Researchers, Policy-Makers and Practitioners at FLOODrisk 2016

Flood risk researchers, policy-makers and practitioners from across the world met at FLOODrisk 2016 in Lyon, France, from 17-21 October to share experience and progress made in flood risk research, policy and management practice.

The conference included contributions from a variety of national, European and international flood-related initiatives, including the European Flood Directive, as well as wider international practice.

The event followed on from previous FLOODrisk conferences held in Oxford (UK) in 2008, and in Rotterdam (the Netherlands) in 2012.

“A special interactive session at FLOODrisk2016 on the EU Floods Directive has focused on obtaining views on how flood risk policy-makers and practitioners can better work with scientists and researchers to understand and make use of emerging technologies and research, and so build on the achievements of the first cycle of the EU Flood Directive,” Jonathan Simm, Technical Director, HR Wallingford, a member of the FLOODrisk Organizing Committee and International Advisory Board, said.

“This fed into a wider discussion at the conference about the need to support and extend the network of communities of practice in different aspects of flood risk management.”

HR Wallingford shared research on a number of areas including:

• the resilience of buildings (new and retro-fit);
• methodology to assess coastal infrastructure resilience to climate change;
• real-time flood inundation forecasting for key infrastructure and spatial analysis;
• simulation of extreme coastal flooding scenarios for national-scale emergency planning.

The next FLOODrisk Conference will be held in Budapest in 2020.