Joint Risk Resilience Partnership: Funding Research on Systemic Risks

Two leading re/insurance players with a strong affiliation to science – Swiss Re and AXA - have joined forces to launch a multi-year, value-based collaboration through their scientific support initiatives – Swiss Re Institute and the AXA Research Fund.

The interconnectedness of our world has resulted in an increasingly complex risk landscape with widespread, cascading effects, that can negatively impact our planet, people and economies. The spread of these impacts can create new challenges for the re/insurance industry, whose mission is to protect our world, people and business against adverse developments.

Science is crucial in helping identify, understand, and anticipate these key challenging risks, as well as their impacts. Its input is instrumental in supporting decision-making and maintaining stability, resilience, and societal progress. 

Both AXA and Swiss Re stand out through their strong affiliation to science and their support for risk research. Building on a longstanding track record of financing scientific and applied research, the AXA Research Fund and Swiss Re Institute have committed to establishing a new Partnership to fund independent research and innovation projects that demonstrate the highest potential for transforming our industry and helping society become more resilient.

The new Partnership will support top-tier risk research on systemic risks that pose the most serious threats to societal resilience. It aims to improve risk management and inform private and public decision-making. 

More specifically, the Partnership will:  

• Incentivise and finance research towards closing knowledge gaps within the re/insurance industry
• Translate research outcomes into solutions for public and private decision-making

The Risk and Resilience Partnership aims to support top-tier research on systemic risks. Research project proposals should demonstrate their scientific originality and innovative nature and have the potential to contribute to a step change in the proposal's specified areas.  

The proposals are expected to: 

• Be scientifically outstanding 
• Create results applicable for risk identification and risk assessment by corporates, and 
• Inform governments and/or private sector on how to build resilience against systemic risks across the specific proposal's themes 

Applications are accepted from academic institutions across the globe. Academic institutions are the only eligible direct beneficiaries which may receive funding through this Partnership. Private companies, NGOs, governmental bodies, foundations, independent research centers, cultural institutions (such as museums), and hospitals are not eligible as direct beneficiaries. However, due to the applied nature of the funding, it is possible for academic institutions to collaborate and partner with other organizations from public and private sectors. 

About the Swiss Re Institute 

Swiss Re Institute harnesses Swiss Re's risk knowledge to produce data driven research across the company and with partner organisations. We foster knowledge sharing and support decision making with our industry focused publications, client programmes and conferences. 

About the AXA Research Fund 

The AXA Research Fund’s mission is to support outstanding researchers and it is committed to improving peoples’ lives through innovative research in areas of Climate & Environment, Health, and Socioeconomics. 

The first 3-year funding cycle will focus on systemic cyber risks in an ever more complex world.

Digitalization has enabled tremendous progresses in economy and society of the past decades. Global connectivity through the internet and underlying network infrastructure has further accelerated this development. With any advance in technology, risks have evolved as well – in case of digitization in the shape of cyber risks.

Cyber risk manifests itself in our everyday lives. Cyber-attacks, espionage and operational errors occur daily, causing significant economic losses. There is also growing concern about “systemic cyber risk”— the possibility that a single incident could cause ripple effects with potentially catastrophic consequences. A systemic cyber incident could threaten the digital infrastructure that societies, economies, and governments rely on. Consequently, it comes as no surprise, that cyber risks are identified as one of the top risks over the past years in the AXA 2023 Future Risk Report as well as the Swiss Re Institute SONAR Report 2023. 

However, the academic research and availability of data on the topic is limited. This can largely be attributed to the novelty of the topic and its constantly evolving threat profile. More research is therefore needed in order to increase understanding on the reinforcement of cyber resilience. In light of this, the Joint Risk Resilience Partnership have decided to focus its first theme investigating how to build resilience against a cyber catastrophe for our economy.

Call information

Please find more details about the call through: Call for Proposal: Building Resilience against Systemic Cyber Risk

The Joint Risk Resilience Partnership collaborates with the European Science Foundation (ESF) that helps us manage the application system. Please follow the Guidelines for Application to complete your application process.

The application platform of ESF can be accessed here.

Application period

December 1st, 2023 – February 15th, 2024

Timeline overview

Helpdesk Contact

For questions related to the Call content, please contact [email protected]. For questions related to the application process and use of the platform, please contact: [email protected].