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The Willis Research Network , the academic and analysis arm of Willis Group Holdings P.L.C., has been awarded the Lloyd's Science of Risk prize in the category of natural hazards, Willis announced Friday.
The winning paper, “A simple inertial formulation of the shallow water equations for efficient two-dimensional flood inundation modelling” was published in the Journal of Hydrology and undertaken at the University of Bristol with support from the WRN. It provides in the public domain a blueprint for a new generation of flood models.
The judging panel, comprising experts from academia and insurance, praised the theoretical basis of the paper but were also impressed by its existing practical applications, according to Willis.
The Science of Risk prize was launched by Lloyd's of London in 2010 to stimulate cutting edge thinking into the latest emerging risks facing business. The prize recognizes the best academic research into risk management. This year, the awards focused on natural hazards and climate change.
“Whilst at first reading our paper appears heavily theoretical, its implications are profound and immediate for insurance industry flood risk analysis,” said Professor Paul Bates, the author of the paper and director of the Cabot Institute at the University of Bristol and WRN senior academic, in a statement regarding the prize. “The paper places in the public domain the blueprint for how to build a better flood inundation model in a way that is truly open source.”
The London-based Willis Research Network, which is led and sponsored by Willis, was formed in 2006 to integrate science, insurance and resilience. It has become the world's largest collaboration between public science and the financial sector with a membership of about 50 leading research institutions, according to Willis.