Award-Winning Research Is Helping Insurers Better Understand Flood Risk
Mar 14, 2013
Science of Risk Prize winners Prof. Paul Bates, director of the Cabot Institute at the University of Bristol and senior academic with the Willis Research Network, and Dr Tim Fewtrell, chief hydrologist at Willis Global Analytics, fatured in Risk Management Magazine...read more ›
From conservation of rare species to murder cases: NERC-funded research at Bristol is making an impact
Jan 24, 2013
A recent look at how research at the University of Bristol has had an impact beyond academia has illustrated the diversity and global reach of Bristol’s research portfolio Press release issued by Bristol University...read more ›
Extreme rainfall in UK 'increasing'
Jan 03, 2013
The frequency of extreme rainfall in the UK may be increasing, according to analysis by the Met Office published on the BBC today...read more ›
The Security and Sustainability Forum Announces Complimentary Access to its Educational Videos
Dec 31, 2012
The Security and Sustainability Forum has opened its archive of educational videos featuring global experts addressing the impacts on society from climate and other disruptions to natural systems. Its webinars address many of the world’s most pressing topics and attract an international audience of senior professionals, decision makers and the public....read more ›
Risk Insights from Space
Dec 17, 2012
The insurance industry is on the brink of a data deluge thanks to the imminent launch of several new Sentinel satellites that could bring a huge increase in the volume and quality of useful information available to underwriters and risk managers....read more ›
Paying for Future Catastrophes
Dec 06, 2012
HURRICANE SANDY could cost the nation a staggering $50 billion, about a third of the cost of Hurricane Katrina — to date the most costly disaster in United States history....read more ›
Willis Research Network wins Lloyd’s Science of Risk Prize
Nov 30, 2012
The Willis Research Network today celebrates winning the Lloyd’s Science of Risk prize in the category of Natural Hazards....read more ›
Willis Contributes to Major UK Government Report Highlighting Role of Catastrophe Modelling in Disaster Risk Reduction
Nov 27, 2012
Disaster risk reduction needs to learn from the transformation that the insurance industry has made over the past 30 years and move to a situation where the view of the future is firmly rooted in science-based risk models. This was a key message contained within a new UK Government Office of Science Foresight report entitled “Reducing the Risks of Future Disasters: Priorities for Decision Makers” published today....read more ›
WRN Speaking at European Space Solutions Event
Nov 22, 2012
Willis and the WRN will be well represented at the European Space Solutions event taking place in London from 3rd-5th December 2012....read more ›
How resilient is your country?
Nov 21, 2012
Extreme events are on the rise. Governments must implement national and integrated risk-management strategies, says Erwann Michel-Kerjan in a recent article in Nature Magazine...read more ›
2012 Superstorm: Hell and High Water
Nov 18, 2012
Including an interview with Willis Research Network chair, Pier Luigi Vidale, this US History Channel documentary first aired Sunday, November 18, 2012 at 9 p.m...read more ›
Social media changing the way Insurers’ respond to natural catastrophes
Oct 11, 2012
Nigel Davis, Global Analytics and Willis Research Network at Willis speaks on harnessing emerging technologies and the influence of social media during a keynote speech at the 2012 Insurance Technology Congress....read more ›
WRN involvement in £2.3M NERC Project on Tsunami Risk
Oct 01, 2012
The threat posed to the United Kingdom by tsunamis that are triggered by colossal – but extremely rare – underwater landslides will be assessed in WRN Member National Oceanography Centre-led research project that has won £2.3 million in funding from the Natural Environment Research Council....read more ›
Willis Research Network featured in The Times Graduate Career publication
Sep 21, 2012
Pier Luigi Vidale, Willis professor of climate system science and climate hazards at the University of Reading, speaks on the Times Graduate Career website...read more ›
StrategicRISK: Risk Atlas
Sep 16, 2012
Windstorms are the main driver of natural catastrophe losses in Europe, and hence a major consideration for European risk managers, principally those in the UK, France, Germany and Scandinavia. Changes in European windstorm activity are driven by climate variability, most prominently the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)....read more ›
Hermit Enables Study of Climate and Tempests
Sep 12, 2012
A team of climate scientists under Prof. Pier Luigi Vidale are using the computing power of HLRS’s Petascale System Hermit, working eagerly on gaining a better understanding of weather phenomena. The results of project UPSCALE will help try to make projections of tropical storms and other extreme weather features....read more ›
Dealing with Natural Disasters, and Beyond
Aug 01, 2012
Last month, US Congress renewed the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for another five years and authorized a study on the role that risk-based premiums and means-tested insurance vouchers can play in the future. For Howard Kunreuther, Erwann Michel-Kerjan and Wharton’s Risk Management and Decision Processes Center, this is a very big deal, and relates directly to principles articulated in their book, At War with the Weather, published in 2009....read more ›
New WRN / NOAA agree Hail research programme
Jul 20, 2012
NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) and Willis Research Network sign cooperative research agreement to improve hail damage estimates across the United States and Worldwide...read more ›
Technology tools drive data capabilities
Jul 11, 2012
Nigel Davis, Team Leader for Platforms and Delivery, London, is quoted in the 11 July 2012 Insurance Day about how mobile technology and social media are playing increasingly prominent roles in claims management and risk assessment...read more ›
Willis Exec: Industry Will Respond w/ ‘New Tools’ to Growing Disaster Risk
Jul 05, 2012
"It is clear that we are entering a new era of knowledge about extremes, natural hazards and the vulnerabilities of the built environment and exposed populations," says Rowan Douglas,chairman of the Willis Research Network (WRN)...read more ›
An Ounce of Prevention ...
May 04, 2012
It’s harder for poor countries to respond to natural disasters. We should help them be better prepared before hurricanes and earthquakes strike. In this article, from Slate magazine, Bjorn Lomborg and WRN Professors Howard Kunreuther and Erwann Michel-Kerjan explore the smartest investments to respond to global challenges...read more ›
The Year the Earth Went Wild
Dec 19, 2011
First broadcast at 8PM on Mon 19 December 2011, this Channel 4 documentary features Jane Strachan, Willis Research Network Fellow at Reading university....read more ›
Willis adopts location intelligence solution for geocoding
Feb 10, 2011
Insurance Business Review article regarding Willis' use of Pitney Bowes global geocoding...read more ›
Predicting hurricanes years ahead
Sep 11, 2006
A major breakthrough in forecasting the number of Atlantic tropical storms has been achieved, say Met Office scientists....read more ›
The Willis Research Network - the world's most important hazard and risk collaboration?
Sep 11, 2006
The Landslide Blog: The Willis Research Network is now an extraordinary entity. The initial group of seven has been joined by universities from the USA, Japan, Italy, Germany and Australia....read more ›
Forum established to study economic capital modeling
Sep 11, 2006
The world's leading risk and actuarial research departments have come together under the academic and analysis arm of global insurance broker Willis Group Holdings to support the development and use of economic capital models required under Solvency II....read more ›