Continue in the right direction

We provide Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training, drawing on the expertise of our staff and external consultants. You can learn skills in: flood warnings, flood risk management, asset condition assessment, flood alleviation and coast protection.

If you are interested in bespoke in-house training, whether it is for a group of new or existing employees, please contact us to discuss how this can be tailored to your exact requirements. We can also provide courses outside the UK.

For our next scheduled course 'Introduction to Flood Benefits Appraisal Course' please contact [email protected] for further details on this course and future courses.

For the next 'The Flood Management Benefits: A Better Appraisal in Less Time Course', please express your interest so that a date can be confirmed. For more information please contact [email protected].

Thought leadership for over 40 years

For more than four decades, the Flood Hazard Research Centre has written publications that have shaped the way we look at natural hazards, and in particular flood risk and water management.

Our publications by respected academics include edited and authored books, peer-reviewed academic journal articles, reports for government departments (both in the UK and overseas), consultancy reports, conference proceedings, departmental working papers and monographs.

A selection of our most recent publications are given below. For further information on these and earlier publications, please contact Josie Joyce.

Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management: A Manual for Economic Appraisal
(Multi-Coloured Manual 2013)

The latest Multi-Coloured Manual has been produced by the FHRC at Middlesex University, in collaboration with the Environment Agency and Defra. The 2013 Manual replaces the 2005 publication. It provides theoretical underpinning of the data and detailed methodology for use in the practical assessment of schemes and policies. Additionally, it explains the limitations and complications of Benefit-Cost Analysis to inform decision-making on investment in river and coastal risk management.

The manual is available to order from Hive.

Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management: Handbook and Data for Economic Appraisal
(Multi-Coloured Handbook and Data)

The annually updated Handbook (and Data) is a companion volume to the 2013 Manual. It is a step-by-step guide that allows the user to carry out economic appraisals for the majority of flood and coastal erosion risk management schemes. The Handbook and Data are available to download under licence from a secure section of the MCM-Online. You may also be interested in our MCM courses, delivered by the authors of the Manual and Handbook.  Please visit our Courses page for more information.

History of the Multi-Coloured Manual

In the last four decades, FHRC has produced four Manuals bringing together information on the impacts of flooding and coastal erosion. In 1977, the Blue Manual was the first document to provide guidance on appraising flood hazards in the UK, involving both damage to urban properties and the benefits of protecting agricultural land. This was followed by the Red Manual in 1987, which investigated in greater detail the indirect or secondary effects of floods, as well as updating material on industrial, commercial and retail flood damages. In 1992 we produced the Yellow Manual, which focused on coastal erosion and flooding problems, and systematised the assessment of the 'intangible' impacts of coastal erosion on beach recreation and other use values of the coast previously left as unquantifiable.

During 2001 and 2004 we updated this work and in 2005 we produced, the Multi-Coloured Manual, the Multi-Coloured Handbook and the Multi-Coloured CD. In turn, the Environment Agency commissioned FHRC in 2009 and 2010 to update all this data, based on new research and the floods that occurred in 2007. In 2010 we produced the Multi-Coloured Handbook - 2010 and the Multi-Coloured CD - 2010.

In 2011, a substantial revision of the 2005 MCM commenced in order to reflect new research and address the needs presented by new partnership funding arrangements for flood risk management.  This resulted in the Multi-Coloured Manual 2013. The accompanying Handbook and Data is available from the MCM-Online.

Overview of flooding and coastal erosion manuals/handbooks produced by FHRC:

Blue Manual 1977
Red Manual 1987
Yellow Manual 1992
Multi-Coloured Manual 2005
Multi-Coloured Handbook 2005
Multi-Coloured Handbook and CD 2010
Multi-Coloured Manual 2013
MCM-Online – Handbook and Data available to download from a secure section of the website 2013 - present

Flood Risk Science and Management

Pender, Gareth / Faulkner, Hazel (eds.)
Flood Risk Science and Management

1. Edition - November 2010
ca. 162.- Euro
2010. 528 Pages, Hardcover
ISBN-10: 1-4051-8657-7
ISBN-13: 978-1-4051-8657-5 - John Wiley & Sons

Detailed description

Approaches to avoid loss of life and limit disruption and damage from flooding have changed significantly in recent years. Worldwide, there has been a move from a strategy of flood defence to one of flood risk management. Flood risk management includes flood prevention using hard defences, where appropriate, but also requires that society learns to live with floods and that stakeholders living in flood prone areas develop coping strategies to increase their resilience to flood impacts when these occur.

This change in approach represents a paradigm shift that stems from the realisation that continuing to strengthen and extend conventional flood defences is unsustainable economically, environmentally, and in terms of social equity. Flood risk management recognises that a sustainable approach must rest on integrated measures that reduce not only the probability of flooding, but also the consequences. This is essential as increases in the probability of inundation are inevitable in many areas of the world due to climate change, while socio-economic development will lead to spiralling increases in the consequences of flooding unless land use in floodplains is carefully planned.

Flood Risk Science and Management provides an extensive and comprehensive synthesis of current research in flood management; providing a multi-disciplinary reference text covering a wide range of flood management topics. Its targeted readership is the international research community (from research students through to senior staff) and flood management professionals, such as engineers, planners, government officials and those with flood management responsibility in the public sector. By using the concept of case study chapters, international coverage is given to the topic, ensuring a worldwide relevance.

You can now order your copy of Flood Risk Science and Management from the Wiley-VCH website.

BRACED/ Anukulan

The project will help half a million poor and vulnerable people in six districts of far west rural Nepal build their resilience to climate change impacts like floods, landslides and drought. In practice this means supporting smallholder farmers to earn an extra £140 per year by taking advantage of small farm economic opportunities and investments in climate-smart technologies such as drip irrigation, essential oil production, multiple-use water systems and community-based renewable energy. To ensure sustainability it will also build the capacity of local communities and local institutions to manage floods, drought and new crop diseases and become stronger and more self-reliant. The project is led by iDE. FHRC's component of the project involves research on the process of integrating local adaptation plans of action (LAPA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) through case studies and institutional assessments at the level of local government units, to be consolidated into policy recommendations.

Funder: UK DFID (UKaid)

Duration: February 2015 – December 2017

FHRC Project Manager: Dr Parvin Sultana

CALCNR (Community based Adaptive Learning in management of Conflicts and Natural Resources in Bangladesh and Nepal)

The project aims to generate evidence-based knowledge on the gaps between community management of natural resources, local adaptation innovations and national policy debates over climate change and conflicts related to natural resource access in Nepal and Bangladesh. The research is led by FHRC working with partners Forest Action, iDE and Nice Foundation. Participatory action research is underway in 70 sites with local community based organisations, mainly in Bangladesh floodplains, and in community forests and hill areas of Nepal. Findings are linked with an adaptive learning process among and with larger networks of community organisations in both countries, and the project engages with policy and practitioner stakeholders through district and national level "policy learning forums". This is expected to result in lessons on methods to help poor natural resource users overcome conflicts that may be worsened by climate change and enhanced capacity among community organisations. Ultimately the results are expected to reveal the constraints and enabling conditions for community initiatives that improve resilience and minimise adverse impacts of conflicts on the rights of the poor.

Funder: NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research)

Duration: January 2014 – December 2017

FHRC Project Manager: Dr Parvin Sultana

Capacity building in Bangladesh for sustainable management of coastal natural resources in a changing climate

The project is designed to improve understanding of the complex environmental challenges facing communities in the coastal zone of Bangladesh, and how those communities can adapt.  There is presently a gap between the training and professional skills of students and academics.

Through academic linkages at faculty and graduate student levels, including dissertation research in the Bangladesh coastal zone, and research capacity building, particularly by involving and supporting a coordinated set of Master's level student research.  The project aims to research climate change impacts and adaptations for livelihoods, environment and fisheries in the coastal zone, and mainstream climate change into existing courses and teaching.

The partners will feed research findings into teaching at Middlesex University, Bangladesh Agricultural University and Independent University Bangladesh.  The Flood Hazard Research Centre at Middlesex University will provide expertise to strengthen the research capacity and methods of the Bangladesh partners, in particular applied action research merging social and environmental disciplines to work with affected communities, and support mainstreaming these issues into teaching.

Funder:

Funded under INSPIRE programme of British Council, partners: Bangladesh Agricultural University and Independent University Bangladesh

Duration:

2010 – 2013

FHRC Project Manager:

Dr Paul Thompson

CapHaz-Net: social capacity building for natural hazards toward more resilient communities

CapHaz-Net focussed on the social dimensions of natural hazards as well as on regional practices of risk prevention and management.  The project aimed to improve the resilience of European societies to natural hazards and suggests ways of how to achieve this, paying particular attention to social capacities and how they are influenced by contextual conditions. The project was the first primarily social-science project on natural hazards funded by the European Commission and hopes to develop a growing network of individuals, academics, stakeholders and practitioners who share a common interest in the social dimensions of natural hazards.

FHRC contributed to most project work packages but was work package leader for WP4 on Social Vulnerability.

Funder:

European Commission Seventh Framework Programme

Duration:

2009 – 2012

FHRC Project Manager:

Sue Tapsell

WeSenseIt: Citizen Observatory of Water

The challenge of effectively managing our local environments and living safely in them is enhanced not only with a good appreciation of that environment but also engagement with and between relevant stakeholders. The environment is dynamic and developing but so are our technological abilities to both monitor and communicate about that environment. The WeSenseIt project aims to develop local 'citizen observatories' to strengthen water governance. By bringing together innovative low cost sensor systems, social networks via social media and mobile devices and relevant professional and public stakeholders it will test if such an observatory is viable and if it encourages engagement with the water environment and leads to more informed decision making.

This is a European project with river and surface water flooding and quality issues addressed in three case study locations: a UK case in partnership with Doncaster Metropolitan Council, a Netherlands case with UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education and an Italian case with the Alto Adriatico Water Authority. The developed platforms will coordinate with the major European and global information sharing initiatives and be complementary to the actions conducted in the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security initiative, with tools made available within the Global Earth Observation System or Systems framework.

Working with a number of European technology SME's the sensor systems and delivery networks will be developed. In partnership with the Institute for Water Education, the Flood Hazard Research Centre are responsible for developing, understanding and maintaining stakeholder involvement, the 'human' sensors, and monitoring any changes in governance relationships during the four year project. We will also explore the application of Agent Based Modelling in representing the citizen observatory. 

Funder:

European Commission Seventh Framework Programme

Duration:

2012 - 2016

FHRC Project Manager:

Dr Simon McCarthy

CIRIA – Guidance on communicating local flood risk

To support local authorities and other risk management authorities, the Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA), the Environment Agency and a wide range of partners want to share, augment and develop good practice on communicating local flood risk in the form of surface runoff, groundwater and ordinary watercourses flooding effectively to the public.

In partnership with Arup, FHRC is collating research, evidence, case studies and practical experience to develop easy to use good practice advice for all flood risk management authorities (local authorities, regulators, water and sewerage companies etc) involved in communicating with and engaging the public on local flood risk management. The guidance will be available from the CIRIA website early in 2013.

Funders:

Environment Agency 

Office of Public Works 

JBA Trust

United Utilities 

Yorkshire Water

Thames Water

Duration:

2012 - 2013

FHRC Project Manager:

Dr Simon McCarthy

Role of floodplain community based organisations in coping with risk

FHRC are leading this research project. The purpose of the project is to support enhanced coping with risk by the poor in Bangladesh floodplains by assessing current practices and coping by a range of community organisations and conducting action research on good practices with a network of community based organisations.

FHRC will undertake research in Bangladesh with a network of 250 existing Community Based Organisations (CBOs) managing floodplain natural resources and with other local community institutions for collective action. This will develop an improved understanding of their present coping strategies and attitudes to risk. Good practices and innovations identified with the CBOs will be piloted by CBOs to improve risk coping mechanisms and ultimately the livelihoods of poor fishers and farmers.  Lessons will be drawn and disseminated to practitioners and policy makers who have scope to scale up the findings to potentially benefit a large part of the rural poor population facing natural and climatic hazards. Our partners are a Bangladesh NGO – Nice Foundation, and the Society for Water Resources Management – a federation of 250 existing floodplain CBOs formed through our earlier projects in Bangladesh.

Funder:

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Duration:

2010 – 2013

FHRC Project Manager:

Dr Parvin Sultana

ConHaz: Costs of Natural Hazards

Cost assessments of damages, prevention and responses to natural hazards supply crucial information to decision support and policy development in the fields of natural hazard management and climate change adaptation planning. Significant diversity in methodological approaches taken and terminology used in costs assessments of different natural hazards and impacted sectors makes it difficult to establish comprehensive, robust and reliable costs figures, and to compare costs across hazards and impacted sectors.

ConHaz has provided more insight into cost assessment methods, which is needed for integrated planning, budgeting and policy action prioritisation for the various natural hazards.  This comprehensive approach has enabled ConHaz to clearly identify overlaps, commonalities and knowledge gaps in cost assessments of natural hazards.

FHRC's research focused on reviewing flood losses assessment methods and end-user needs. For more information please refer to the CONHAZ report:

Green C., Viavattene C., Thompson P., 2011. Guidance for assessing flood losses- CONHAZ Report

FHRC has also contributed to the CONHAZ synthesis document:

Meyer V. et al., 2012. Cost of Natural Hazards – a Synthesis – CONHAZ report

Funder:

European Commission Seventh Framework Programme

Duration:

2010 – 2012

FHRC Project Manager:

Dr Christophe Viavattene

EcosHaz: Economics of Coastal Hazard Prevention

The EcosHaz project aims to establish a sustainable knowledge framework addressing the costs and benefits of prevention and response to coastal hazards such as flooding, shoreline erosion, storm surges, sea level rise and oil spill accidents.  Until now, investment decisions in Europe in this field have been made more on local or regional 'pork barrel' political imperatives than on logical risk assessments. The EcosHaz project intends to overcome some these limitations and weaknesses by:

1. Reviewing and analyzing the available frameworks, methodologies and tools
2. Providing state of the art guidance as well as necessary data sources and support structures for the economic assessment of coastal risk prevention measures
3. Validating the applicability of the developed materials.
4. Organising training of relevant personnel in coastal authorities and their consultants /advisers.

This presentation by Prof Edmund Penning-Rowsell, filmed at the University Pablo de Olavide, Seville, details FHRC's involvement in EcosHaz.

Partners within the consortium are Sigma Consultants, Greece; the University Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain; the Flood Hazard Research Centre, Middlesex University, UK ; the Maritime Institute in Gdansk, Poland;  the Department of Economic Theory at University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and the Università degli Studi di Catania, Italy.

More information, including on the European partners in this project, is available at the EcosHaz website.

Funder:

EU Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection and co-funded by The European Union

Duration:

2015 – 2016

FHRC Project Manager:

Professor Edmund Penning-Rowsell

ENSURE: enhancing resilience of communities and territories facing natural and na-tach hazards

Vulnerability has long been a key concept in disaster literature. However, the majority of studies have focused on research related to the hazard, therefore neglecting the influence of the vulnerability of exposed systems to the consequences of such hazards, such as the death toll and losses from natural or man-made disasters. There is also a need to better identify and measure the ability of 'at risk' and affected communities and territorial systems to respond to such disasters. This was the starting point of the ENSURE project.

The basic assumption of ENSURE was that our ability to better understand and evaluate different types of vulnerabilities constitutes a crucial tool to strengthen communities in the face of disasters due to extreme events and climate change. Improving the understanding of the factors that make a community more vulnerable is crucial. This involved addressing the various physical, psychological, cultural, systemic, social and economic components that shape the relationship between societies and the "natural" environment to permit more tailored and articulated mitigation measures. The project involved 10 partner institutions from France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

ENSURE has contributed to an improved analysis of vulnerability for improving the resilience of communities. The overall objective of the project was to develop a new methodological framework for Integrated Multi-Scale Vulnerability Assessment. The framework is based on a comprehensive, integrated and inter-disciplinary understanding of how mitigation strategies can be improved in the future; it will hopefully contribute to the reduction of human losses, economic damage and social disruption due to extreme events striking communities exposed to a variety of natural hazards, as well as to the potential consequences of Climate Change.

Specific impacts are to:

1. Provide support for policy decisions with key stakeholders, at various scales, relating to prevention measures and plans in order to minimise damage from natural disasters;
2. Present, through the Integrated Multi-Scale Vulnerability Assessment, a feasible tool to improve communication with local communities in the process of raising risk awareness, on technological expertise, and for a better understanding of social and cultural factors to help increase public involvement;
3. Understand adaptation and resilience factors, and system responses, which help to minimize risks from natural and human-triggered technological disasters; included within this is the ability to assess the vulnerability of strategic facilities and infrastructures;
4. Improve our understanding of environmental vulnerability to some natural disasters, and particularly to some of the secondary consequences e.g. due to the interaction between vulnerable assets, wrong risk management practices and the "natural environment".

Funder:

European Commission Seventh Framework Programme

Duration:

2008 – 2011

FHRC Project Manager:

Sue Tapsell

EPI-Water: Economic Policy Instruments - Water

Economic policy instruments (EPI) have received widespread attention over the last three decades, and have increasingly been implemented to achieve environmental policy objectives. However, whereas EPI have been successfully applied in some policy domains (such as climate, energy and air quality), their application to tackle water management issues (drought/water scarcity, floods, water quality control) are beset by many practical difficulties. EPI-Water sets to assess the effectiveness and the efficiency of Economic Policy Instruments in achieving water policy goals, and to identify the preconditions under which they complement or perform better than alternative (e.g. regulatory or voluntary) policy instruments.

Using a common multi-dimensional assessment framework, the project will compare the performance of single economic instruments or their apposite combinations with the performance otherwise achievable with regulatory (command & control) interventions (such as water restriction/rationing, licensing or permitting), persuasive instruments or voluntary commitments.  Furthermore the project will identify remaining research and methodological issues that need to be addressed, in particular with regards to the further development and use of national accounting, for supporting the design, implementation and evaluation of EPI in the field of water management.

Funder:

European Commission Seventh Framework Programme

Duration:

2011 - 2013

FHRC Project Manager:

Dr Christophe Viavattene

Exeter Flood Alleviation Scheme: A new approach to economic and social benefit appraisal designed for partnership funding

The Centre has completed an innovatory benefit assessment for Exeter City Council Engineer's Department for the proposed new Exeter flood alleviation scheme.   Benefit assessments are usually undertaken using the principles of national economic efficiency benefit-cost appraisals as required by The Treasury in their Green Book.  However, since local partnership funding of flood risk management projects has emerged there is also considerable interest in local (in addition to national) economic and social benefits which assess the financial impact of floods and the benefits to local and regional economies of protecting against them.  Such an assessment allows potential local beneficiaries to obtain a better understanding of the likely impacts of floods on them and their business linkages. The project involved major adjustments to the Centre's flood damage data sets which are routinely used by the flood risk management industry, and the establishment of a new methodology for local/regional economic and social benefit appraisal.   The results of the project revealed that local economic and social benefits are likely to be substantially higher than national economic ones – something which was already expected but for which data allowing detailed estimates to be made had not previously existed.

The Centre is interested in hearing from other local authorities that might be interested in the advantages of applying these new data and methods.

Funder:

Exeter City Council

Duration: 

2012 – 2013 

FHRC Project Manager:

Professor Dennis Parker

Flood Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA)

The Flood CBA project aims to establish a sustainable Knowledge Platform for the use of stakeholders dealing with the cost-benefit analysis of flood prevention measures in the context of different  socio-economic environments within the EU.

The project entails the implementation of the following elements:

a) Project Management actions

b) Networking actions

c) Analysis of stakeholders' requirements and gathering of background information

d) Consultation actions and development of supporting and knowledge exchange tools

e) Demonstration actions

f) Capacity building actions

g) Dissemination actions

h) Exploitation and capitalisation actions

Funder:

Civil Protection Financial Instrument of the DG-Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection and co-funded by the European Union

Duration:

2013-2014

FHRC Project Manager:

Professor Edmund Penning-Rowsell

Flood Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) 2

This project is, in effect, a knowledge exchange project, designed to introduce some member states to a more rigorous assessment of flood protection and flood risk management schemes, with an emphasis on both economic efficiency and the maximisation of public safety.  The countries involved are the UK, Greece, Portugal and Spain, and the method of working is to select case studies in each country and analyse the costs and benefits of flood risk management measures there, as a vehicle for training programmes for stakeholders and users of project appraisal techniques and methods. In the UK we are using Oxford as the case study, illustrating the potential for implementing a major bypass channel to reduce flood risk in the city, but also the problems of doing so in terms of benefits and costs, stakeholder agreements and funding opportunities.

This project is the second phase of the successful Flood CBA project.

Funder: DG-ECGO (European Commission Humanitarian Aid & Civil Protection)

Duration: January 2016 - December 2017

FHRC Project Manager: Professor Edmund Penning-Rowsell

Flood risk in port cities: a global assessment of the 21st century

The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) actively works with national governments to highlight the role of urban governance and policy to deliver cost-effective responses to climate change. 

FHRC contributed to a report that extends on previous work published by the OECD (Nicholls et al. 2008), and demonstrates how damages would be expected to change under different plausible scenarios.  The report quantifies the benefits of global climate change mitigation and local adaption to reduce this growth in risks, and hence the implications of different portfolios of action versus no action.  In particular, the study quantifies the additional adaptation efforts that will be required to manage this problem.

Funder:

Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD)

Duration:

2010 – 2011

FHRC Project Manager:

Professor Colin Green

Distributional consequences of flood risk management

This project provided a robust, national assessment of the distribution of costs and benefits of Flood Risk Management (FRM). The benefits of this work will:

• inform policy on the funding of flood prevention;
• develop a wide reaching, national quantification of who benefits and loses from the current flooding approach;
• appraise alternative options for FRM funding approaches;
• help to understand the implications of the current move towards a risk based approach to flood risk insurance;
• and improve the understanding and appreciation of 'fairness' in the current FRM funding approach and alternative scenarios. 

Funder:

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) via Halcrow

2010 – 2012

FHRC Project Manager:

Professor Edmund Penning Rowsell

RISKMAP: Improving flood risk maps as a means to foster public participation and raising risk awareness: toward flood resilient communities

Despite long-lasting attempts to reduce vulnerabilities to natural hazards, the damages resulting from flooding are still increasing in Europe.

In many respects, floods are beyond the immediate control of human beings and despite an enhanced ability to predict the occurrence of floods, an increased resilience of communities at risk seems vital for reducing suffering and damages. It is the main objective of RISKMAP within a flood risk mapping process and the use of flood risk maps to raise flood awareness.

Staff at FHRC led work in two main areas: Participation and a Lower Thames Case Study.  The main objective of the work task on participation (WT2.1) was to consider the creation of risk maps within a dialogue process and create a participatory framework that allows for the constructive and open engagement, and integration, of selected stakeholders (experts, decision-makers and well as representatives of the local population), their views, information requirements and local expertise within the risk mapping process. The task hence followed the principles of good governance bringing together various categories of concerned players and stakeholders generating a co-expertise process.  The project adopted a framework developed by Stirling (2004) which advocates the value of participation and classifies the types of participation by its outcomes.  The project in particular investigated an instrumental rationale to engagement which describes how participation in practice can be used to build trust, acceptance and understanding between stakeholders and decision-makers, and a substantive rationale whereby broader and deeper knowledge should be taken into account during decision making processes in order to result in better quality decisions.  The project paid particular attention to the diagnosis of potential deficiencies and opportunities in participation and stakeholder involvement with regard to risk mapping and directly contributed to the development of best practice guidance and recommendations.

Case studies were included in the project in order to test and build upon some of the theoretical work being developed. The Lower Thames Case Study (WT4.2) investigated the issues involved in managing flood risk in a large semi-urbanised area in the lower part of the River Thames catchment, London. This case study, centered on Chertsey, Surrey, and focused on the role of the public within the process of flood risk mapping.  It investigated flood maps as communication tools for flooding issues to: engage the 'at-risk public about flood risk, gather local knowledge about flooding and to raise awareness. FHRC also contributed to a number of other work packages including; the legal framework of mapping and participation, current practices in flood risk mapping, mapping visualisation and provided public test persons for the experimental graphic semiology task.

Key project partners:

Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ, Germany) [project co-ordinators]; University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences (BOKU, Austria); University of Applied Sciences Deggendorf (FHD, Germany) and Université François-Rabelais, Ecole Polytechnique, Département Aménagement,(UMR CITERES, France).

Funder:

2nd ERA-Net CRUE Research Funding Initiative by:

Austria - Minitsterium für ein Lebenswertes Österreich
England - Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
France - Ministère de L´Environnement, de L'Énergie et de la Mer
Germany - Federal Ministry for Education & Research (BMBF)

Duration:

2009 – 2012

FHRC Project Manager:

Dr Sally Priest

FLOODsite - Integrated Flood Risk Analysis and Management Methodologies

FLOODsite was a large EC research project undertaking research of over €14M in value through 37 partner organisations and over 250 individual researchers. The project aimed to deliver an integrated European methodology for flood risk analysis and management for rivers, estuaries and the coast; a consistent approach to flood risk management process and practice, techniques and knowledge to support integrated flood risk management, and frameworks for decision support for long-term and flood event risk management. In November 2007, the Parliament and Council of the European Union published a new European Directive on the assessment and management of flood risks. FLOODsite was listed as one of the European actions that supported the Directive.

The Flood Hazard Research Centre contributed to five key tasks within the research project:

Task 10 - Socio-economic evaluation and modelling methodologies;

Task 11 – Risk perception, community behaviour and social resilience;

Task 13 - Strategies for pre-flood risk management;

Task 29 – Text-based knowledge transfer.  

Funder:

European Commission 6th Framework Programme

Duration:

2004-2009

FHRC Project Manager:

Sue Tapsell

Communicating impacts in flood warnings and forecasts

The Flood Hazard Research Centre with CH2M and the National Flood Forum are undertaking a one year project to investigate the flood impact and historical/geographical context information. The aim is to identify and harness that information that is most valuable to enable the public and professional stakeholders to make effective decisions to undertake effective action before and during a flood. Based on the needs identified, the project will determine how best to express those impacts throughout current and future professional services.

The project is commissioned through the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) as part of the Joint Environment Agency, Defra, NRW and Welsh Government FCRM Research and Development Programme.

Impact

The project aims to produce new communication approaches which facilitate enhanced decision making and actions among both the at-risk public and relevant professional organisations in England and Wales to reduce the consequences of fluvial flooding.

If you have any questions about this project, please get in touch with Dr Simon McCarthy [email protected]

No project link yet

Impacts of Community Management of Forests and Floodplains (Evidence and Impact Research Grant)

Community management of forests and floodplains has spread rapidly as a means of empowering the poor, maintaining natural resources and delivering equitable benefits. However, evidence for positive interactions between poverty reduction and restored or sustained ecosystems is limited. This study will assess changes in the distribution of benefits and ecosystem services generated from wetlands in Bangladesh and forests in Nepal. It will focus on collating dispersed evidence to examine the intertwined effects of community management on a) livelihoods of poor people dependent on these systems, and b) key indicators of ecosystems sustainability.

Published and grey literature will be systematically reviewed, and a comparative analysis made of data sets held by the partner organisations/researchers generated over 15 years. Data will be disaggregated within the two ecosystems, and comparative analysis will be made according to key factors including resource tenure, membership or representational community based organisations (CBOs), and the role of networking and learning (horizontal and vertical) among CBOs. Nationally accepted indicators of poverty will be used to segregate the effects on livelihoods. The research will draw lessons on institutional arrangements that can be taken up more widely to enable ecosystems to deliver services to the poor in a sustainable way.

The institutional aspects of particular significance are networks or federations of local citizen groups that are increasingly developing to improve coordination, learning and interaction with government. In both countries there are vibrant networks among community organisations and initiatives (in Nepal focused on forests and in Bangladesh focused on floodplains and water bodies, in each case facilitated by the respective project partner). These networks emphasise the importance of common pool resources and collective action for the rural livelihoods of poor people and the ecosystems they depend on, and the scope for networking to enhance resource management, lesson learning, and influence on policy. This research aims to synthesise dispersed evidence, bridge gaps and build on these opportunities. It will address the gap in scientific knowledge on the pro-poor impacts of innovations and adaptations in natural resource management in two of the most important ecosystems in Asia that are moreover vulnerable to climate change. The case studies will involve those innovators and affected people, and will nationally enhance links of community networks with researchers and with those who set the policy and institutional framework.

This research project builds on our research since 2006 in Bangladesh and establishes a new link with Forest Action Nepal which will undertake case studies in Nepal.

Funder:

Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (a programme supported by NERC, ESRC and DFID)

Duration:

2012 – 2013

FHRC Project Manager: 

Parvin Sultana

Improving flood plain management through adaptive learning networks in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh many Community Based Organizations (CBOs) have been formed and left to continue managing wetlands when projects ended. This project brought 150 existing CBOs involved in managing floodplain natural resources together into a learning network. The CBOs identified lessons and good practices and spread their adoption. They identified gaps and opportunities, and coordinated innovation to address common problems. The adaptive learning process evolved through workshops among CBO leaders at a regional level and two-way communication between leaders and members of their CBOs. By bringing together CBOs that had before concentrated on either fishery management or water management for rice, and reviewing together constraints and opportunities, proven practices spread and new options were tested.

Over three years 56% of participating CBOs acted to improve fisheries management, and 72% now have fish sanctuaries. Taking a system-based view of natural resource management encouraged a quarter of the CBOs to test dry season crops that need only about 20% of the water used by the dominant irrigated rice. The research indicates that an adaptive learning network results in: more rapid and systematic learning than individual trial and error, encourages innovation, enhances access to advice, and strength in numbers improves ability to face threats such as external pressure to access common water resources.

The project was coordinated by the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA), with involvement of a nongovernmental organization, Banchte Shekha. The Flood Hazard Research Centre provided technical support and led the research activities.

Funder:

International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

Duration:

2007 – 2010

FHRC Project Manager:

Dr Parvin Sultana

Knowledge for Climate (KfC)

In coastal plains and river deltas flood risk management (FRM) requires constant adaptation to changing circumstances. The Netherlands has a tradition in such adaptation, as it has coped with rising sea levels and subsiding soils for many centuries already.  Accelerated climate change now urges the Netherlands to reconsider its long-term policy for flood risk management. This requires the assessment of which strategic alternatives are to be preferred, not only from a risk reduction point of view, but broader from the point of view of social equity, economic efficiency and ecological integrity.

Knowledge for Climate is a research programme for the development of knowledge and services that  hopes to make it possible to 'climate proof' the Netherlands. Governmental organisations (central government, provinces, municipalities and water boards) and businesses actively participate in the research programme.

FHRC will be involved in the insurance aspects of the project.

Funder:

The Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM)

Duration:

2010 - 2014

FHRC Project Manager:

Professor Edmund Penning-Rowsell

Natural Flood Retention on Private Land

The Flood Hazard Research Centre is a principle contributor in LAND4FLOOD Cost action. This EU action is a four year networking programme that aims to establish a common knowledge base and channels of communication among scientists, regulators, land owners and other stakeholders in flood risk management addressing the theme. The theme focuses on Natural Flood Retention on private land including economic issues (e.g. how to compensate for or incentivize flood retention services); property rights issues (e.g. how to allow temporary flood storage on private land); issues of public participation (e.g. how to ensure the involvement of private landowners) as well as issues of public subsidies (e.g. how to integrate/mainstream flood retention in agricultural subsidies).

Impact

Knowledge transfer via the establishment of a strong network focused on the theme facilitating further research and policy development actions.

If you have any questions about this project, please get in touch with Dr Simon McCarthy [email protected]

Lower Thames flood plain management (project 1)

This research builds on previous phases of consultation (Lower Thames Strategy Study Phases 1 to 4) and liaison with the residents and all Local Planning Authorities throughout the Lower Thames area (Windsor to Teddington Lock). The project involves working with the key project partners Halcrow Ltd, Jacobs Engineering U.K. Ltd and together with the Environment Agency Flood Risk Management (FRM) teams. The aim of the project is to agree through pilots appropriate levels of FRM support in the form of Flood Plain Management (FPM) tool development, FRM approaches and partner responsibilities. 

The project objectives is to recommend options for public incentivisation and awareness programmes through social surveys, consultations and 'building trust' activities to achieve buy-in for the Community Based Measures Programme (community structural, temporary and non-structural approaches). It also aims to develop a selected range of hydraulic models to support further refinement of FPM tool and provide guidance for its future operationalisation within relevant Local Authorities. 

Funder:

Halcrow Ltd

Duration:

2010 – 2012

FHRC Project Manager:

Dr Simon McCarthy

The Multi-Coloured Manual

In the last four decades, FHRC has produced five Manuals bringing together information on the impacts of flooding and coastal erosion. In 1977, the "Blue Manual" was the first document to provide guidance on appraising flood hazards in the UK, involving both damage to urban properties and the benefits of protecting agricultural land. This was followed by the "Red Manual" in 1987, which investigated in greater detail the indirect or secondary effects of floods, as well as updating material on industrial, commercial and retail flood damages. In 1992 we produced the "Yellow Manual" which focused on coastal erosion and flooding problems, and systematised the assessment of the "intangible" impacts of coastal erosion on beach recreation and other use values of the coast previously left as unquantifiable.

During 2001/04 we were tasked by DEFRA (the Department of  Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, formerly MAFF) to update all this work and produced in 2005 the "Multi-Coloured Manual (MCM)", the "Multi-Coloured Handbook" and the "Multicoloured CD". This involved a major review of the use of the previous manuals, through surveys investigating strengths and weaknesses perceived by users in the consulting, engineering and flood defence community, and also a major update of damage data in the retail, commercial, industrial and residential sectors. In turn the Environment Agency commissioned FHRC in 2009/10 to update all this data, based on new research and the floods that occurred in 2007.  In 2010 we produced the "Multi-Coloured Handbook - 2010" and the "Multicoloured CD - 2010".

MCM Update - 2013

In late 2011, a substantial revision of the 2005 MCM commenced in order to reflect new research and address the needs presented by new partnership funding arrangements for flood risk management. This involved adding new data on flood impacts such as evacuation costs and vehicle damage. We also analysed the data used to calculate flood impacts on commercial properties, to determine where uncertainties lie and what improvements can be made.
This new 2013 "Multi-Coloured Manual" is now available from Hive. The accompanying "Handbook and Data" is also available to download electronically from the new website: MCM-Online.

Funder:

Environment Agency/Defra

Duration:

2011 – 2014

FHRC Project Manager:

Professor Edmund Penning-Rowsell

Development of master curricula for natural disasters risk management in Western Balkan countries

The Flood Hazard Research Centre is undertaking a three year Erasmus+ Capacity building in Higher Education project. The overall aim of the project Development of master curricula for natural disasters risk management in Western Balkan countries is to build experts for prevention and management of natural disasters in the region of Western Balkan (WB) according to the local national and EU policies. In addition to building knowledge and skills the project will see the development of modernised laboratories with the latest hardware and software equipment for simulations and assessments of natural disasters, where students will gain practical knowledge that can be immediately applied, and the up-to-date library units will contribute to innovative new master study programmes. The project also involves staff and student mobility funding between the partner organisations and countries to gain training and experience.

http://www.natrisk.ni.ac.rs/

Impact

Build educational capacity in disaster risk management within Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Invitation for Staff Mobility’s

Five day funded staff mobility’s are available to MU staff for November 2018 to July 2019:

2 staff attending University Nis, Serbia
2 staff attending University Pristina, Kosovo
2 staff attending University Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Staff would be required to provide teaching contact in English to staff or students within each institution on a subject related to the NatRisk project of natural disaster risk management and/or teaching practice. Minimum of 2 contact hours.

Remuneration is Travel €275 and Subsistence €1,120 with 70% paid before travel. The remaining 30% paid on return satisfying visit objectives and submission of a small EU report on the visit. Two additional days are provided for travel.

Expression of interest should be made to Dr Simon McCarthy [email protected].
Applications should be sent by 9th August 2018.
Positions are expected to be filled by the 10th August 2018, however a reserve list will remain open to expressions of interest.

Invitation for Student Mobility’s

Two month funded student mobility’s are available to MU students for January to July 2019:

2 students attending University Nis, Serbia
Students would attend the University Nis and would be ideal for post graduate or doctoral candidates in relation to developing their dissertation or research. Subject areas are flexible but priority given to those related to the NatRisk project of natural disaster risk management and/or teaching practice.

Remuneration is Travel €275 and Subsistence €1,575 with 70% paid before travel. The remaining 30% paid on return satisfying visit objectives and submission of a small EU report on the visit.

Expression of interest should be made to Dr Simon McCarthy [email protected].
Applications should be sent by 11th March 2019.
Positions are expected to be filled by the 11th March 2019.

If you have any questions about this project, please get in touch with Dr Simon McCarthy [email protected]

Flood Resilience Community Pathfinder Evaluation

FHRC is part of the consortium led by Collingwood Environmental Planning that is evaluating the new Defra Flood Resilience Community Pathfinder scheme. The Pathfinder is a new grant scheme designed to enable and stimulate communities at significant or greater risk of flooding to work with key partners to develop innovative local solutions that:

Enhance flood risk management and preparedness in ways which quantifiably improve the community's overall resilience;
Demonstrably improve the community's financial resilience in relation to flooding;
Deliver sustained improvements which have the potential to be applied in other areas.
Under the Pathfinder scheme Defra is providing funding to thirteen local authorities across England to stimulate community action on flood resilience. The measures being developed include property-level protection, flood resilience groups, volunteer flood wardens and community champions, engagement with more vulnerable groups and efforts to increase financial resilience.

FHRC staff are acting as advisors on the project as well as supporting the evaluation of two of the individual Pathfinder projects. Evaluating policy interventions like the Pathfinder scheme will generate valuable information and contribute to a reliable understanding of which actions work and are effective and could thus be applied elsewhere.    

Funder:

Defra

Duration:

2013 – 2015

FHRC contact:

Dr Simon McCarthy

Research Into Use (RIU) Asian innovation challenge fund project: integrated floodplain management in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has an abundance of water in its floodplains in the wet season, but the limited amount of surface water in the dry season drives productivity. Past agricultural development focused on rice production (including water management - abstraction of water for irrigation, drainage, and excluding early floods). Aquatic common pool resources, such as fisheries, that the poor in particular depend on have been declining.

This project was built on the opportunity for a 'systems approach' that offered a win-win outcome – an overall increase in floodplain productivity. There are already many community based organisations (CBOs) responsible for managing common resources in floodplains and waterbodies that have graduated from earlier project support, but these had focused on only fisheries or water management for rice. They provided a base for coordinated action. This project used an adaptive learning framework to link CBOs so that they could share lessons on testing and adapting innovations in improving floodplain resource management. The set of innovations to improve agriculture, water use and fisheries management in ways that complement one another is known as Integrated Floodplain Management (IFM). IFM incorporates:

profitable alternative dry season crops with lower water demand than irrigated rice to conserve more water for fish in the dry season;
closed seasons for protecting breeding fish and fingerlings;
shorter duration rice varieties to enable earlier sluice gate opening;
modified sluice gate operation to balance needs of both rice and fish;
dry season sanctuaries for fish;
and various other linked community initiatives.
The project aimed to improve the productivity of up to 250 floodplain areas and sustain common pool resources there. The aim was to directly improve the livelihoods of the members of associated CBOs (about 50,000 households, of these about 31,000 are estimated to be poor - fishers or functionally landless), and indirectly benefit many of another 390,000 households (about half poor) using these resources. IFM diversifies production systems which should contribute towards local adaptation to climate change, and towards national objectives of reducing poverty and empowering local communities to sustain responsible management of natural resources. FHRC was responsible for research and impact assessment activities and for supporting CBOs in the western side of Bangladesh, our partners in the project were three NGOs: Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA), Banchte Shekha, and Center for Natural Resource Studies, and in the UK MRAG.

Funder:

UK DFID through the RIU programme

Duration:

2008 – 2011

FHRC Project Manager:

Dr Parvin Sultana

RISC-KIT: Resilience-Increasing Strategies for Coasts – tool KIT

Resilience-Increasing Strategies for Coasts – toolKIT (RISC-KIT) will deliver ready-to-use methods, tools and management approaches to reduce risk and increase resilience to low-frequency, high-impact hydro-meteorological events. The open-source and free-ware RISC-KIT tool kit will consist of:

a Coastal Risk Assessment Framework (CRAF) which - at the regional scale (100's km) - can quickly assess present and future hot spot areas of coastal risk due to multi-hazards
a quantitative, high-resolution Early Warning and Decision Support System (EWS/DSS) for use on these hot spots (with a scale of 10's of km) and
a web-based management guide offering innovative, cost-effective, ecosystem-based DRR measures; and
a Coastal Risk Database of present and historic socio-economic and physical data.
These tools will enable Europe's coastal managers, decision-makers and stakeholders to:

identify hot spot areas;
produce timely forecasts and early warnings;
evaluate the effect of climate-related, socio-economic and cultural changes on coastal risk; and
choose the best prevention, mitigation and preparedness measures for their coast. The toolkit will be tested using data collected on ten diverse case study sites along each of Europe's regional seas and one international site.
The toolkit's performance will be evaluated with an End-User Board of coastal managers, civil protection agencies and local governments with a vested interest in each of these case study sites. The RISC-KIT products will help to achieve rapid attainment of UNISDR Disaster Reduction Goals and promote EU-consistent methods through innovative e-learning and open access publication. RISC-KIT will have an active synergy with Belmont Forum projects, related EU projects and an International Expert Board with members from third countries experiencing similar types of threats. For further information, see the RISC-KIT website.

FHRC is contributing to most project work packages but is work package leader for WP2 on improved method for regional scale vulnerability and risk assessment

Funder:

European Commission Seventh Framework Programme

Duration:

2013 – 2017

FHRC Project Manager:

Dr Christophe Viavattene

Source Control Options for Reducing Emissions of Priority Pollutants (ScorePP)

The main objective of ScorePP was to develop comprehensive and appropriate source control strategies that authorities, cities, water utilities and the chemical industry could employ to reduce emissions of priority pollutants (PPs) from urban areas into the receiving water environment.

FHRC research involved the micro-economic assessment of management options for priority pollutants in water.

Funder:

European Commission Sixth Framework Programme

Duration:

2006 – 2011

UPRC Project Manager:

Professor Mike Revitt

FHRC Contact:

Dr Christophe Viavattene

Science and Policy Integration for Coastal System Assessment (SPICOSA)

SPICOSA was an EU FP6 integrated project which focused on science and policy integration for Integrated Coastal Zone Management.  The SPICOSA premise was that decision-making processes for management and policy-formation do not always make best use of the existing knowledge. Knowledge transfer between science and policy is, of course, of critical importance here.  However, SPICOSA argued that the problem is more than this and is about the need for differently designed research. The project consisted of 54 partner organisations from 21 European countries who collaborated in 18 study sites to develop a holistic research approach known as the Systems Approach Framework (SAF), applying this approach to coastal science and coastal management.  SPICOSA worked on more local scales, at study sites such as the lagoon of Venice, a Norwegian fjord, or a Turkish bay.  It sought to integrate across scientific disciplines as well as between scientists and other stakeholders.

FHRC led the Science-Policy Interface Work-Package (WP1). This work included developing guidance on the use of stakeholder and issue mapping to promote learning between stakeholders (including scientists); with suggestions for organising and analysing this information to plan and inform a collaborative process in the best possible way.  The WP also focused on the centrality of deliberation to effective science and policy integration processes it provided guidelines and highlighted tools to facilitate deliberative processes.  Institutional mapping was also explored, underscoring the importance of understanding and exploring networks of institutions and organisations within ICZM and identifying both the rules that govern the interactions between them (e.g. laws, social relationships) and the 'players' that follow these rules, break them or "stretch" them. Social learning was a final central theme of this work package, exploring and testing the hypothesis that the nature of the relationships between stakeholders may be as important for gaining new insights for ICZM as the actual information being exchanged.

Funder:

European Commission Sixth Framework Programme

Duration:

2007 – 2011

FHRC Project Manager:

Dr Loraine McFadden

Selected Published Reports and Papers:

Tett, P., Sandberg A., Mette, A., Bailly D., Estrada M., Hopkins, T.S., Ribeirad'Alcala M., and McFadden, L (forthcoming 2012) Perspectives of Social and Ecological Systems.  Proceedings of 2nd ICZM Symposium, Arendal, 3-7 July 2011, Wiley-Blackwell.

McFadden L and Priest S. (2011). Social learning for ICZM or 'prejudice, dogma and spurious common sense'.  Solutions to Coastal Disasters Conference, Norway June 26-29.  The Coasts, Oceans, Ports and Rivers Institute (COPRI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

Mette, A. et al. (2011) The Systems Approach Framework Handbook

McFadden, L. and Priest, S. (2011) Guidance for identifying the Policy Issue, Spicosa Project Report, London, Flood Hazard Research Centre, Middlesex University. Published online February 2011.

McFadden, L. and Priest, S. (2011) Using social tools in the SAF Output Step, Spicosa Project Report, London, Flood Hazard Research Centre, Middlesex University. Published online February 2011.

Mette, A., Borner, J., Sandberg, A., Vanderlinden, J-P., Mc Fadden, L., Priest, S., Lowe, C., D'Hernoncourt, J., Fernandes, T., Hirschfeld, J., Raux, P. (2011): Guide to System Output, SPICOSA Project Report. Berlin, Kolleg fuer Management und Gestaltung nachhaltiger Entwicklung.

McFadden, L. (2010) SPICOSA: challenges of science and policy integration. Editorial. SPICOSA News Special 2010, Issue 2.

Vanderlinden, J.P., Stojanovic, Schmueli, D., Bremer, S., Kostrzewa, C and McFadden, L. (2010) The SPICOSA Stakeholder-Policy Mapping User' Manual, complete version with worked examples. Deliverable D1.7 SPICOSA Project, Project No: 036992. Published online February 2011.

McFadden, L., Priest, S. and Green, C. (2010) Introducing institutional mapping: A guide for SPICOSA scientists, Spicosa Project Report, London, Flood Hazard Research Centre, Middlesex University. Published online February 2011 pdf.

SPICOSA WP3 (2010). Guide to System Design, v.3.04. Napier University, Edinburgh. Published online February 2010

McFadden, L., Priest, S., Green, C. and Sandberg, A. (2009) Basic Principles of Science and Policy Integration, Spicosa Project Report, London, Flood Hazard Research Centre, Middlesex University. Published online February 2011.

McFadden, L., Priest, S. and Green, C. (2008) Introducing social learning: A guide for SPICOSA scientists, Spicosa Project Report, London, Flood Hazard Research Centre, Middlesex University. Published online February 2011.

McFadden, L., Green, C. and Priest, S. (2008) Social science indicators for Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), Spicosa Project Report, London, Flood Hazard Research Centre, Middlesex University. Published online February 2011.

STAR-FLOOD: Strengthening And Redesigning European FLOOD risk practices Towards appropriate and resilient flood risk governance arrangements

Urban regions in the EU are faced with increasing flood risks due to urbanisation and the effects of climate change. Both developments are surrounded with large uncertainties. The STAR-FLOOD project focuses on analysing, explaining, evaluating and designing policies to better deal with flood risks from rivers in urban agglomerations across Europe. There are several initiatives in European (e.g. the Floods Directive) and in national and regional policies to diversify and align different Flood Risk Strategies (FRSs); five such strategies are distinguished in STAR-FLOOD: risk prevention; flood defence; mitigation; preparation; and recovery.

We start from the assumption that urban agglomerations vulnerable to flooding will be more resilient if multiple FRSs are applied simultaneously, are linked together and are aligned. At the same time, the application of a diverse cluster of FRSs has to be appropriate, i.e. attuned to the physical and social context. The latter requires innovative Flood Risk Governance Arrangements (FRGAs). In the proposed programme, insights from the fields of public administration and law will be integrated and combined. Across different EU countries and regions, we will identify different mixes of FRSs and analyse, explain and evaluate the emergence and dominance of the governance arrangements through which these strategies are institutionally embedded. This will be done through a comparative analysis of these FRGAs in six EU member states. With this analysis, we aim to identify good practices and to gain understanding of the resilience of these strategies as well as their appropriateness in different physical, social and legal contexts. The results of the programme are expected to lead to policy design principles for FRGAs and to implications for policy and law at the level of the EU, its member states, regional authorities, and public-private partnerships.

FHRC is part of an international consortium led by Utrecht University working on the project. We are leading Work Package 1: 'Problem analysis', as well as contributing to all other research Work Packages and conducting the UK case studies in London, Hull and Glasgow.

Work Package 1 Deliverable Reports are now available on the STAR-FLOOD website.

Funder:

European Commission FP7

Duration:

2012-2016

FHRC contact:

Sue Tapsell

SWITCH: Managing water for the city of the future

Increasing global change pressures, escalating costs and other risks inherent to conventional urban water management are causing cities to face ever increasing difficulties in efficiently managing scarcer and less reliable water resources. As well, satisfying water uses/services and waste water disposal without creating environmental, social or economic damage is an increasingly difficult challenge.

SWITCH involved innovation in the area of sustainable urban water management.  This ambitious project looked towards water management in the 'city of the future' aimed to challenge existing paradigms and to find and promote more sustainable alternatives to the conventional ways of managing urban water.  SWITCH also set out to do things differently by carrying out action-orientated research in cities that was more demand-led reflecting the expressed needs of cities.

The SWITCH project included:

Cities in four continents and at various stages of development
All aspects of the water cycle – water, wastewater, stormwater and natural systems
A wide range of climatic, socio-economic and institutional situations
Social, economic and environmental perspectives
Scales ranging from household to city levels
Water as part of urban planning and the built environment
From the present time to the 'City of the Future'
FHRC were responsible for Governance issues.  This involved the preparation of: an overview report on governance, the development of a methodology for institutional mapping, and guidelines for procedural equity.  FHRC was also involved with Middlesex University's Urban Pollution Research Centre (UPRC) in the development of a GIS-based SUDS selection and location tool for the evaluation of hydrologic performance and storm flow reduction at the urban scale. The Geographic Information Decision System Support tool, SUDSLOC, aims at:

Providing support for the identification and location of appropriate SUDS
Supporting the integration of data (quantitative and qualitative) from a variety of sources to enable the investigation of the potential benefits of BMPs
Incorporating user-friendly tools to ensure simplicity and ease of communication
Requiring relatively few skills in GIS (once the spatial data are ready to use)
Communicating with a range of storm modelling approaches.  Further information and an example of application can be found on the SUDSLOC flyer.
Funder:

European Commission Sixth Framework Programme

Duration:

2006 – 2011

FHRC Project Manager:

Professor Colin Green

FHRC Contact for SUDSLOC:

Dr Christophe Viavattene

SYSTEM-RISK

A large-scale systems approach to flood risk assessment and management

SYSTEM-RISK is a Marie-Skłodowska-Curie European Training Network which aims on developing and implementing a systems approach for large-scale flood risk assessment and management and provides a framework for training and career development of 15 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs). SYSTEM-RISK performs leading-edge research with spotlights on three essential pillars of flood risk research:

Risk chain: considering the complete risk chain from the Sources through the Pathways to the Receptors and Consequences.
Interactions: augmenting the Source-Pathway-Receptors-Consequences‘ model by putting interactions centre stage and, in this way, replacing the traditional linear approach of the risk chain by a more realistic approach with interdependent linkages between physical and societal processes which finally shape the spatio-temporal flood risk.
Temporal dynamics: investigating the time-varying nature of flood risk and its components on different time scales, as for instance hours to days when flood defence failures change flood probabilities, months to years when people learn from damaging floods and improve private precaution, or decades to centuries when human settlements in floodplains evolve.
FHRC are leading two ESR projects:

• ESR 11 aims to assess and evaluate the interconnections between flood management approaches, in particular the balance between individual and collective action (ESR: Lydia Cumiskey, supervisor: Dr Sally Priest).
• ESR 12 is investigating indirect flood impacts on businesses and supply chains (ESR: Friederike Holz, supervisor: Dr Christophe Viavattene).
  For more information and news on the project, see the SYSTEM-RISK website and Twitter page.

Funder: European Union's EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020: Marie-Skłodowska-Curie European Training Network

Duration: 2016-2019

FHRC contact: Dr Sally Priest

THESEUS: Innovative Technologies for safer European coasts in a changing climate

In recent times, coastal protection and water management in coastal lowlands has been concerned to keep water out, defend property from water and live on dry land. Globally, and especially in parts of Europe, there has been a change in attitude towards coastal protection in response to the growing risk and uncertainty generated by climate change. The future of flood protection is in part a return to the past, with the focus being shifted to making space for water, or techniques that allow some areas to be sacrificially flooded.

THESEUS will examine the application of innovative combined coastal mitigation and adaptation technologies generally aiming at delivering a safe (or low-risk) coast for human use/development and healthy coastal habitats as sea levels rise and climate changes (and the European economy continues to grow). The primary objective is to provide an integrated methodology for planning sustainable defence strategies for the management of coastal erosion and flooding which addresses technical, social, economic and environmental aspects. THESEUS objectives are governed by three specific goals, which concern: (a) risk assessment, (b) response strategies and (c) application.

Funder:

European Commission Seventh Framework Programme

Duration:

2009 – 2013

FHRC Project Manager:

Professor Edmund Penning-Rowsell