2011-11-24

By staff reporter

Lloyd's is to announce that research revealing how the human brain makes risk-taking decisions and how quickly it can learn the correlations between risk and reward has won the 2011 Lloyd’s Science of Risk Prize.

The findings, which could be used to promote better decision-making strategies, are of particular relevance for the insurance industry where they could lead to a better understanding of how underwriters interpret risks and make financial decisions.

Lloyd’s launched the prize last year to help stay abreast of the latest emerging risks facing society, and to stimulate new cutting edge research into these risks and help organisations manage them better.

The other winning entries focused on developing a new approach for designing large buildings to resist fire; improved projections of major European climate hazards; optimal capital allocation principles and assessing the accuracy of satellite-based damage mapping.