Pool Re, UK’s Cranfield University Co-Fund Terrorism Risk Mgmt. & Resilience Professorship

Pool Re and Cranfield University announced the appointment of Professor Andrew Silke as the professor of Terrorism Risk Management and Resilience at Cranfield University.

This is a new position that will be co-funded by Pool Re and Cranfield University for an initial five-year period.

Silke will be responsible for the establishment of the Centre for Excellence in Counterterrorism, providing thought leadership in catastrophic and unconventional terrorism loss assessment and mitigation, with the aim of improving the resilience of the UK economy.

He will be tasked with fostering a greater understanding of terrorism threat risk mitigation. His appointment is effective on Jan. 31, 2018.

Silke currently holds a chair in Criminology at the University of East London where he was the head of Criminology, and the program director for Terrorism Studies. He has a background in forensic psychology and criminology and has worked both in academia and for government.

His primary research interests include terrorism, conflict, crime and policing, and he is internationally recognized as a leading expert on terrorism and low intensity conflict. He has over 100 publications, including several books, with his most recent including “Prisons, Terrorism & Extremism: Critical Issues in Management, Radicalisation and Reform” (2013), and “Terrorism: All That Matters” (2014). His latest book, “The Routledge Handbook on Terrorism and Counterterrorism,” will be published in March 2018.

“The appointment of Professor Andrew Silke represents the important first step towards building a world-leading resource into the study and analysis of terrorism, risk mitigation and resilience,” said Julian Enoizi, chief executive of Pool Re.

While terrorists historically principally targeted property, Islamist extremists’ primary aim is to cause mass casualties, he said, noting that Pool Re was established to mitigate the former threat. (Pool Re, was set up in 1993 by the insurance industry in cooperation with the UK government in the wake of the IRA bombing of the Baltic Exchange in 1992.)

“If we and our members are to be more proactive and remain at the cutting edge of the risk, then we must continually evolve in line with current and emergent threats,” Enoizi said. “Enhancing our knowledge and understanding are key to ensuring we can provide cover which reflects the evolving nature of the risk. The appointment of Professor Silke is a significant step in achieving this aim.”

More information about the chair of Terrorism Risk Management and Resilience can be found via the Cranfield University website.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Education Universities