[CWS Seminars 2024] 13/05/2024 Dr Sally Brown (online participation)

Abstract

Getting academic research to the right practitioners so it can be put into practice can at times feel like a minefield. All too often, academics can feel it is hard to know how research is used and what is needed in practice. In this presentation, Sally will provide an overview of her experience in working in knowledge exchange and will explain how the Environment Agency uses flood related research. She will outline some of the common research interests and the process of commissioning work. This will focus on modelling and incident management, but will have wider relevance to those working in the engineering and social sciences.

About

Sally Brown is Principal Scientist in Flood Risk at the Environment Agency, leading on research in incident management and modelling. She is part of the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management research team, a joint programme funded by DEFRA, Environment Agency, Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales. In her role she finds research gaps, defines a problem area and then commissions research to fill this gap. This can involved anything from measuring precipitation to modelling river flows to ensuring appropriate messaging in flood communications. She works with industry and universities to ensure the most appropriate science is brought into practice.

Prior to starting at the Environment Agency in 2022, Sally worked at Bournemouth University in teaching/impact/leadership roles, undertook a placement at the National Trust and did post-doctoral research into coasts and climate change at the University of Southampton. She is particularly interested in human/physical interactions of flood and erosion risk, and knowledge exchange as this can make science useful to society.

Event Venue

Online