Thea Wingfield

I am undertaking a NERC-CASE funded PhD in the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Liverpool.  My PhD project is to investigate the use of natural approaches to flood risk management in the UK. I work across disciplinary boundaries and with at risk communities to define the scientific and local challenges, investigate options and implement solutions.

Through co-production of knowledge my research aims to address both scientific and policy challenges in relation to natural approaches to flood risk management, through a new trans- disciplinary understanding of sustainable land use.

As a NERC-CASE funded postgraduate researcher I am collaborating with The Ribble Rivers Trust an organisation that promotes sustainable, holistic and integrated catchment management and sound environmental practices that recognise the wider economic benefits for local communities and the value of education in the Ribble catchment. Their local knowledge and active participation in sustainable land management offers the opportunity to use a case study approach to investigate the implementation and opportunities for natural flood risk management schemes; the outcomes of which will feed into the production a toolbox to design mapping-spatial solutions from catchment-scale to site-scale, for strategic level policy making to detailed decision making on areas for future development and sustainable land management.