A flood of evidence

Professor Briony McDonagh of the Energy and Environment Institute was invited to speak at the first session of the Flood Resilience in England Inquiry on Wednesday 22 January. The Inquiry was called by the UK Government’s Environmental Audit Committee, focusing on how flood resilience can be strengthened in response to increasing risks from extreme weather, rising sea levels, and evolving flood hazards.

Briony attended the first of five sessions, presenting expertise from a broad range of University of Hull flood risk and resilience research activities, as well as her own experience of building community flood resilience through the Risky Cities project, which utilised arts and humanities approaches to public engagement.

Prof McDonagh said:

“I was honoured to represent the University of Hull at yesterday's opening session of the Flood Resilience in England Inquiry. Our Energy and Environment Institute has expertise in natural flood management, sustainable drainage systems and property flood resilience.

"I was especially pleased to be able to share our successes in supporting community flood resilience and preparedness through participatory projects like Risky Cities, as well as to mention the work of the Living with Water Partnership.

Briony continued: "Approaches developed during these projects inform the recently launched cross-sector Coast-R Network, helping shape national approaches to flood resilience and coastal transition across the UK."

Following completion of the Risky Cities project, Briony is now the national lead for the UKRI and Defra funded UK Coastal Resilience Network (Coast-R). The Coast-R Network is a partnership between universities, UK marine, coastal and government agencies, industry partners, local authorities, the voluntary sector and communities working together to improve coastal resilience.

The Environmental Audit Committee is a cross-party Commons Select Committee, chaired by Toby Perkins, Labour MP for Chesterfield. Committee members will be exploring current Government policy and flood resilience approaches, and what may be needed as climate change increases future flood risk. They will be considering nature-based solutions vs grey infrastructure, as well as potential issues around England’s monitoring of flood risk.

Review our evidence

EEI team members also submitted written evidence to the Inquiry in advance of the oral evidence sessions.

View written evidence from Dr Steven Forrest, Lecturer in Sustainable Transformations and lead for our MSc Flood Risk Management

View written evidence submitted by members of the Risky Cities and Coast-R Network teams.

Following completion of the oral evidence sessions, the Environmental Audit Committee will publish a report and submit to the UK Government for a response.

View the Inquiry session (invited speakers questioned from 15:44:20): https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/f9116e0e-6d78-495b-b284-2ec2c1342acf