About

Viktor worked for the Grantham Research Institute from 2018 until 2023. Since September 2023 Viktor is a Lecturer in Risk, Environment and Society at the Department of Geography at King’s College London. From 2018 until 2023 he was part of the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance (ZFRA) project. Viktor works on adaptation and resilience to flooding and other climate related risks with a focus on urban areas. He is interested in the quantification of flood impacts, the role of insurance and incentives for increasing pre-event resilience.

Background

Viktor completed his PhD at the Institute of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Potsdam, Germany. He worked as a research associate at the Hydrology group at the German Research Centre for Geosciences. His thesis focuses on the impacts of urban flooding with a focus on the coping capacity of private households. He completed his undergraduate degree in Geography at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich and holds a master’s degree in Environmental Hydrology from the Free University of Berlin. He has previously taught courses in Statistics at the Geography Department at Humboldt University in Berlin. Viktor also worked as a data scientist for an e-commerce start-up, developing predictive models.

Research Interests

  • (Urban) flood resilience
  • Flood damage mitigation, risk management and adaptation
  • (Probabilistic) catastrophe modelling and insurance
  • Early warning systems
  • Bayesian statistics and machine learning

Research

Research - 2023

The authors of this paper use an innovative analytical approach to investigate the knowledge gaps and challenges associated with considering multiple resilience dividends in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of disaster risk reduction interventions at the community level for the example of flood risk. Read more

Research - 2022

This analysis shows that urban flood resilience as a concept has evolved over the last two decades. From an engineering concept with a strong focus on ensuring that the built environment can withstand a flood to a more recent definition as a transformative process with the aim to enable all parts of the urban system to live with floods and learn from previous shocks. Read more

Research - 2021

Using the example of flood risk in England and Wales, this study looks at both the evidence for and drivers of business lock-ins to the physical risks from climate change. The findings show that decisions made today can lock businesses into future risk trajectories that may be difficult and costly to change. Read more

The concept of ‘multiple resilience dividends’ is not yet widely applied. This paper analyses the knowledge gaps and challenges that arise from applying ‘multiple resilience dividends’ in the planning, implementation and evaluation of disaster risk reduction interventions at the community level. Read more

Research - 2020

Policy

Policy - 2022

Policy - 2021

Policy - 2020

The Philippines is highly exposed to natural hazards including typhoons. This report, finding that financial aid tends to be heavily focused on response to hazards rather than preparedness and resilience, investigates why further disaster risk policy intervention may be required at the local level and provides guidance to policymakers. Read more

Policy - 2019

This submission was made to the Environment Agency's consultation on its draft strategy for flood and coastal risk management in England, and draws on the Grantham Research Institute's work and expertise over many years in this area. Read more

This paper summarises the Institute's submission to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ call for evidence on policy direction to prepare the UK for flooding and coastal erosion, drawing on a decade of work by the Grantham Research Institute with the insurance industry and policymakers addressing issues around climate change and adaptation. Read more

Books

Books - 2023

Events

Events - 2020

Events - 2019

News

News - 2023

News - 2021

Learning lessons from the devastating flooding in Western Europe and China – and raising awareness of the importance of flood risk reduction activities and the long-term consequences of inaction – should be seen as a necessary investment in our future, write Swenja Surminski and Viktor Rözer, as they draw out particular lessons for Germany. Read more

News - 2020

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