Submitted by CEH Admin1 on
Project overview:
What is the FDRI? The FDRI is a scoping project funded by NERC that will establish the requirements for a potential new national Floods & Droughts Research Infrastructure, and provide NERC with the information needed to submit a business case in Spring 2021.
The primary objective of the FDRI is to increase the UK’s resilience to floods and droughts through a transformational research capability, which will dramatically improve in UK’s flood and drought forecasting, planning, incident response & management.
The Scoping Study team is led by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and comprises researchers from the University of Bristol, Imperial College London, and the British Geological Survey.
Building on the NERC-funded community workshops in 2019, which identified strong stakeholder interest in engaging with a dedicated scoping project, the FDRI team will be seeking views, ideas and inputs from a broad range of stakeholders across business, landowners, government and regulatory agencies via a series of surveys, webinars and virtual workshops. The team will also undertake a thorough review of past and ongoing flood and drought monitoring programmes, both in the UK and internationally.
Project Partners
The Project Management Team
The project will be delivered through several complementary work packages , one of which is responsible for overall project management. Members of the Project Management team are as follows:
| Gareth Old | UKCEH, Principal Investigator & WP Lead |
| Nichola Badcock | NERC, Quality Assurance |
| Victoria Barlow | UKCEH, Project Manager |
| John Bloomfield | BGS, WP Lead |
| Wouter Buytaert | Imperial College London, WP Lead |
| Matt Fry | UKCEH, WP Lead |
| Gwyn Rees | UKCEH, Project Co-Lead |
| Nick Reynard | UKCEH, Project Co-Lead |
| Marcia Spencer | UKCEH, Outreach, Communication & Project Support |
| Thorsten Wagener | University of Bristol, WP Lead |
Project Steering Committee
The project is overseen by a Project Steering Committee. Members include:
| David Hannah (Chair) | University of Birmingham |
| Nichola Badcock | NERC, Head of Capital |
| Lindsay Beevers | Herriot-Watt University |
| Alex Chahian | NERC, Programme Sponsor, Major Projects |
| Nick Chappell | Lancaster University |
| Stewart Clarke | National Trust |
| Hannah Cloke | University of Reading |
| Isabelle Durance | Cardiff University |
| Steve Hallett | Cranfield University |
| Joseph Holden | University of Leeds |
| Steve Kaye | UKWIR |
| Ruth Kelman | NERC, Head of Resilient Environments |
| Oliver Knevitt | NERC, Programme Manager, Capital and Resilient Environments |
| Michelle Manning | NERC, Senior Programme Manager, Resilient Environments |
| Thomas Robinson | NERC, Senior Programme Manager, Capital |
| John Remedios | NCEO / University of Leicester |
| Rebecca Smith | NERC, Programme Manager, Capital |
| Doug Whitfield | Environment Agency |
Why get involved?
Your contribution to the project is vital and this is your opportunity to become part of a collaborative, influential network. Your involvement will enable us to gain a clear understanding of the range and diversity of opinions and priorities across the community and will guide the project outcomes.
Please note: due to GDPR guidelines it is critical that you ‘opt in’ to ensure your participation. It’s simple to do this, just click below:
Make sure your voice can be heard
FDRI Questionnaire
We have had a great response to the FDRI questionnaire. The information provided has been instrumental in helping us to develop and plan for the workshops that are due to take place in January and March 2021.
We plan to share the findings from the questionnaire and from the workshop with you through a second webinar in the spring.
Listen to the FDRI Webinar
Thank you to everyone who attended the Introduction to the Flood Drought Research Infrastructure (FDRI) Scoping Study webinar on Wednesday 14th October 2020. In case you missed it, or if you’d like to refer back, you can watch the full recording of the webinar below.
We were asked many questions during the Q&A section of the webinar about the scope and detailed considerations of the FDRI scoping study. A record of the themes raised and the responses made by the project team to specific questions can be found here >>
For general enquiries, to find out more about the project or to change your involvement level, please contact Marcia Spencer and Victoria Barlow
