Submitted by CEH Admin1 on
Project overview:
The FDRI Scoping Study is a 15-month NERC-funded project, running from May 2020 to July 2021, to establish the requirements for a potential new national Floods and Droughts Research Infrastructure. It seeks to identify the data, monitoring and infrastructure requirements that would enable the improved process understanding necessary to better predict and mitigate floods and droughts in the UK. The Infrastructure ultimately would contribute to increasing the nation’s resilience to such extreme events.
The scoping study team is led by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) and comprises researchers from the University of Bristol, Imperial College London, and the British Geological Survey (BGS). The study will be consultative, collecting views via surveys, webinars and virtual workshops from a broad range of stakeholders, including the academic community, businesses, landowners, government and regulatory agencies. It will undertake a thorough review of past and ongoing flood and drought monitoring programmes, both in the UK and internationally, and will consider a range of technical options with a view to ensuring the infrastructure’s long-term sustainability. The study will build on the NERC-funded community workshops that took place in 2019 and which identified strong stakeholder interest in engaging with a dedicated scoping phase.
During the scoping study there will be two additional virtual community workshops, one in Autumn 2020 and the other Spring 2021, together with further extensive stakeholder engagement. This will be key to the study’s success.
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 |
| 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 |
Get Involved
We would very much welcome your involvement so that we can get a clear understanding of the diversity of opinions and priorities across the community. In order to do this, and in compliance with UK GDPR requirements, we need you to 'opt in' to the process by subscribing to our mailing list:
* indicates required
