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08.03.2018

CEH scientists will be presenting at the About Drought Showcase in Birmingham next week, an event which highlights the latest developments and hands-on access to outputs from the £12million Research Councils-funded UK Droughts and Water Scarcity programme (DWS).

The DWS programme supports improved decision-making through research outputs from four major interdisciplinary projects investigating relationships between the multiple drivers and impacts of drought and water scarcity. The About Drought Showcase event will highlight those projects to a range of sectors involved in decision-making and communication in relation to droughts and water scarcity including regulators, representatives from agriculture, business and industry, water and energy suppliers and environmental stakeholders. As well as researchers from the various projects, there are speakers from Defra, Atkins and the Consumer Council for Water.

Interactive sessions are focused on Business & Communities, Agriculture, Data, Drought Narratives, Environment, Water Supply and Monitoring & Early Warning. A Waterways Walk will venture out in Birmingham and include local stakeholders involved in water efficiency campaigns.

Monitoring and early warning

CEH scientists are involved in many of the sessions. Jamie Hannaford, head of the Hydrological Status and Outlooks Group at CEH, is principal investigator on two of the projects funded by the DWS programme (Historic Droughts and ENDOWS). Jamie will lead the session on Monitoring & Early Warning, presenting a synthesis of stakeholder needs for discussion. He is also a speaker in the Water Supply session.

Another speaker in the Monitoring & Early Warning session is Lucy Barker, who will present on drought status monitoring: from indicators to impacts. The session concludes with a facilitated discussion aimed at mapping out key priorities for monitoring and early warning based around achievable outcomes from the final stage of the DWS programme.

CEH features strongly in the Data session, led by Matt Fry and also involving presentations and demonstrations from Simon Parry, Alison Kay and Katie Smith on past drought data, future scenario data and interactive tools for data access. In the Environment session, meanwhile, Francois Edwards will present an overview of ecological health and resilience to water scarcity in the UK’s rivers.

The event presents an opportunity for stakeholders and practitioners to engage directly with research and outputs, as well as help shape the final phase of activity in the DWS programme through the ENDOWS project. This aims to maximise impact for a diverse range of stakeholders.

For more information follow @AboutDrought on Twitter.

Additional information

Read more about the About Droughts Showcase

Historic Droughts website

Staff page of Jamie Hannaford, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

CEH's Environment Information Platform, including the UK Drought Portal