A conference presents the latest advances in risk analysis and management
Between 26 and 29 May, the International Conference on Risk Analysis (ICRA 6 - Risk 15) presents in Barcelona the latest developments concerning risk analysis. It is the first meeting of researchers from different areas of the discipline such as health, engineering and finance, who share a common work methodology.
Between 26 and 29 May, the International Conference on Risk Analysis (ICRA 6 - Risk 15) presents in Barcelona the latest developments concerning risk analysis. It is the first meeting of researchers from different areas of the discipline such as health, engineering and finance, who share a common work methodology.
The organization of the conference is hosted by the University of Barcelona (UB), the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), and the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), five centres which, together with the Barcelona & Risk Analytics consortium, turn the Catalan capital into an international benchmark in the field of risk analysis.
About 200 researchers from all over the world attend the meeting, which is opened on 26 May at 5.30 pm at the auditorium of CosmoCaixa in Barcelona, while the its sessions take place from 27 to 29 May on UPF's Ciutadella campus. Three renowned experts give the three plenary sessions featured in the event: Sebastian Martorell (Universitat Politècnica de Valencia), Mei-Ling Tin Lee (University of Maryland, USA) and Hansjörg Albrecher (University of Lausanne, Switzerland).
Some of the topics to be discussed during the biannual conference, which was first held in 2005, also in Barcelona, with the support of the ISI Committee on Risk Analysis of the International Statistical Institute, are: insurance and financial analysis for insurance companies; financial and banking crisis; statistical methods for insurance and finance; economics of insurance and long-term care; biostatistics; clinical trials; analysis of survival and quality of life; financial mathematics; statistical models for industrial reliability; environmental assessment and sustainability, or probabilistic methods of optimization of logistics services.
A tool to avoid danger and improve health
Risk analysis has a work methodology that can be applied to every aspect of life including a hazardous situation that can be avoided, with contributions to such diverse fields as environmental pollution, medicine and geopolitical, industrial, infrastructure and financial risks.
Risk management is fundamental for the insurance industry (deeply rooted in Catalonia), for corporate business in general and, particularly, for health. Regarding the latter sector, through statistics applied to health sciences, the risks of new treatments can be assessed and directed towards personalized medicine.
Risk analysis researchers at the meeting, who are at the service of scientists and biotechnologists, are experts at duly quantifying risk based on the few data that are available at certain times, or at identifying among big data the patterns that lead to pinpointing what may constitute a risk to citizens.
Catalonia and Barcelona are a global research pole on risk analysis, with many researchers at Catalan universities dedicated to related disciplines like mathematics, statistics, computer science and data analysis, who all have great capacity to work in multidisciplinary scientific teams.
Organizing committee and collaborating institutions
The organizing committee of the conference, composed by researchers from different knowledge areas, is led by Montserrat Guillen (UB), Isabel Serra (UAB), Angel Juan (UOC), Carles Serrat (UPC) and Helena Ramalhinho (UPF). All of them are members of international prestigious research groups on risk analysis and management. This proves the multidisciplinary approach of the conference, which will enjoy the assistance of students and graduates of the organizing centres.
In addition, several companies and institutions from different sectors that develop risk-related activities collaborate with the congress. They are Fundación Mapfre, Obra Social La Caixa, (Mathematics Research Centre, Equifax, Catalan Statistics Society, Catalan Mathematical Society, Guy Carpenter, AIS Group, BCN Analytics, Banc Sabadell, Biostatnet, PWC, UAB Statistics Service, and Barcelona Global Health Institute.