If you have any observations/ comments around the material presented in workshop 2 (www.glos.ac.uk/livingfloodhistories), please post them here. We will be posting our own resume shortly.
With thanks, Lindsey
Professor Lindsey McEwen on behalf of the project team
If you have any observations/ comments around the material presented in workshop 1 (www.glos.ac.uk/livingfloodhistories), please post them here. Philip Booth has already posted some comments on his contribution under ‘introducing the project team’.
With thanks, Lindsey
Professor Lindsey McEwen on behalf of the project team
The resources from workshops one and two are now available on the Living Flood Histories network website (www.glos.ac.uk/livingfloodhistories). The videos from workshop 1 will be posted shortly.
If you have any observations on the material/ presentations, please share here!
Best wishes, Lindsey
Professor Lindsey McEwen (University of Gloucestershire) on behalf of the project team
Introduction: Lindsey McEwen
I am Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Gloucestershire. I have long standing research interests in historic flood patterns, placing current flood risk in a longer-term perspective and in sustainable flood risk management including flood education and how to build community resilience. I led a major public understanding of science/ community engagement project funded through the Royal Society’s ‘Connecting People to Science’ Scheme (2004-2006) with support from the Environment Agency (see www.glos.ac.uk/severnfloods). This involved action research that has explored innovative ways of integrating flood science with community engagement with local flood histories as a key element of place, and how to nest flood education to encourage communities to prepare for future flooding in an environmental change context (see http://www.research-tv.com/stories/science/coastal/). One project outcome was national guidelines on: Guidelines for good practice: community engagement with local flood histories and flood risk (McEwen, 2007).
I am currently involved in projects exploring different aspects of flood education, for example NERC FREE ‘Knowledge Exchange’ Project Foster (Flood Organisation Science and Technology Exchange Research; co-investigator; www.foster.ox.ac.uk), a knowledge exchange expert flood science project for local and regional decision makers in flood risk management. I am also leading a community engagement project that is trialling the use of digital stories as a tool for social learning within flood risk communities (JISC ‘Community Engagement’ Co-fast project; insight.glos.ac.uk/cofast; insight.glos.ac.uk/severnfloods).
As well as providing overall co-ordination, I am leading workshop 2 and the Living conference (with the project team).
I look forward to our network discussions.
Lindsey
Professor Lindsey McEwen
University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK.
Please could you introduce yourself, your research interests, relevant projects, and how these might tie into our discussions (workshop themes) within the network on ‘Learning to Live with Water: Flood histories, Environmental Change, Remembrance and Resilience’. We look forward to working with you.
The ‘Living Flood Histories’ Project Team
We are launching the new AHRC network: Learning to Live with Water: Flood histories, Environmental Change, Remembrance and Resilience. This email indicates the aims of the new network, the workshop themes and how you can get involved.
NETWORK AIMS
The overarching aim of this project is to establish distinctive, innovative and engaging arts and humanities research perspectives on watery and flooded landscapes and their environmental change, and local life with them, through an interdisciplinary and inter-professional network of international significance. Within this we seek to:
• To identify new theoretical and conceptual frameworks for exploring wet and episodically flooded landscapes and how people live with them.
• To explore how memories, archives and mnemonic practices surrounding extreme and casual flooding, awareness of flood/watery heritage, local/lay/informal knowledge of 18th-21st century floods have been and are experienced, remembered, materialised, formalised and enhanced in UK lowland/wetland floodplain communities. The idea here is that the deep, time-rich and embodied practice of coping with water in and on the landscape is one that can be both shared and materialised in the ‘waterscape’.
• To research the changing and potential role of different creative practices – including flood marking, oral history, creative writing, local archives, websites, local history writing, storytelling/digital storytelling, reminiscence theatre, performance arts, digital archiving, social networking, and photography/film making, singing, song writing – have in developing knowledge about flood histories and environmental change which may help local communities live with(in) watery landscapes in an emotionally and practically resilient way.
• To apply the insights gained from the network to explore how social learning around extreme floods/flood risk watery sense of place and their histories can be supported and developed by a range of agencies (academics, artists, government bodies, NGOs) in the wider governance frameworks aimed at developing community resilience to future flood risk.
This research seeks to bridge between artistic and conceptual practice, and practical community development and policy development in the very important area of flood risk and flood resilience. More information is available on our website at www.glos.ac.uk/livingfloodhistories (to be confirmed).
WORKSHOP THEMES
Network activities over 2010/11 involve three interdisciplinary workshops and a Living conference.
Workshop 1: Floods and environmental change: conceptual frameworks for
watery landscapes and living with floods – at University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol. Discussion organised by Dr Owain Jones, (cultural geographer), UWE. To be held on 26th November 2010.
Workshop 2: Flood heritage: exploring flood archives for understanding the
known pathways to resilience – at University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham
(in collaboration with the Centre for Study of Floods and Communities, University of Gloucestershire). Discussion organised by Professor Lindsey McEwen (physical geographer; flood archives and histories). To be held on 3rd February 2010.
Workshop 3: Flood Stories: Exploring Informal Narratives of Resilience Past
and Present – at Storytelling Centre, University of Glamorgan, Cardiff
(in collaboration with the Glamorgan Centre for Disaster Management). Discussion organised by Professor Mike Wilson (storytelling), University College Falmouth. To be held on 30th March, 2011.
Living Flood Histories conference: ‘Learning to Live: Floods and Futures’ in Gloucester, UK on the River Severn; date in late June 2011 to be confirmed shortly.
HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED
• Register on our contact database: email LivingFloodHistories@glos.ac.uk with you contact details
• Contribute your comments on the workshop themes to the WebBlog – livingfloodhistories@wordpress.com
• Offer to act as a discussant at the workshops or conference. We have already got some lead discussants in place but are looking for other contributors to make the sessions different, lively and productive and well linked to the arts and humanities setting of the network.
• Participate in the workshops and Living conference – in person or virtually
• Submit an 300 word abstract for consideration as a paper/ essay to LivingFloodHistories@glos.ac.uk
• Contribute an innovative research practice – performance/ artefact/ story to the Living conference (June 2011)
We look forward to creating a vibrant interdisciplinary network that acts as an effective platform for new research dialogues, collaborative writing and in the longer-term research funding applications linked to living flood history research agendas. Please circulate this email around interested individuals and groups.
Best wishes
Lindsey McEwen – on behalf of project team
Professor Lindsey McEwen
Centre for the Study of Floods and Communities
University of Gloucestershire
Francis Close Hall
Swindon Road
Cheltenham
Gloucestershire
GL50 4AZ
United Kingdom
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Tele: ++44(0)1242 714675
Email: lmcewen@glos.ac.uk
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