Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
What does the future hold for the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Network? Well, for our part, we hope it continues to offer opportunities for the UK flood risk management community to come together, share best practice, experience and knowlege. After three years as PI, Professor Pender will pass the baton. We are looking for someone to lead the development of a proposal for future Network funding.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
One of the 33 women profiled to help challenge imbalances in diversity in academia is Heriot-Watt University Water Academy’s Dr. Heather Haynes. In June, the Young Academy of Engineers is launching The “Women in Academia Now' to help inspire new and early career researchers in academia.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
The Return of the......'Just 2 Minutes' Conference Session
Not quite as entertaining as the return of a Jedi warior, admitedly, but perhaps the most exciting and informative conference session the FRM community will experience this summer!
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
On June 29th, we held our final Annual Assembly associated with our EPSRC 3 year funding. The event brought together those working across a spectrum of roles and organisations in Flood Risk Management. The event aimed to provide opportunities for those working in different disciplines, organis
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
Scotland’s coastal habitats are threatened by sea level rise and the impacts of climate change. RSPB Nigg Bay reserve was the pilot site for Scotland’s first managed realignment project in 2003. It showed the potential for the technique. RSPB Scotland has published a report entitled Glorious Mud – homes for nature, protection for people.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
The Environment Agency have published a flood cost estimate for the winter 2013/2014 floods. This assessment found that total economic damages for England and Wales were between £1,000 million to £1,500 million, with a best estimate of £1,300 million.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
A new National Centre for Resilience was launched in Dumfries, earlier this week by Scottish Environment Minister Aileen McLeod. The centre will work in collaboration with experts at the Met Office, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency to support national planning for resilience to natural hazards.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
The number of people estimated to be at risk from flooding in the UK is expected to rise significantly over the next two decades. Current estimates suggest that more than five million people and two million homes and businesses are at risk from flooding.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
A six year plan to protect homes, businesses and communities from flooding has been launched by the Scottish Government. The strategies identify a total of 42 flood protection schemes that have been proposed for action over the next five years at a total cost of £235m, aiming to protect up to 10,000 properties.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
Water crises and failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation ranked as top long-term risks
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
PhD Vacancy - Near real-time correction of flood forecasting using high-resolution satellite data for multi-hazard risk assessment in lowland tropical regions
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
A new report, Communicating Flood Risks in a Changing Climate was launched this month. Designed to be a practical resource for practitioners it aims to help build community resilience for future climate impacts and support productive conversations about climate change and flooding.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
Calling all students enrolled in subjects relating to Flood Risk and Coastal Management (FCRM), and to young professionals who have been working in this area for no more than three years.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
Coastal erosion and flooding are global environmental and economic threats, and existing coastal defence structures are aging, exposing the communities to increased hazard. The PhD project will focus on the numerical modelling natural beaches and coastal defence structures in order to simulate and thereby understand how these systems behave.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
In the imposing setting of the House of Lords, the new SuDS Manual and BeST (Benefits of SuDS Tool) was launched by the team from
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
To achieve a Scotland that is more resilient to climate change we need to work together. No single organisation, business or community can adapt to climate change alone. In 2016 Adaptation Scotland will provide funding and support for one new partnership project.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
With the launch of the FCERM.net and Sniffer on-line community forum, we are calling for enthusistic members from policy, practice or research to join our team of On-line Community Champions.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
A consortium of researchers are working across multiple universities to investigate the effectiveness of Blue-Green approaches to introduce a more natural water cycle in cities. This is achieved by using sustainable approaches to water managegement that still offer resilience to future changes i
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
The Scottish Flood Forum (SFF) is an independent, community-focussed charitable organisation that supports communities at risk of flooding to build resilience and help them prepare for a flood event.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
Snifffer and FCERM.net are currently looking for volunteers to join their Community Forum focus group. The group will evaluate the effectiveness of an on-line forum designed to encourage co-creation of research, knowlege exchange and sharing of best practice within the Network.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
A team of scientists at the University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre and the British Oceanographic Data Centre has compiled a new 100-year database of coastal flooding for the UK. The database, and accompanying online tool called ‘SurgeWatch’, currently contains information of 96 large storms during this period, the highest sea levels they produced, and a description of the coastal flooding that occurred during each event.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
As part of a project exploring Climate Change Impacts on Indian Agriculture and Water Management (MICCI), workshops were set up with a diverse range of stakeholders to raise awareness of the impacts of climate change on water resources and to disseminate key mitigation measures emerging from the project.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
In a recent publication based on the European Flood Awareness System researchers demonstrated that there are significant monetary benefits to be gained from implementing continental-scale probabilistic flood forecasting system - in the order of 400 Euro for every 1 Euro invested. This work supports the wider drive to implement early warning systems at the continental or global scale to improve our resilience to natural hazards.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
A joint study by two Dutch organisations, Deltares and Floodtags, has developed a new mapping tool that uses real-time data from tweets. It is hoped that the 'real-time' flood maps will give crisis managers a greater insight into the situation during a flood event and enable them to make much more effective decisions.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
The organisation Responding to Climate Change have published a short article looking at how three coastal cities are taking different measures to prepare for rising sea levels. Their approaches to Flood Risk Management all take into consideration ‘Multiple Benefits’, yet each of the measures is significantly different from their counterparts’.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
The Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Network Annual Assembly 2015 will take place in Edinburgh on Thursday 28th May. The assembly brings together a diverse range of professionals from across the Flood Risk Management sector. This year the focus of the Assembly is on translation and dissemination of research outcomes.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
The Woodland for Water initiative aims to identify where planting of woodland can help to deliver water quality objectives under the EU Water Framework Directive. This has been achieved through opportunity mapping in a collaborative approach by the EA and Forest Research.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
NCAR in Colorado have this month released a video highlighting their use of predictive models for wildfires and floods.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
The Environment Agency is recruiting for new independent members for the Trent Regional Flood and Coastal Committee (RFCC). The Trent RFCC is one of 12 Regional Flood and Coastal Committee in England. The committees play a crucial role in deciding local priorities, raising local levy funding a
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
Research News is the biannual publication from the joint FCERM R&D programme*. This issue looks at how the Environment Agency will make better use of local and historic flood data and how the costs and impacts of the winter 2013 to 2014 floods is being estimated.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
On Friday March 27th, the Green Infrastructure Forum will hold their offical launch meeting. The Forum has evolved from The Scottish Green Roof Forum and is a collaboration between organisations, businesses and researchers, and seeks to promo
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
Professor Hannah Cloke from University of Reading has been awarded winner of the ‘early career researcher' category of the inaugural NERC Impact Awards in recognition of exceptional economic and/or societal impact within the UK and internationally.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
The NERC-funded CONVEX (CONVective EXtremes) project held a workshop on intense rainfall and flash flooding in January at The Royal Society in London. The event brought together academics and stakeholders from government and the private sector to discuss the latest understanding of UK intense rainfall and how this new knowledge might be developed into policy guidance.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
New methods that could help better understand why flood hazard is increasing or decreasing have been published in Geophysical Research Letters.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
A new mapping tool, Climate Just, has been developed by Climate UK and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to show the impact of climate change in England. The software highlights ‘hot spots’ and provides an insight into of inequalities at a local level indicating the vulner
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
A new European project, Strengthening And Redesigning European FLOOD risk practices: Towards appropriate and resilient flood risk governance arrangements (STAR-FLOOD) aims to aid the deisgn of policies to improve preparation and response to flood risks from rivers across Europe. The innovative new project incvolves collaboration between academics and practitioners in six European countries and includes UK case studies from Kingston-upon-Hull, the Lower Thames and Leeds.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
FCERM.net will sponsor a Special Session on Flood Risk Management on May 27th at part of the IWRA XVth World Water Congress being held in Edinburgh over five days (25-29 May 2015).
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
In May 2015, Edinburgh will be the focus of the international water resource management effort as world-leading academics, researchers and policy-makers gather for the XVth World Water Congress. Presented by the Scottish Government and supported by Scottish Water, the Congress will take place over five days 25-29 May 2015.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
A new handbook promoting good practice for channel management has been developed. Written for the flood risk management authorities, the handbook brings together over 10 years of research and practice. It aims to help with the decisions of when and how to carry out channel management for flood risk and land drainage purposes
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
A new report launched by The Royal Society; Resilience to Extreme Weather highlights the risks posed to society by extreme weather and points towards a more holistic approach towards building resilient societies.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
The Blueprint for Water partnership, a coalition of organisations representing over two million members, have released a report that highlights the importance of considering a range of flood protection measures, other than dredging. The report
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Minister for Environment and Climate Change have launched a new Coastal Flood Warning service for the Moray Firth. The service has introduces 17 new Flood Warning Areas to help vulnerable communities reducing the risk for up to 9,000 homes and businesses.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
On the 18th November Professor Garry Pender will take the Chair of the Institution of Civil Engineers Scottish Region. The role involves supporting the Institution in delivering knowledge, inspiration and education programmes across Scotland. Professor Pender's term will begin with an open meeting on “Flood Risk Management: from defence to social impact”
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
Research News is the biannual publication from the joint Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Research and Development (FCERM R&D) programme. The programme conducts, manages and promotes flood and coastal erosion risk management research and development.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
Medmerry is one of the stretches of coastline most at risk of flooding in England. It's ‘managed realignment scheme has now become the UK’s largest manmade coastal habitat flood scheme and has won ‘The Prime Minister’s Better Public Building Award’ as well as a British Construction Industry Award.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
A new initiative that brings flood engineering science together with the arts is engaging one of the most at risk flood cities in the UK - Using chalk to mark a 32-mile continuous line through the city in an attempt to highlight the risk of flooding.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
£4-5 million of Research Council funding will be made available to fund research projects understanding the interdependencies between water, energy and food security in the context of a more sustainable economy and changing environment as part of the EPSRC - Water Energy Food Nexus Sandpit Call.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
A report released by the Union of Concerned Scientists(UCS) this month indicates that coastal flooding will become a regular occurrence in many of the States across America. It is thought that sea level rise will impact low-lying areas causing a range of impacts from flooded roads and homes to eventual community retreat.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
The fifth report of The Environmental Audit Committee gave a 'red' scorecard to the coalition government in three key areas, air pollution, protecting nature and preventing flooding indicating a deteriation in progress. A further seven areas were designated as 'amber' having made no progress, while there were no 'green' designations at all.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
Many members of FCERM.net made the journey to Lausanne in Switzerland for this year's Conference on Fluvial Hydraulics, River Flow2014. The focus of the conference this year was the interaction between water, sediments and structures in natural or built environments.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
The Environment Agency have just published a Working with Natural Process research and development framework to identify and prioritise research needed to aid FRM Authorities in the delivery of sustainable Flood Risk Management.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
Newcastle-upon-Tyne flooded on 28 June 2012 during intense summer storms. Newcastle University collected evidence about the depth of flood water in the city and this unique data set allowed us to test models for surface water flooding.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
The remnants of Hurrican Bertha left a trail of destruction across parts of the UK this week, with surface water flooding causing hundreds of residents across the country to be evacuated, severe disruption to
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
In an effort to raise the profile of the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Network (FCERM.net) in Europe and forge new international partnerships, Garry Pender gives an interview in a European publication, describing the role of that the Network plays in UK Flood Risk Management
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
A collaboration between The British Geological Survey (BGS) and Heriot-Watt University will create a new centre for Earth and Marine Science and Technology. Based at Heriot-Watt University’s Edinburgh Campus, the Sir Charles Lyell Centre will be one of Europe's leading centres for research and expertise in the earth and marine sciences.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
A new report describes the distribution and impacts of weather, climate, and water-related disasters and highlights measures to increase resilience. The report aims to aid decision makers facing the challenge of protecting communitites from natural disasters.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
Understanding, predicting and modelling the impacts of Flooding From Intense Rainfall (FFIR) requires critical observations and data on floods and flood-generating processes during events as well as post-event surveys and surveys to support historical-event reconstruction by modelling.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
To understand the complex hydrological processes that contribute to flooding, hydraulic flood-risk models are available. However, these models are not designed to accommodate probabilistic climate information, such as available through UKCP09.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
This residential workshop for ECR's is themed towards weather, climate and natural hazards and will present an overview of model evaluation methods, statistical inference for model output, and the use of models in risk management and decision-making, with the aim of exposing participants to methods and insights available in environmental modelling and encouraging critical evaluation of the approaches and methodologies used in their own research. Participants can expect interactive problem-solving exercises, discussion time andfacilitated sessions allowing participants to explore and understand the concepts presented by the expert lecturers.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
The ARCC network has launched a blog, OpenARCC, to provide advice and guidance on how to share and archive research data, documents and project websites. It includes summaries of best practice and links to more detailed information, with further content to be added over the summer.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
A project that aims to increase community resillience to flooding in communities in England has reached the end of it's first year, and is showing promising results. . The Pathfinder project uses a framework for measuring community resilience and findings show all 13 communities have made progress in Year 1 on the interventions outlined in their original project plans. In some cases, planned targets have been exceeded and additional activities have been initiated. Interventions include Property Level Protection, rain gauges, CCTV schemes and community flood stores as well as outreach approaches such as materials for engaging with schools and a Junior Flood Action Group.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
The first FCERM.net Annual Assembly took place place in Edinburgh on June 19th and 20th.
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A new report by the government’s official adviser on preparing for climate change, The Committee on Climate Change has called for vital work to begin to enhance the resilience of transport networks, homes, hospitals and water supplies.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
The impacts of a changing climate, growing populations, investment cuts and lack of maintenance are creating a serious risk that the UK’s infrastructure is inadequate to meet future challenges
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The Environmental Change Institute in the University of Oxford is advertising for a Research Fellow in Global Assessment of Water Security.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
The 2014 Research Challenge Award invites proposals from Arup staff in
collaboration with external industrial and academic partners. The aim of
the Challenge is to encourage open innovation focused on a few of Arup’s top
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
Scotland’s Centre of Expertise for Waters (CREW) delivers accessible research and expert opinion to support Scottish Government and its delivery partners in the development and implementation of water policy in Scotland.
Submitted by Catherine Morgan on
The Flood Resilience Community Pathfinder Scheme was launched in 2013 with 13 local authorities to enable their communities to find simple, effective ways to minimise their flood risk, improve their levels of preparedness, and build confiden
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Flooding From Intense Rainfall (FFIR) is a 5 year NERC funded programme which aims to reduce the risks of damage and loss of life caused by surface water and flash floods through improved identification, characterisation and prediction of inter