Rob Brown, Past President of the International Actuarial Association, analyses the renewed interest in actuarial work for social security, comments on the forthcoming ISSA Guidelines on Actuarial Work and looks ahead at how actuaries can contribute to the sustainability of social security programmes in the long term. Interview recorded during ACT 2015 - the ISSA International Conference of Social Security Actuaries and Statisticians, held in Budapest, Hungary, in September 2015