Supervisors: Bindi Shah (UoS), Sien van der Plank (UoS), Juliet de Little (Environment Agency)
Contact email: B.Shah@soton.ac.uk / Juliet.DeLittle@environment-agency.gov.uk
Location: Southampton
Project Rational: Envisioning flood and coastal erosion risk management (FCERM) in a well-adapted nation is imperative, as flooding intensity and frequency increase alongside other climate hazards. Flooding impacts disproportionately affect marginalised communities, due to pressures such as precarious housing, and a lack of disposable capital and trust in authorities. For example, living in at-risk housing compounds impacts because such housing attracts those with the least access to resources and those least able to cope following a flood (Fielding, 2018). Evidence reveals that few interventions take wider socioeconomic contexts into account (Dessai et al., 2024). This poses a challenging question to the Environment Agency: how can we best prepare strategically for a changing future across the United Kingdom, whilst putting fairness within specific contexts at the centre of decision making? This project seeks to work with marginalised communities in England and Wales to determine their needs and improve trust and communication to enhance resilience to flooding. Key aspects of this project involve investigating flooding risk and adaptation capacities in two case-study locations, to understand how impacts and challenges can be understood locally and nationally. This project will contribute to debates exploring governance in well-adapted futures; a challenge facing nations around the world.
Methodology: Preliminary literature reviews will establish theories, approaches, and areas of focus for the project. They will review FCERM debates, resilience measures, case study selection criteria, and the framing of ‘well-adapted’. The specific theory, e.g. adaptive capacity (Cinner at el., 2018), will be determined early and inform the later objectives.
A desk analysis of climate projections and relevant policy documents will be undertaken to understand case study contexts. This will provide a baseline from which to undertake the fieldwork. The fieldwork will focus on two case study areas. Likely criteria for a study area are locations with underexplored issues, such as: compound flood risk, high surface water flood risk, and deprivation. Specific fieldwork methods will be qualitative (e.g. interviews, participatory methods such as citizen-science, community voice, timeline drawing, walking interviews, collaborative mapping). The data generated will provide in-depth insights and contribute to further developing findings from the desk study.
To reflect on envisioning FCERM in a well-adapted nation, the case study areas and related documents will be analysed using a framework identified in preliminary study. The synthesis will also critically reflect on the methodology and the approach, recognising limitations and highlighting evidence gaps for further academic and policy research.
Background Reading:
1. Cinner, Joshua E.; Adger, W. Neil; Allison, Edward H. et al. (2018) Building adaptive capacity to climate change in tropical coastal communities. Nature Climate Change, 8(2), pp. 117-123. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-017-0065-x
2. Dessai, S., Lonsdale, K., Lowe, J., Harcourt, R.. Afterword. In: Dessai, S., Lonsdale, K., Lowe, J., Harcourt, R. (eds) Quantifying Climate Risk and Building Resilience in the UK. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. (2024)
3. Fielding, J. L. (2018) ‘Flood risk and inequalities between ethnic groups in the floodplains of England and Wales’, Disasters. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd (10.1111), 42(1), pp. 101–123. doi: 10.1111/disa.12230
FLOOD-CDT
This PhD is being advertised as part of the Centre for Doctoral Training for Resilient Flood Futures (FLOOD-CDT). Further details about FLOOD-CDT can be seen here https://flood-cdt.ac.uk. Please note, that your application will be assessed upon: (1) Motivation and Career Aspirations; (2) Potential & Intellectual Excellence; (3) Suitability for specific project and (4) Fit to FLOOD-CDT. So please familiarise yourselves with FLOOD-CDT before applying. During the application process candidates will need to upload:
• a 1 page statement of your research interests in flooding and FLOOD-CDT and your rationale for your choice of project;
• a curriculum vitae giving details of your academic record and stating your research interests;
• name two current academic referees together with an institutional email addresses; on submission of your online application your referees will be automatically emailed requesting they send a reference to us directly by email;
• academic transcripts and degree certificates (translated if not in English) - if you have completed both a BSc & an MSc, we require both; and
• a IELTS/TOEFL certificate, if applicable.
Please upload all documents in PDF format. You are encouraged to contact potential supervisors by email to discuss project-specific aspects of the proposed prior to submitting your application. If you have any general questions please contact floodcdt@soton.ac.uk.
Apply
To apply for this project please click here: https://student-selfservice.soton.ac.uk/BNNRPROD/bzsksrch.P_Search. Tick programme type - Research, tick Full-time or Part-time, select Academic year – ‘2025/26, Faculty Environmental and Life Sciences’, search text – ‘PhD Ocean & Earth Science (FLOOD CDT)’.
In Section 2 of the application form you should insert the name of the project and supervisor(s) you are interested in applying for.
If you have any problems please contact: fels-pgr-apply@soton.ac.uk.
