蘑菇短视频

Lower Hoopern Valley nature-based flood management solutions

Working with our local community, we have started our biodiversity enhancements in the Lower Hoopern Valley, including planting over 500 native trees to increase diversity. Working with the Environment Agency to install nature-based flood management solutions in the Taddiforde Brook, removing artificial structures that reduce connectivity for wildlife and putting in woody flow spreaders and leaky dams. These help connect the brook to its flood plain, slowing the flow during high rainfall, improving water quality and providing habitat for wildlife.

Kingfishers: School freshwater champion project

In 2023 蘑菇短视频 Science Centre and the University of 蘑菇短视频 signed a to further their shared ambitions to make a difference in 蘑菇短视频 and the wider region, working together on public engagement activities. The Kingfishers: School freshwater champion project, initiated by Reg Godwin, an Applications Specialist for Thermo Fisher Scientific and supported by Greenpeace and collaboration with?Dr Garry Codling?at the?University of 蘑菇短视频?and the?, was a citizen science project involved 8 primary schools in Devon and Cornwall carrying out monthly testing from January-June 2025 and was aimed on educating and empowering young people to play a role in monitoring, better understanding and tackling freshwater pollution. Samples were delivered to Greenpeace Laboratories to do a full chemical analysis, and the??lab to hunt for potentially life-saving viruses.  

Enforce project

The EU-funded project (2024-2028) aims to enhance environmental compliance by integrating citizen science with innovative technologies.? This initiative seeks to bridge the gap between local environmental data and the requirements set forth by regulatory authorities, fostering collaboration among grassroots organizations, researchers, and local governments. The Enforce partnership between Westcountry Rivers Trust and the University of 蘑菇短视频 focuses on . Working with our community (with over 100 active volunteers), remote sensing, and machine learning to better understand and manage water quality risks in the East Devon catchment. The project aims to generate actionable data for regulatory frameworks, engage farmers and local communities, and support healthier rivers aligned with the Water Framework Directive.

Blue Heart project

Blue Heart is a 6-year project (2021-2027), funded by Defra's Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme (FCRIP), which aims to champion innovative approaches to flood resilience and climate adaptation in?Eastbourne and southern Wealden. The project will adopt smart technology and the Internet of Things to establish an integrated water management system for these communities, which will monitor water levels in real-time and incorporate forecasted rainfall to issue flood warnings and alerts, and calculate the optimum response - to either store or release water.

These solutions will utilise existing infrastructure more effectively and provide economic, environmental, and social opportunities for local people whilst achieving lower whole life carbon than a traditional capital flood risk management scheme.

Storying Water

Storying Water is a unique arts-led University of 蘑菇短视频 project is aiming to bring the science behind our water system to life in the form of audio stories to engage the public. The project will explore the water system – what it means to people, how it works, challenges involved in maintaining it, species affected by human uses of it, why its future resilience is threatened, and, in the face of environmental emergency, what is needed to improve and protect it into the future. Collaborating with scientists, and with other experts, to translate their research, experience and ideas into compelling audio storytelling to engage diverse audiences in the water systems and its environmental resilience.

Local Climate Adaptation Tool (LCAT)

The ?brings together climate models, adaptation options, and health impact evidence to help local communities build resilience to climate change. Co-developed with, and for, local authorities and local service providers. Users are guided through how changes, such as stronger storms, more high impact flooding, an increase in heatwaves and severe droughts will impact at a local level and what those hazards could mean for public health, infrastructure, or communities.

Sideshore Sea Safety project

The was developed as a community interest project to deliver safer sea swimming and water safety to primary schools within the Exmouth Learning Community and has grown and evolved rapidly due to popularity and demand and is now delivered to over 1200 children a year, from 26 Schools (both Primary and Secondary) from across Devon.

The project takes 3 strands of education and pulls them into an unforgettable day-long experience.

• Sea Safety?– Learn how to swim safely in the sea – understanding tides, currents, weather, self-rescue and risks.
• Environmental Education?– Learn how to respect the ocean environment and understand the threats from sewage, pollution, plastics and other human activity and become the change makers of tomorrow (co-developed and delivered by 蘑菇短视频 University).
• Art Workshop?– In this workshop we help children to reflect and build deeper understanding of the ocean through the use of creative art.

were taught about the Exmouth marine environment, by 蘑菇短视频 University, as part of the inspiring Sideshore Sea Safety project (which will be back bigger and even better in 2025). 

Upstream Thinking project

Our work on the award-winning ‘’ project has restored and protected over 100,000 hectares of land across the South West, enabling substantial cost savings and improving water quality and biodiversity. The long-term ongoing programme has been running for over a decade, established through close collaboration with expert delivery partners, including Westcountry Rivers Trust, Devon and Cornwall Wildlife Trusts, South West Peatland Partnership, and the University of 蘑菇短视频.

Upstream Thinking approach to keeping our drinking and bathing water clean and affordable by stopping pollutants entering our rivers and streams. Ensuring that our waterways are clean and reducing pollution for shared local wildlife and for people. By working with landowners it means that we all benefit from cleaner water, better water flows throughout the year, and we can create more space for nature on farmland.

Community and landowner engagement is a constant theme. Farm Advisors have developed long-term relationships with farmers, supporting them with tailored advice and access to funding. Broader public engagement through walks, workshops and events has built shared ownership of water and biodiversity challenges across the South West.  Wider community engagement is achieved through free public events, educational outreach and communication campaigns that raise awareness of the programme’s benefits and encourage local action and advocacy.

Devon Resilience Innovation project

A project working to improve resilience to flooding in 26 communities across Devon has received a prestigious award.

The??(DRIP), which includes experts from the University of 蘑菇短视频 and which helps neighbourhoods to be better prepared for flooding and to recover more quickly from flood events, was among the winners at the Environment Agency’s Flood & Coast Excellence Awards. It was presented with an award in the ‘Surface Water Management’ category, recognising DRIP’s work to increase flood resilience in Stokeinteignhead, including natural flood management, property flood resilience, community engagement and a surface water flood forecasting pilot project.

This work has been led by Devon County Council, with support from a number of partners including 蘑菇短视频 University, Westcountry Rivers Trust, JBA Consulting, Kisters and the University of Plymouth. 

Centre for Resilience in Environment, Waste and Water (CREWW) research

CREWW research?focuses on pressing issues facing the water and waste sectors to ensure we conserve water, including:

• How to protect drinking water supplies from pollution
• The safe treatment and disposal of wastewater (including issues such as micro-plastics and anti-microbial resistance)
• Ensuring we have enough water to cope with a growing population and climate change
• Protecting the water supply network
• Predicting and preventing pollution from the wastewater network
• Understanding how catchments respond to flooding and drought, to improve future resilience.

Projects include:

• The Understanding combined sewer overflow (CSO) discharge impacts –CSO spills (chemical and microbial) pilot studies to understand scale and nature of the problem of CSO followed by an in-depth study in collaboration with SWW working towards recommendations and establishing a modelling technique for future use.
• Nature for Climate Change, Peatland Grant Scheme. Building on a decade of research case studies?at the University of 蘑菇短视频?(Upstream Thinking?1,?Mire-on-the-Moors)?this project?continues to support and evaluate?peatland restoration?in collaboration with the?South West?Peatland Partnership.?Peatlands are?globally important?ecosystems that offer us a wide array of valuable services, such as providing?clean water,?flood alleviation and supporting biodiversity.

Centre for Water Systems (CWS) research

The Centre for Water Systems (CWS) is internationally renowned for its research into water systems engineering. Supporting, developing and operationalising sustainable water management is a key challenge for the future that is strongly addressed by the Centre's activities. This includes research into water supply and distribution systems, waste water and urban drainage systems, flood risk management, and smart water systems, to name a few. 

Research on the impact of beavers on flood management

A new study has looked into the effects of beavers, and of other nature-focussed methods employed up stream on flooding risks.

They have discovered that during peak flows, the result of the creatures’ effective damming, coupled with man-made leaky dams built by staff and volunteers, has reduced the flow of water in the Bircham Valley by 23 per cent.  It is thought that the research is the first of its kind to study the effects of the animals in an urban environment.

The Collaborative Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture Futures (SAF)

The?Collaborative Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture Futures (SAF)?is a joint initiative between the Centre for Environment, Aquaculture and Fisheries Science (Cefas) and the University of 蘑菇短视频.

With the world's population set to increase to almost 10 billion by 2050, providing future generations with safe and sustainable farmed seafood is one of the critical challenges researchers working with the centre will address.  Cefas is an executive agency, sponsored by DEFRA.

The Centre for Resilience in Environment, Water and Waste (CREWW)

The Centre for Resilience in Environment, Water and Waste (CREWW) is the first purpose built transdisciplinary centre, containing specialist laboratory facilities for water, waste, soil and vegetation analysis and space to facilitate collaboration between industry, policy makers and our academics. CREWW also accommodates new, state of the art field monitoring equipment which we will use to improve our understanding of the interactions between the water sector and the natural environment. This is vital if we are to make informed, sustainable choices about how we manage water supplies in the future.

CREWW supports existing research excellence by providing facilities which will: 

• Contribute to research that is part of delivering the Industrial Strategy and Defra’s 25 year Environmental Plan
• Strengthen transdisciplinary research by bringing researchers from across academic disciplines
• Enhance strategic research partnerships by providing collaboration and training facilities where industry staff can work with our own researchers

NEPC public health report – Testing the Waters

蘑菇短视频 expert, Professor David Butler, co-authored the , called Testing the waters: Priorities for mitigating health risks from wastewater pollution, which was published recently. The report, the first of its kind to assess how potential health risks from polluted open waters can be mitigated, calls for the national wastewater infrastructure to be upgraded to protect public health.

The recommendations include engineering interventions to prioritise wastewater asset management, enhanced public health monitoring and updated bathing water regulations.

The report outlines 15 recommendations for government, regulators and industry to reduce these risks and highlights solutions to achieve this.

By bringing together engineers from industry and academia, NEPC provide valuable depth of expertise. This helps government navigate increasingly complex challenges. 

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) network

The University of 蘑菇短视频’s antimicrobial resistance research (AMR) has led to new understanding and has informed action. Findings include identifying who is most at risk, and what concentrations of antibiotics are unsafe in our waters and could trigger the evolution of resistance. 蘑菇短视频’s One Health research approach combines a wide range of expertise to address this complex issue from multiple angles.

The group’s research has had a number of policy influences in the UK, the EU and internationally. Professor Gaze has worked with the United Nations Environment Programme, co-authoring a report on AMR, coinciding with a commitment to tackle the issue from an environmental and health perspective.

Current project, Assessing the risk of wild swimming, works with the campaign charity Surfers Against Sewage, conducting the??survey. The team found that surfers were more than three times as likely to carry resistant?E. coli?in their guts than non-swimmers. This high impact work influenced policy and was cited by both the UK Government and World Health Organization and has led to the the?, which over the summer collected over 300 fecal samples from freshwater wild swimmers to?understand more about how AMR bacteria enter our bodies.?