The Aviva Podcast

How long did you spend planning your last holiday? Was it more or less time than you’ve spent planning your retirement? If it was more, you’re not alone. Pensions can be daunting. Even just understanding the basics can feel like a lot. That’s why, in this episode of the Aviva podcast, Steve and Tom from Aviva aim to help you unpack it all. Whether your pension is with Aviva or not, listen in to find out the difference between defined benefit and defined contribution, the hands-on versus the hands-off approach, the fees you might pay and how the economies of scale can work in your favour. You'll even learn why Copenhagen is such a great city to run a marathon in. More information: https://www.gov.uk https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en There is a transcript of this episode available on aviva.com

Take a moment to think of an innovative company. What’s the first one that pops into your mind? You might be thinking of one of the massive Silicon Valley tech firms. You might, instead, be thinking of a tiny start-up. Someone changing the world from a bedroom in a semi-detached, perhaps. It’s likely that you’re not thinking about an insurer, though. In this episode of the Aviva Podcast, we talk about innovation with Ben Luckett, our Chief Innovation Officer at Aviva, and Owen Morris, Managing Director of Personal Lines to talk about innovation at Aviva, and how Aviva Zero stands out as a great example. You can find this full feature, a transcript, and watch the interview films with Owen and Ben in full on our website: https://www.aviva.com/newsroom/perspectives/2023/02/from-zero-to-zero-an-innovation-story.html For more information on Aviva Zero you can visit the Aviva Zero site here: https://zero.aviva.co.uk/

In this episode of the Aviva Podcast, David, Jenny and Jason share their stories of what Aviva's Pride community is all about, why it’s so important, and what it means to them. June is Pride Month, and we wanted to take the opportunity to talk to three of our colleagues from around the world who are involved in Aviva Pride in some way. We spoke to David, a graduate apprentice in Aviva UK and a member of Aviva Pride, about why this community is so important to him personally, and why “bringing your whole self to work” is key. We spoke to Jenny, a team leader in Aviva Ireland’s Life contact centre and co-chair of Aviva Pride in Ireland. Jenny shares why she gives so much of her time to help make Pride – and why she “love, love, loves the role”. Finally, we spoke to Jason, CEO of Aviva Canada and one of our executive sponsors of Pride. Find out why Pride means so much to Jason, and why he feels like he needs to lead by example.

Listen in as Martin, Natalie and Kofi share their stories of why Aviva Carers is so important, and why the community means so much to them. It's Carers Week in the UK from 6-12 June. It's the one week of the year where people come together to raise awareness of caring, to highlight the challenges that unpaid carers face, and to recognise the contributions that carers make to their families and to their communities. Given that this year's theme for Carers Week is 'visible, valued and supported', it felt right that we do what we can to give some of that visibility to our own carers community: Aviva Carers. It's why we spent some time talking to Martin, one of our executive sponsors of the community, about why this group of people is so important to him personally, but also to Aviva generally. We spoke to Natalie, one of our Aviva Carers co-chairs, about what kinds of things the community does for our carers at Aviva and why she gives so much of her time outside of her day job to help make that happen. Finally, we spoke to Kofi, one of our carers at Aviva, to hear about his own experiences caring, loss, and why the carers community matters so much to him. You can find a transcript and further information on this episode here: https://www.aviva.com/newsroom/podcasts/our-carers-community-compassionate-caring-and-resilient.html

To mark International Women’s Day 2022, in this episode we're joined by two of our female data science leaders at Aviva. Listen in as they share their life and career experiences - good, bad and ugly - with host Andrew Spinks. Dorothy Comber (VP of Data Science, Aviva Canada) and Siobhan Keleher (Head of Data Analytics, Aviva UKGI) talk about commonly faced issues like imposter syndrome, wonky careers, and being the only woman in the room. They also look at the support provided - and the honest conversations encouraged - by Aviva on these topics.

When machine learning models are used in critical areas like medicine, finance and the criminal justice system, their black-box nature can be a major issue. This is where Cambridge PhD Student Jonathan Crabbe's research comes in. Jonathan's work consists of developing explainability methods that create an interface between complex models and human users. In this Quantum special episode of the Aviva Podcast, Jonathan joins Aviva's UK general insurance Analytics Director Stephen Shaw to delve into his research.

In our third wellbeing special episode, our host Johnny Monkhouse talks about loneliness with Dr. Rob Rosa. Whether you're experiencing it yourself, or you want to help others who may be feeling lonely, Dr. Rob Rosa shares helpful advice on how to tackle loneliness and what resources are out there to help.

In 1919, we settled an apprenticeship hiring choice by flipping a coin… fast forward to 2021 and apprenticeships at Aviva have changed quite significantly! In this latest Quantum special, find out about apprenticeships in general from Sophie Gray, understand how Aviva uses them as a development opportunity, and hear one of our own data scientists, Jamie Southchurch, discuss his journey through two different levels of apprenticeships. More information: See more about careers at Aviva: https://careers.aviva.co.uk/ Learn more about apprenticeships on the UK government's website: https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk

Quantum is Aviva's data science community. But what exactly is data science? In this episode of the Aviva Podcast, our host Ben Moss asks that very question of Sarah Applegate, Quantum data science & partnerships lead, and Craig Armstrong, lead data scientist at Aviva. Learn what data science is, what it's used for, and what it takes to become a data scientist yourself.

In the second of our mini-series of wellbeing specials, our host, Jonny Monkhouse, talks to Aviva employees and couple Matthew and Daniel about their experiences living with autism. Hear about their differing experiences of diagnosis, living with Asperger’s through their school, university and working lives – as well as how it affects them as a couple. Both Matthew and Daniel have Asperger syndrome, otherwise known as Asperger’s, which is an autism spectrum disorder. Among other symptoms, it’s characterised by difficulties in social interaction and communication. If you want to know more about autism or discover any potential support available then these resources may help. NHS - Guide to autism: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/autism/ National Autistics Society: https://www.autism.org.uk/ Royal College of Psychiatrists - Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorders: for parents, carers and anyone working with young people: https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/healthadvice/parentsandyoungpeople/parentscarers/autismandaspergerssyndrome.aspx If you’re outside the UK then please look up what other resources are available to you locally. A transcript of this episode will be made available on aviva.com