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Congratulation to SFU Statistics and Actuarial Science recent Master's graduate, Vatsal Desai, who has been awarded the 2025 Netspar Thesis Award for his outstanding project entitled A generalized design framework for collective defined contribution pension plans and benefit smoothing mechanisms.

Supervised by Professors Barbara Sanders and Jean-François Bégin, Vatsal's work offers new insights into how collective pension plans can be designed to enhance security, stability, and fairness. The award, granted by the Network for Studies on Pensions, Aging and Retirement (Netspar), recognizes exceptional research that contributes to advancing understanding of pensions and retirement systems. The award includes a €1,500 prize and was presented on October 9, 2025, in the Netherlands.