Academic institutions and industry bodies from a diverse range of disciplines are to team up following the launch of a UK flood management consortium.
The new Flood Risk Management Research Consortium (FRMRC) is to receive around US$10M of funding over the next four years to carry out work in universities, consultancies and research institutes.
Bringing together over 20 organisations and with sponsors including the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the UK government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Environment Agency and UK Water Industry Research, the consortium is described as the largest national programme in Europe.
Data collected by the group is to be used to guide those involved in flood management in the short term as well as build up the UK’s scientific and engineering base in flood research in the longer term.
Part of the programme will be the development of real-time forecasting, which will integrate studies on modelling, weather radar and artificial intelligence.
It is hoped that the consortium will generate interest on an international scale and help combat floods in vulnerable regions.
The UK government is expected to spend around US$22M on flood research over the next two years.
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