International perspectives and cultural perceptions of flood risk and resilience with climate change

Supervisory team: Prof Daniel Parsons ([Email Address Removed]); Dr Ally Dunhill; Prof Greg Bankoff; Dr Jo Traunter; Prof Graham Scott.

A warmer climate is leading in an increased frequency and magnitude of flooding in a number of areas across the globe, placing increasing numbers of people in zones of flood risk. Along with policymakers and governments responses to changing risk, how societies approach their changing flood risk will influence the types of adaptation and mitigation strategies employed. Such responses will be shaped by culture, education and lived experiences. However, understanding the relative influence these each have on societal perspectives and perceptions of the evolving risk is key to ultimately managing societal and overall resilience to flooding.

This PhD project will focus on examining the lived experiences of children and young people in areas where flood risk is growing. It will compare perceptions of flood risk between societies living on the Mekong Delta in Vietnam to those living in flood prone locations in the UK. The study will involve children and young people in the research to gather their accounts and determine how they, as individuals, are making sense of their experiences of flooding and flood risk. It will investigate, via participatory methods, where their influences are drawn from and attempt to understand the effect this has on the longer-term resilience of societies to significant changes in flooding and risk.

Closing date will be the 4th of August, with interviews scheduled for the 16th August.

For informal queries please contact: Prof Daniel Parsons ([Email Address Removed]).

Planned start date: 1st October