Team
FloodScapes brings together researchers from across Loughborough University, alongside partners from policy, practice, civic, community and professional organisations.
The network includes expertise in:
- geography and environment;
- civil and building engineering;
- architecture, building and civil engineering;
- sport, health and exercise sciences;
- social sciences and humanities;
- business and economics;
- design and creative practice;
- policy, governance and civic engagement;
- data science, modelling and artificial intelligence;
- public engagement and storytelling.
FloodScapes Team
FloodScapes brings together over 70 researchers from across Loughborough University with expertise spanning flood science, health and wellbeing, climate adaptation, environmental justice, data and modelling, engineering, finance, policy, community resilience and creative storytelling.
The core team reflects the network’s ambition to connect technical flood science with people, place, governance, lived experience and practical action.
Becoming a member
FloodScapes welcomes colleagues whose work connects with flooding, water, climate adaptation, resilience, health, wellbeing, environmental justice, modelling, data, design, policy, community engagement or creative storytelling.
Members benefit from:
- visibility through the FloodScapes website;
- access to events, seminars and workshops;
- opportunities to meet external partners;
- support in developing interdisciplinary funding bids;
- inclusion in policy, practice and partner briefings;
- opportunities to showcase research;
- connection to Loughborough’s wider climate, health, civic and UNESCO strengths.
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Dr Katie J. Parsons (Network Lead)
Research Fellow in Children’s Geographies
School/Department: Geography and Environment
FloodScapes themes: Living with Water; Action-based Storytelling; Governance, Policy and Justice
Dr Katie J. Parsons is a transdisciplinary Research Fellow in Children’s Geographies, specialising in climate adaptation, environmental education and child-led participatory methods. Her work explores how children, young people and communities experience environmental change, particularly flooding, and how their knowledge can inform more inclusive adaptation planning.
Katie brings to FloodScapes expertise in participatory action research, creative methods, storytelling, 360° immersive media and community engagement. Her work helps position FloodScapes as a people-centred network that values lived experience, education, justice and action.
Relevant expertise: children’s geographies; climate adaptation; flood education; participatory action research; creative methods; immersive storytelling; community engagement; environmental justice.
Professor Paula Griffiths
Professor of Population Health
School/Department: School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences
FloodScapes themes: Living with Water; Governance, Policy and Justice
Professor Paula Griffiths is Professor of Population Health at Loughborough University. Her research focuses on health inequalities, maternal and child health, early development, community-based interventions and the wider determinants of health.
Paula’s expertise is central to FloodScapes’ focus on the health, wellbeing and inequality dimensions of flooding. She brings a strong public health lens to understanding how flood risk affects different communities, and how research can support more inclusive and health-informed adaptation.
Relevant expertise: population health; health inequalities; maternal and child health; community-based interventions; early development; wellbeing; global health; public health partnerships.
Professor Qiuhua Liang
Professor of Water Engineering; UNESCO Chair in Informatics and Multi-hazard Risk Reduction
School/Department: Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
FloodScapes themes: Data, Models and Meaning; Flood Futures
Professor Qiuhua Liang is Professor of Water Engineering and UNESCO Chair in Informatics and Multi-hazard Risk Reduction. His research focuses on computational hydraulics, high-performance flood modelling and the application of modelling tools to disaster risk reduction.
Qiuhua brings world-leading expertise in flood modelling, hydroinformatics, numerical simulation and multi-hazard risk assessment. His work is central to FloodScapes’ ambition to connect advanced data and models with real-world decision-making, adaptation and resilience.
Relevant expertise: computational hydraulics; flood modelling; hydroinformatics; numerical modelling; disaster risk reduction; multi-hazard risk; decision-support tools.
Dr Meilan Yan
Senior Lecturer in Financial Economics
School/Department: Loughborough Business School
FloodScapes themes: Governance, Policy and Justice; Data, Models and Meaning
Dr Meilan Yan is Senior Lecturer in Financial Economics at Loughborough Business School. Her work connects strongly with FloodScapes through questions of flood insurance, financial resilience, climate risk and the economic consequences of changing flood exposure.
Meilan contributes expertise on how flood risk is priced, governed and managed through financial and insurance systems. Her work helps FloodScapes address the affordability, equity and policy dimensions of flood resilience, including the future of household protection and insurance provision.
Relevant expertise: financial economics; insurance; flood insurance; climate risk; financial resilience; risk governance; affordability and equity.
Dr Robby Soetanto
Reader in Construction Innovation Management
School/Department: Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
FloodScapes themes: Flood Futures; Governance, Policy and Justice; Living with Water
Dr Robby Soetanto is Reader in Construction Innovation Management at Loughborough University. His research includes community flood resilience and innovation adoption in construction, with a focus on how built-environment systems, communities and organisations respond to risk and change.
Robby contributes to FloodScapes through expertise in construction innovation, infrastructure resilience, community flood resilience and the adoption of new practices across the built environment. His work helps connect flood adaptation with construction, housing, infrastructure, communities and practical implementation.
Relevant expertise: construction innovation; community flood resilience; infrastructure resilience; innovation adoption; built environment; risk management; implementation and practice change.
Professor Ksenia Chmutina
Professor of Disaster Studies
School/Department: Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
FloodScapes themes: Governance, Policy and Justice; Living with Water; Action-based Storytelling
Professor Ksenia Chmutina is Professor of Disaster Studies at Loughborough University. Her research focuses on disaster risk creation, vulnerability, resilience, sustainability and the social and political conditions that shape how risk is produced and experienced.
Ksenia contributes to FloodScapes through her expertise in disaster risk reduction, disaster justice, urban resilience, risk communication and the role of language and narrative in disaster research and practice. Her work helps FloodScapes ask not only how floods happen, but how vulnerability is created, how risk is communicated, and how more equitable forms of resilience can be developed.
Relevant expertise: disaster risk reduction; disaster risk creation; vulnerability; resilience; disaster justice; urban sustainability; risk communication; language and narrative; participatory methodologies
Professor Surya Monro
Professor of Sociology and Social Policy
School/Department: Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy
FloodScapes themes: Governance, Policy and Justice; Living with Water
Professor Surya Monro is Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at Loughborough University. Her research focuses on gender, sexuality, citizenship, intersectionality, equality, social justice and inclusion.
Surya contributes to FloodScapes through her expertise in intersectional social analysis and inclusive policy. Her work strengthens the network’s focus on how flood risk, resilience and adaptation are experienced differently across communities, and how more just and inclusive approaches can be developed.
Relevant expertise: sociology; social policy; intersectionality; equality; inclusion; citizenship; gender and sexuality; social justice; inclusive policy.
Professor Daniel R. Parsons
Professor in Geosciences
School/Department: Geography and Environment
FloodScapes themes: Flood Futures; Data, Models and Meaning; Governance, Policy and Justice
Professor Daniel R. Parsons is Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation and Professor in Geosciences at Loughborough University. His research focuses on river, estuarine, coastal and deep-marine environments, with particular expertise in sediment transport, fluid dynamics, morphodynamics and flood-related environmental change.
Dan’s work connects strongly with FloodScapes through its focus on how water, sediment, landscape change and human pressures shape future flood hazard and risk. He brings leadership in large-scale interdisciplinary research, environmental science, policy engagement and partnership building.
Relevant expertise: sediment transport; river morphodynamics; flood hazard and risk; environmental change; large interdisciplinary research programmes; policy and partnership engagement.
Dr John Hillier
Reader in Natural Hazard Risk
School/Department: Geography and Environment
FloodScapes themes: Governance, Policy and Justice; Data, Models and Meaning
Dr John Hillier is Reader in Natural Hazard Risk in Geography and Environment at Loughborough University. His work focuses on natural hazards, risk analysis, insurance, financial risk, multi-hazard interactions and the translation of environmental science into decision-making.
John contributes to FloodScapes through expertise in how flood and multi-hazard risks are assessed, valued, communicated and governed. His work helps connect environmental data and hazard science with insurance, policy, accountability and practical decisions about risk.
Relevant expertise: natural hazard risk; multi-hazard analysis; insurance; financial risk; risk communication; environmental decision-making; flood and extreme-event risk.
Dr Huili Chen
Senior Lecturer in Water Engineering
School/Department: Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
FloodScapes themes: Data, Models and Meaning; Flood Futures
Dr Huili Chen is Senior Lecturer in Water Engineering at Loughborough University. Her research focuses on innovative methods using satellite observation, GIS, high-performance modelling and disaster-risk analysis to monitor and predict flood and multi-hazard impacts.
Huili contributes to FloodScapes through expertise in flood modelling, geospatial analysis, remote sensing, risk assessment and water engineering. Her work supports the network’s ambition to connect advanced data and modelling with practical flood-risk management, adaptation and resilience.
Relevant expertise: flood modelling; GIS; satellite observation; disaster-risk analysis; high-performance modelling; water engineering; multi-hazard risk.
Dr Josh Wolstenholme
Lecturer in Physical Geography
School/Department: Geography and Environment
FloodScapes themes: Flood Futures; Data, Models and Meaning
Dr Josh Wolstenholme is a Lecturer in Physical Geography whose research focuses on river systems, sediment transport, natural flood management and the role of landscape processes in shaping future flood risk. His work examines how river and catchment interventions can influence water, sediment, ecology and flood resilience.
Josh contributes to FloodScapes through expertise in nature-based solutions, environmental monitoring, modelling and the physical processes that underpin flood risk and adaptation. His work helps connect flood science with practical landscape-scale approaches to resilience.
Relevant expertise: river systems; sediment transport; natural flood management; catchment processes; landscape interventions; environmental monitoring; modelling; flood risk.
Dr Tim Marjoribanks
Senior Lecturer in Water Engineering
School/Department: Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
FloodScapes themes: Flood Futures; Data, Models and Meaning
Dr Tim Marjoribanks is Senior Lecturer in Water Engineering at Loughborough University. His research focuses on the hydrodynamics of open-channel flows, eco-hydrodynamic processes, flow–vegetation interactions, fluvial geomorphology and natural flood management.
Tim contributes to FloodScapes through expertise in river systems, flood resilience, nature-based solutions and the interaction between flow, sediment, vegetation and ecology. His work helps connect flood engineering and physical processes with questions of landscape adaptation and resilience.
Relevant expertise: water engineering; open-channel flows; eco-hydrodynamics; flow–vegetation interaction; natural flood management; fluvial geomorphology; flood resilience.
Dr Edwin Baynes
Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography; Flood-CDT Co-director
School/Department: Geography and Environment
Edwin’s research examines the role of flood events in shaping landscapes across multiple timescales through erosion and sediment transport.
Relevant expertise: research on the geomorphological impact of an extreme flash flood in Upper Swaledale, Yorkshire Dales National Park: Extreme Flood Sediment Production and Export Controlled by Reach-Scale Morphology.