Open Models, Collaboration, and Catastrophe Risk With Oasis’s Dickie Whitaker

In this episode of the Risky Science Podcast, Dickie Whitaker, CEO of the Oasis Loss Modelling Framework, discusses how open-source catastrophe modeling is transforming the risk ecosystem. Whitaker shares the origin story of Oasis and how the platform is working to lower barriers to entry, spur innovation, and increase transparency in a space long dominated by proprietary models. The conversation covers how Oasis has evolved over the past decade, recent milestones in its adoption by major players like Moody’s and Verisk, and the importance of model evaluation frameworks in ensuring trust and credibility—especially for regulators, reinsurers, and developing countries.

Whitaker also offers a behind-the-scenes look at Oasis’s technology roadmap, including performance upgrades for large portfolios, growing support for cyber and climate-conditioned models, and new tools tailored for low-resource environments. From global reinsurers to national risk pools, the episode explores the expanding use cases for open modeling and what success looks like for an ecosystem built on collaboration. Whether you're a model developer, regulator, or insurance professional, this episode offers a candid look at the future of catastrophe risk analytics.