Job description
Climate extremes continue to intensify across Europe, creating complex environmental management challenges for river systems. Traditional infrastructure designed for single hazard mitigation purposes struggles to address the dual threat of increasingly frequent droughts and floods, highlighting the urgent need for adaptive Nature-Based Solutions (NBSs). While programmes like Room for the River have successfully demonstrated flood mitigation benefits, the complex effects of climate change necessitate innovative approaches that can simultaneously address both flood and drought hazards.
This project aims to develop and optimise measures that maximise interseasonal water retention during droughts while allowing for flood risk mitigation during high-flow periods (e.g. hierarchical networks of floodplain channels and lakes). By combining field monitoring and numerical modelling approaches, we will assess how reactivated paleochannels, constructed floodplain systems, or other solutions can create adaptive infrastructure that capitalises on natural riverine dynamics. This knowledge will be used to determine scalable design principles for climate-resilient river management across Europe.
More information and apply here!