PhD student in economics Melanie Averhoff has received DKK 2,143,995 from the Independent Research Fund Denmark for an international postdoctoral position. 

During her postdoctoral period, Melanie Averhoff will work for one year at the Department of Economics and Business Economics at Aarhus University and one year at Department of Actuarial Science at University of Lausanne. Her project is called “Closing the protection gap: Initiatives for natural disaster insurance”.

In the project, she will investigate how to make insurance against natural disasters more accessible and financially sustainable in a time of increasing climate-related risks. The growing and more unpredictable disasters make it less attractive for insurance and reinsurance companies to offer coverage, leaving many households financially vulnerable. This contributes to the so-called climate insurance gap – the difference between actual losses and the losses covered by insurance. 

Melanie Averhoff will analyse solutions at the government level as well as within the insurance and reinsurance industry. Overall, she will try to create theoretical insight into more sustainable insurance systems and thus contribute to reducing the climate insurance gap.

Further info

DFF-International Postdoctoral Grant aims to strengthen the international mobility of younger talented researchers, and to develop the competencies of researchers in the beginning of their research career. The intention is to enable the grant recipient to consolidate their individual research profile by independently managing a concrete research project at a research institution abroad.

• Press release from Independent Research Fund Denmark
• More about Melanie Averhoff and her research