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Eight projects share £1.4 million to develop the UK’s infrastructure resilience against severe weather events such as extreme floods caused by climate change.

Credit: CHUNYIP WONG, E+ via Getty Images

There is an urgent and increasing need to protect the UK’s natural and built environments.

From a surge in population growth to severe weather events such as extreme floods and droughts, the UK’s infrastructure resilience against these types of events must improve.

The Centre of Excellence for Resilient Infrastructure Analysis (Centre of Excellence) has awarded £1.4 million across eight UK-based projects.

Protecting UK infrastructure

Using computational modelling on the Data and Analytics Facility for National Infrastructure (DAFNI) platform, these eight projects strive to strengthen UK’s resilience against severe weather events and other complex challenges.

Doing so will help protect underground infrastructure, like water pipes and electrical cables, plus reduce the risks of:

• road closures
• energy failures
• sewer flooding
• water and food shortages

Tackling complex issues

For example, traditional water resource management techniques are no longer sufficient to manage the UK’s water supply.

Ana Murgatroyd of the University of Oxford is creating a comprehensive water resource model for England and Wales.

The model integrates various water usage sectors and future scenarios to assess potential water shortages and solutions.

Running ‘what-if’ scenarios

Richard Milton from University College London has created a model that simulates land use and transportation patterns in the UK.

The simulation allows users to run ‘what-if’ scenarios to predict the impact of infrastructures to the land, such as the impact of High Speed Two on the UK’s urban system.

Combating potential losses

The funding highlights the importance of strengthening the UK’s natural and built environments.

It also underscores the critical need to combat potential losses arising from the growing impacts of climate change.

The outputs from the Centre of Excellence will ensure the UK is resilient against potential future risks by providing essential analysis and scenario-planning vital to:

• policymakers
• local councils
• private companies

DAFNI opened the Centre of Excellence in Spring 2023 with £4 million in funding from the ‘Building a secure and resilient world’ strategic theme at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Scientific Computing Department delivers the DAFNI programme for UKRI.

Strengthening UK’s resilience

Kristine Zaidi, Associate Director for Arts and Humanities Research Council and lead for the ‘Building a secure and resilient world’ theme recently said:

To build a more secure and resilient world we must put people at the heart of our research.

The eight projects announced today will help communities of all sizes improve their ability to prevent and respond to threats from extreme weather occurrences.

By working across disciplines and improving access to robust evidence and information, we can strengthen the UK’s resilience.

Register for the DAFNI annual conference on 12 September 2023 to hear from the winning researchers.

Click here for the full press release