Dr Konstantinos Chalkias
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Overview
Overview
Biography
Konstantinos graduated with a PhD in Business Development from the Surrey Business School, University of Surrey, in 2013, where he was awarded the Surrey Business School Scholarship. He also holds a BA in Management Science and Technology from Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece, and a MSc in Programme and Project Management from Warwick University, UK. He joined Birkbeck, University of London, in March 2019. Before, he was a Research Fellow at the Faculty of Management, Bayes Business School (formely Cass).
Konstantinos is also an independent member of the Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee (RFCC), Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The committee’s role is to reduce flood risk, make communities more resilient and adapt to the challenges of a changing climate in the Thames area which covers over a quarter of England’s population.
Konstantinos has also executive teaching and consulting experience in the global insurance and reinsurance industry. He has designed and delivered various training and development programmes for senior executives of global (re)insurance companies both in the UK and abroad. He is also delivering consulting services, including data collection, analysis and strategy recommendations, for various companies in the (re)insurance industry. In the past, Konstantinos has also worked as a project manager and a business management consultant.
Web profiles
Administrative responsibilities
- PhD in Management Programme Director
Honours and awards
- Fellow (FHEA), Higher Education Academy,
ORCID
0000-0001-5365-9579 -
Research
Research
Research interests
- Strategy as Practice (SaP)
- Practice Theory of Organizations and Markets
- Paradox Theory
- Grand Challenges
- Insurance and Reinsurance
- Disaster Risk Financing (DRF)
Research overview
Konstantinos is a qualitative researcher interested in strategy-as-practice (SaP) and paradox theory. Drawing from process and practice theory, he studies organizations and markets. He has also a research interest in paradox theory with a focus on complex inter-organizational systems. Finally, he is interested in international comparative studies that explore organizational variation in global financial markets.
His research has been looking into how governments and markets alongside other intergovernmental organizations work together to address the growing insurance protection gap. He has been studying several schemes around the world that aim at reversing the growing unaffordability and unavailability of property disaster insurance in the face of climate change.
His current project is delving into the intricate relationship between insurance and resilience. Insurance plays a crucial role in providing financial support for post-disaster recovery. At the same time, physical resilience serves as both a shield against physical damage and a proactive measure to reduce the risk of disasters. In the face of escalating climate change-induced flood disasters in the UK, which profoundly impact both the environment and socioeconomic landscape, Konstantinos investigates this complex interplay between insurance and resilience.
My research has been funded by the Bank of England, the Government of Canada, the United Nations, the British Academy, and The Economic & Social Research Council.
Feel free to follow me on LinkedIn.
Research Centres and Institutes
- Independent Member, Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee (RFCC)
- Member, Birkbeck Research Centre for Environment and Sustainability
Research projects
The insurance protection gap as a grand challenge: Protection Gap Entities (PGEs) between state and market
Protection from flood disaster in the UK: Exploring the Paradox of Insurance and Resilience across diverse stakeholders
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Publications
Publications
Article
- Chalkias, Konstantinos and Jarzabkowski, P. and Kavas, M. and Krull, E. (2025) That's not fair! Navigating the duality of fairness in insurance. The British Journal of Sociology ISSN 0007-1315.
- Jarzabkowski, P. and Bednarek, Rebecca and Chalkias, K and Cacciatori, E. and Kavas, M. and Krull, E. and Rodgers, R. (2025) Translating, co-creating, and performing: reflections on a 15-year journey for impact into the grand challenge of disaster insurance. Strategic Organization 23 (1), pp. 79-97. ISSN 1476-1270.
- Bednarek, Rebecca and Cacciatori, E. and Chalkias, Konstantinos and Rodgers, R. and Jarzabkowski, P. and Kavas, M. and Krull, E. (2024) Delivering impact via the ebb-and-flow of a research team: reflection on a long-term program of research into a global societal challenge*. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 60 (1), pp. 194-214. ISSN 0021-8863.
- Jarzabkowski, P. and Bednarek, Rebecca and Chalkias, Konstantinos and Cacciatori, E. (2022) Enabling rapid financial response to disasters: knotting and reknotting multiple paradoxes in interorganizational systems. Academy of Management Journal 65 (5), pp. 1477-1506. ISSN 0001-4273.
- Jarzabkowski, P. and Krull, E. and Kavas, M. and Chalkias, Konstantinos (2021) Strategies for responding to pandemic risk: removal and/or redistribution. Journal of Financial Transformation (54), pp. 62-69.
- Bednarek, Rebecca and Chalkias, Konstantinos and Jarzabkowski, P. (2021) Managing risk as a duality of harm and benefit: a study of organizational risk objects in the global insurance industry. British Journal of Management 32 (1), pp. 235-254. ISSN 1045-3172.
- Anesa, M. and Chalkias, Konstantinos and Jarzabkowski, P. and Spee, A.P. (2019) Practicing capitals across fields: extending Bourdieu to study inter-field dynamics. Research in the Sociology of Organizations 69B, pp. 129-142. ISSN 0733-558X.
- Cacciatori, E. and Jarzabkowski, P. and Bednarek, Rebecca and Chalkias, Konstantinos (2019) What's in a model? Computer simulations and the management of ignorance. Academy of Management Proceedings 2019 (1), pp. 18102-18102. ISSN 0065-0668.
- Jarzabkowski, P. and Bednarek, Rebecca and Chalkias, Konstantinos and Cacciatori, E. (2019) Exploring inter-organizational paradoxes: methodological lessons from a study of a grand challenge. Strategic Organization 17 (1), pp. 120-132. ISSN 1476-1270.
Book
- Jarzabkowski, P. and Chalkias, Konstantinos and Cacciatori, E. and Bednarek, Rebecca (2023) Disaster insurance reimagined: protection in a time of increasing risk. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192865168.
Book Section
- Jarzabkowski, P. and Chalkias, Konstantinos (2018) Making markets for uninsured risk: Protection Gap Entities (PGEs) as risk-processing organizations in society. In: Gephart, R. and Miller, C. and Svedberg Helgesson, K. (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Risk, Crisis and Emergency Management. Routledge Companions in Business, Management and Accounting. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. pp. 507-510. ISBN 9781138208865.
Other
- Jarzabkowski, P. and Chalkias, Konstantinos and Clarke, D. and Iyahen, E. and Stadtmueller, D. and Zwick, A. (2019) Insurance for climate adaptation: opportunities and limitations. Rotterdam, the Netherlands and Washington, DC, U.S.: Global Commission on Adaptation, UN.
- Jarzabkowski, P. and Chalkias, Konstantinos and Cacciatori, E. and Bednarek, Rebecca (2018) Between state and market: protection gap entities and catastrophic risk. London, UK: Cass Business School, City, University of London.
- Jarzabkowski, P. and Cabantous, L. and Tapinos, E. and Chalkias, Konstantinos (2014) Global Reinsurance Masterclass Series 7 - Imagining the future: stay ahead in the reinsurance game through scenario planning. London, UK: Cass Business School, City, University of London.
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Business and community
Business and community
Outreach
Academy of Management Insights. How nations are collaborating on natural disaster insurance.
The Conversation: A disaster relief insurance system shows how well international alliances can work – new research
The National Preparedness Commission (NPC): Uninsurability and the Role of Protection Gap Entities. https://nationalpreparednesscommission.uk/publications/uninsurability-and-the-role-of-protection-gap-entities/