Newcastle Institute joins forces with Durham University

The Insurance Institute of Newcastle council has developed a relationship with the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience (IHRR) at Durham University which is proving fruitful to its members. The IHRR brings together experts on a range of subjects from natural disasters to security risks and emerging technologies so that knowledge can be shared to develop and support research.

Recent events ran by the IHRR have been open for CII members to attend for free:

Evaluating businesses' flood response strategies
Dr Graham Coates, joined by Dr Martina McGuiness from the Management School at the University of Sheffield, explained how their research in developing a framework to evaluate businesses' flood response strategies will lead to guidelines influencing behaviour change with flood preparation. The presentation covered how their wide reaching research brought together academics working in the areas of agent-based modelling and simulation, flood modelling, economic modelling, business continuity management and the behavioural/social sciences.

Climate change, flood risk and public engagement
Members were able to hear how UK Climate Projections can be used to consider how the probability of flood hazards occurring may change over the course of the 21st century. Dr Sim Reaney and Dr Louise Bracken also shared the results of a recent study which explored the way in which communities, policy makers and practitioners engage with flood risk management which CII members found particularly relevant.

The flood response strategies seminar proved to be so popular that the event was repeated in the Stockton area so that members of the Insurance Institute of Middlesbrough could also attend. Richard Talbot-Jones immediate Past-President of the Newcastle institute had this to say “These recent events represent a new and exciting chapter in collaborative CPD events with local experts, I’m extremely happy that there was such a good turnout, with more than 20 delegates at each Newcastle event and a full house in Stockton”. To ensure that the link between the institutes remains strong and members can continue to attend these thought provoking and highly relevant lectures Richard was invited to join the advisory council of the IHRR in January.

To find out more about IHRR, please visit www.dur.ac.uk/ihrr