Research themes in the Centre for Water, Communities and Resilience (CWCR)

Our research themes

We focus on a range of themes reflecting the diversity and inter-disciplinary nature of issues concerning different aspects of water risk, security and development of resilient communities. Particular attention is given to research explorations at the intersections of the four themes below:

Security, policy and governance

  • Insurance
  • Flood and drought risk management strategies
  • Institutional structures
  • Funding mechanisms
  • Localism
  • Regulatory frameworks
  • Community lead adaptation planning
  • Issues of compensation
  • Property rights aspects of flooding and flood management
  • Compulsory purchase
  • Flooding, droughts and environmental regulation
  • Heritage conservation policy
  • Engage research approaches on health impacts, multi-agency responses and university-society partnerships

Water/earth science and engineering

  • Flood-drought continuum
  • Flooding, drought and integrated water management
  • Catchment processes
  • Changing risk
  • Human intervention and climate change
  • Complexity and uncertainty
  • Prediction
  • Assets and defences
  • Management of property
  • Non-structural approaches
  • Nature-based solutions and Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDs)
  • Resilience engineering
  • Grey-green-blue infrastructure
  • Renewable energies in water and wastewater process engineering
  • Water, Energy and Food (WEF) nexus
  • Wastewater technologies and wastewater reuse as a resource
  • Heritage conservation science
  • Mainstreaming emerging technologies through socio-technical evaluation

Community/stakeholder development and resilience

  • Preparedness to water-related hazards and climate change
  • Flood and drought recovery and resilient communities
  • Property and community level flood and drought adaptation
  • Monitoring water scarcity and excess
  • Community water education
  • Planning water resilient neighbourhoods
  • Interaction of flood-drought policy and governance with communities
  • Capacity building for stakeholders in community flood-drought risk management
  • Participatory technology evaluation for community resilience and sustainability transitions in the global north - locating people and place in the co-creation of alternative water supply and sustainable drainage systems

Representation, perception and behaviour

  • Psychology of water and environmental risk
  • Risk perception
  • Memory and place
  • Underserved groups
  • Water and risk behaviours and resilience

Cross-cutting themes

  • Participatory technology assessment for community resilience and sustainable development in the global south – co-identifying new socio-cultural criteria to add social as well as ecological and technical value
  • Interdisciplinary research strategies – involving natural and social science, and arts/humanities
  • Systems thinking (socio-ecological; socio-technical; socio-ecological-technical)
  • Resilience frameworks
  • Different knowledge systems and networks in decision-making ('expert'/'local'; integration)
  • Water education and science communication in water security
  • Communication (science)
  • Scaling (up and down from 'local')
  • Representing underserved audiences and hidden voices (eg inclusivity and appropriateness)
  • Rethinking nature-based solutions
  • Infrastructure and wider resilience
  • GIS and remote sensing for hydrology/water management and community engagements
  • Big data and digital technologies
  • Leadership, place and resilience
  • Reflexivity and critical thinking

Our specialisms within the wider Water Security

The USP of CWCR is a 'community resilience' lens on water security, with specific specialisms in water-related hazards and climate change; drinking water and human wellbeing, as defined in the United Nations' Water Security infographic image.

The UWE Bristol global experiences provides opportunities for our students and staff to work with host communities at home and overseas.

Centre for Water, Communities and Resilience (CWCR)

The Centre brings together established inter-disciplinary teams working on different national and international water security initiatives at UWE Bristol.

CWCR

Research centres and groups

Browse UWE Bristol's portfolio of research areas, expertise, staff and publications.

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