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The project was kicked off at the meeting held on 7 October 2021.
Scientists from Exeter and Bangkok to collaborate on a new project on floods and droughts in Thailand
The team of researchers from College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences have been awarded a new NERC grant under the COP26 Adaptation and Resilience theme.
This new project entitled “Integrated Management of Flood and Drought in the Mun River Basin in Thailand” will scope the flood risk in that basin and analyse different types of drought and the yearly succession of wet and dry periods in current and future climate. The project will extend the scope of the ongoing ENRICH project (that is focussed on drought) to include flooding as the other hydro-meteorological extreme critical for South-East Asia and beyond. Findings from this project will address the classical but exacerbated problem of “too much” or “too little” water in the context of climate change. The key output will be the framework for integrated management of hydro-meteorological extremes that will be fundamental for future investigations of strategies for adaptation to drought and flood disasters.
This six-month project will build upon the successful partnership that the teams from University of Exeter and the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Bangkok have had on ENRICH since 2018. Professors Slobodan Djordjevic, Mat Collins and Albert Chen from CEMPS and Professors Babel, Shrestha and Loc from AIT will work with a team of six postgraduate researchers at the two institutions. The project is supported by experts from relevant departments of Thai Government and scientific advisors from Denmark and the Netherlands.
The PI Professor Slobodan Djordjevic said: “I am delighted that we’ve been awarded this new project, perhaps most of all because it’s an excellent opportunity for several Exeter and AIT final-stage PhD students to have their first postdoctoral research job at an international scene. This timely action again shows the importance of establishing strong collaborations with reputable partners around the world, which take us from one success story to the next. The outputs of this project will be of global relevance for all river basins that face similar issues through increased drought and flood risk brought by climate change. I expect that ENRICH and this new grant will lead to further major international projects and we’ve identified potential pathways for such expansion.”
The project award is £172,280, two thirds of which are the Exeter share. The project was kicked off at the meeting held on 7 October 2021.
Date: 27 October 2021