we are involved with this topic, among others. In this regard, I like the fact that Netspar bridges the gap between science and practice around pensions.”

Also read the news item on the Netspar Thesis Awards. The announcement of the winners took place during Pension Day.