In 2024, Project Groundwater continued its research partnership with the Open University (OU) and the University of the West of England (UWE). A PhD funded by the Project completed its second year, and three master’s students were supervised by UWE. We continued research into social, not just technical innovation in flood risk management, and began to share our learning more widely.
PhD research continued to advance knowledge about groundwater flooding
Claude Nsobya's PhD research across England and Uganda generated new perspectives on community engagement with Flood Risk Management. It continues to place Project Groundwater as part of an international research community, advancing knowledge and practice about groundwater flooding.
In 2024, Claude completed the second year of his PhD research. In particular, he has been looking at the relationship between community resilience and community involvement in flood risk management, in under explored contexts. Claude was mainly working on case study research in Uganda and England this year and he has now undertaken the majority of his interviews with stakeholders.
Claude travelled to Southwestern Uganda to collect data for his research. He visited a completed Government of Uganda community flood resilience building project which had an emphasis on Natural Flood Management. Claude’s research included a series of site visits, interviews and attending meetings of community groups involved in flood risk management and resilience building.
Claude’s initial research findings from Uganda indicate a high level of community organisation, driven and supported by the government led project. Communities appeared to have been empowered with knowledge, and skills in various flood risk management initiatives especially related to natural flood management. The project also delivered substantial amounts of funding to be directly managed by community groups.
Claude visiting communities in the Maziba catchment, Southwestern Uganda. The region faces fluvial and flash flood risk during the torrential rain of the country’s rainy season.
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Master's research students completed studies to help inform our work
Three Master’s students from the University of the West of England (UWE) completed their research this year, with study designed to help inform project Groundwater.
The students each based their 2023-24 dissertation research on Project Groundwater. Broad topics were suggested by the Project team and later picked up by the students who were supervised by Alice Moncaster from UWE. The Master’s research projects also offered Claude the opportunity to gain valuable supervisory experience, supporting one of the researchers.
Rachel May
Master’s in Environmental Management
Climate change
Rachel May (Master’s in Environmental Management) worked closely with Project Groundwater to develop her dissertation: ‘Flooding with Climate Change: The Chalk in Southern England’. Rachel developed some complex analyses of the projected water levels in boreholes across the Chilterns, in different future climate scenarios, to understand whether groundwater is projected to rise or fall. The results were insightful, but inconclusive, suggesting that more work needs to be done to understand the model inputs and its implications.
Natasha Lamyman
Master’s in Environmental Management
Community perceptions of flood risk
Natasha Lamyman (Master’s in Environmental Management) worked with Claude and Alice on her Masters: ‘Community engagement in Flood Risk Management’. She developed a public survey on perceptions and understanding of flooding. She also interviewed Project Groundwater experts and analysed data from a community survey delivered by the Project. Natasha’s conclusions were that a lack of understanding of flooding - and of groundwater flooding in particular - creates a significant barrier to effective community engagement and to opportunities to increase resilience.
Tanith Lyon
Master’s in Sustainable Development in Practice
Impacts on mental health
Tanith Lyon (Master’s in Sustainable Development in Practice) focused her dissertation on mental health: ‘Groundwater flood risk, anxiety and the measures taken to address mental health within the UK Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme (FCRIP) projects’. The evidence Tanith developed came from a literature review which showed the considerable impact of flooding on mental health, but which contained very limited information about the relative impact of groundwater flooding, which can affect people for longer and with less warning. Tanith reviewed online information from other FCRIP projects, and developed a questionnaire for project leads to find out how much mental health is being considered as an aspect of resilience. Results indicated that this hasn’t been a priority for the majority of FCRIP projects so far.
Research Practice Partnership: letting social innovation out of the black box?
Throughout the year, Karen Potter (OU) and Sarah Fitton (Aurora Engagements) continued to work closely with Groundwork, the Project’s engagement specialists, in their work for the Research Practice Partnership.
To underline the Project’s commitment to participatory research, a Research Practice Partnership was established by the Project, bringing together colleagues from The OU, Aurora Engagements and Groundwork.
They looked at the importance of capturing qualitative, as well as quantitative, indicators for community resilience. They also started to examine a key area of resilience which is often taken for granted: social innovation.
Building community resilience is about relationships, how we communicate and engage with communities, yet the flood risk industry tends to prioritise the technical aspects of resilience. Project Groundwater is building networks, linking communities to more formal institutions, promoting community empowerment, and influencing behaviours. However, little is said, or advice offered, on how to evaluate this activity, and it is often taken for granted. Karen and Sarah decided to let this social innovation out of the ‘black box’ and began to research how it can be better captured and evaluated.
Sharing research across the Project, and internationally too
The Research and education workstream plays a key role in the dissemination of learning and knowledge through conference papers and publications. This is in line with the objectives of Project Groundwater, and also with the Environment Agency who see knowledge as an asset, to be captured through articles and other papers.
In 2024, Karen and Sarah finished their working paper, “Community Resilience and Engagement” aimed at maintaining discussions about what community resilience means.
Claude presented his PhD research at two international conferences (World Sustainable Built Environment 2024 and Architecture Media Politics Society (AMPS)), as well as the Environment Agency’s ‘Flood and Coast’ 2024.
Claude was also lead author, with his supervisory team, on two academic conference papers, based on his PhD research. One was published in 2024, and the second is anticipated in early 2025.
2025
Deepening understanding of building community resilience
Now in his third year of his PhD, Claude will complete his data collection with our partner Project Groundwater Northumbria. He will then complete his data analysis, moving towards the completion of his PhD Thesis later this year.
Karen and Sarah will continue their research and development of qualitative indicators for community resilience. Alice hopes to support more Master’s students research and dissertations in collaboration with the Project.
Sharing our learning more, and more widely
In 2025 we hope to share articles and research papers, targeting publications such as Hydrolink, and the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research’s magazine. We will also submit two papers for a special issue of the Journal of Flood Risk Management.
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