COastal Communities And Seas Together for Resilience Network Plus
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Hull
Department Name: Unknown
Abstract
Establish a transdisciplinary and cross-sector Community of Practice to share knowledge and best practice and unlock better-informed and improved resilience actions;
Co-design researcher, community and practitioner training and guidance to improve partnership working and nurture the next generation of resilience champions;
Use a needs-led approach to identify and respond to priority needs using the Flexible Fund to deliver small projects and secondments;
Collate key insights, case studies and resources for policymakers and practitioners through a web platform, policy briefs and foresight documents; and
Build ongoing practitioner and community-led evaluation and reflection to shape future learning, legacy and funding opportunities.
Our activities will be complemented by four projects funded under the main call. These will be integrated within the N+, where we will work to amplify their significance and reach by providing a network for knowledge exchange, support for new collaborative initiatives, and to share findings with local, national and international stakeholders.
The novelty of programme lies in our transdisciplinary team, innovative needs-led approach, and long-standing experience working on questions about place, scale and the exchange of knowledge across distinctive social, economic and environmental contexts. Crucially, all our activities are co-created with community stakeholders, policymakers, and UK coastal and marine management sectors, responding to their needs, existing knowledge assets and lived experiences to deliver robust policy impacts and toolkits with application to communities and places worldwide. Alongside co-designed events, workshops, secondments and training, our co-created outputs will include: Digital Engagement Platform; toolkits and cases studies; two foresight documents; two solution-focused reports; high-impact scholarly articles; and evaluation reports.
In doing this, COAST-R will pioneer transdisciplinary, place-based and whole-systems approaches for better understanding coastal change, enhancing coastal and marine literacy, and building community resilience in precarious coastal places.
Co-design researcher, community and practitioner training and guidance to improve partnership working and nurture the next generation of resilience champions;
Use a needs-led approach to identify and respond to priority needs using the Flexible Fund to deliver small projects and secondments;
Collate key insights, case studies and resources for policymakers and practitioners through a web platform, policy briefs and foresight documents; and
Build ongoing practitioner and community-led evaluation and reflection to shape future learning, legacy and funding opportunities.
Our activities will be complemented by four projects funded under the main call. These will be integrated within the N+, where we will work to amplify their significance and reach by providing a network for knowledge exchange, support for new collaborative initiatives, and to share findings with local, national and international stakeholders.
The novelty of programme lies in our transdisciplinary team, innovative needs-led approach, and long-standing experience working on questions about place, scale and the exchange of knowledge across distinctive social, economic and environmental contexts. Crucially, all our activities are co-created with community stakeholders, policymakers, and UK coastal and marine management sectors, responding to their needs, existing knowledge assets and lived experiences to deliver robust policy impacts and toolkits with application to communities and places worldwide. Alongside co-designed events, workshops, secondments and training, our co-created outputs will include: Digital Engagement Platform; toolkits and cases studies; two foresight documents; two solution-focused reports; high-impact scholarly articles; and evaluation reports.
In doing this, COAST-R will pioneer transdisciplinary, place-based and whole-systems approaches for better understanding coastal change, enhancing coastal and marine literacy, and building community resilience in precarious coastal places.
Organisations
- University of Hull (Lead Research Organisation)
- Natural Environment Research Council (Co-funder)
- Dept for Env Food & Rural Affairs DEFRA (Co-funder)
- AHRC (Co-funder)
- Mersey Maritime Limited (Project Partner)
- ARUP (Project Partner)
- Coastal Partnership East (Project Partner)
- Marine Alliance for Sci & Tech (MASTS) (Project Partner)
- Wild Scotland (Project Partner)
- Royal Commission Monuments Wales RCAHMW (Project Partner)
- Art Walk Projects (Project Partner)
- National Centre for Resilience (Project Partner)
- Coastal Communities Network (Project Partner)
- Chartered Inst of Water & Environment Mn (Project Partner)
- Maritime Research and Innovation UK (Project Partner)
- ENVIRONMENT AGENCY (Project Partner)
- Creative Carbon Scotland (Project Partner)
- Jeremy Benn Associates Consulting (Project Partner)
- Glasgow Science Centre Ltd (Project Partner)
- NatureScot (Project Partner)
- East Riding of Yorkshire Council (Project Partner)
- Channel Coastal Observatory (Project Partner)
- National Oceanography Centre (Project Partner)
- Scottish Alliance for Food (Project Partner)
- SNIFFER (Project Partner)
- British Science Association (Project Partner)
- Cardross Climate Action Network (Project Partner)
- Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England (Project Partner)
Publications
McDonagh, B.
(2025)
Governing flood risk in mid-seventeenth century England
in Journal of Historical Geography
| Title | In Therapy with the North Sea, Solmaz Farhang |
| Description | Multimedia exhibition at the Humber Street Gallery, Hull, delivered as part of a partnership between Absolutely Cultured and the University of Hull's Energy and Environment Institute. Artist Solmaz Fahrang was commissioned to explore and respond to community experiences living with and alongside the North Sea, attending workshops run through the Coast-R Network and the Network launch event, as well as drawing on her own experiences and conversations with the North Sea. The exhibition runs February to May 2025, and no audience attendance figures are currently available. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2025 |
| Impact | Still emergent |
| URL | https://www.absolutelycultured.co.uk/whats-on/ |
| Description | CIWEM Postcards from the Edge |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://www.ciwem.org/policy-reports/postcards-from-the-edge-report-2024 |
| Description | DESNZ brief |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| URL | https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/5611/SHAPE_evidence_roundtable_on_understanding_public... |
| Description | Environmental Audit Committee's 'Flood Resilience in England' inquiry (2025): oral evidence |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/15286/html/ |
| Description | Environmental Audit committee inquiry: flood resilience in England written evidence (FRE0093) |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://committees.parliament.uk/work/8736/flood-resilience-in-england/publications/written-evidence... |
| Description | Key Cities APPG 'On the Waterfront' report |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| URL | https://keycities.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Key-Cities-On-the-waterfront-March-2025.pdf |
| Description | Attendance at ScotFlood Conference 2025 - Prof. Larissa Naylor, (Coast-R Co-Lead, University of Glasgow) - 28/29 Jan 2025. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Raised awareness of the Coast-R Network and making new contacts. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://verture.org.uk/project/flood-resilience/flood-resilience-conference/ |
| Description | Attendance at Scottish Brownfield Land Conference, Glasgow, Prof. Larissa Naylor, 6th February 2025. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Raised awareness of the Coast-R Network, and new contacts made. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.brownfieldscotland.com/ |
| Description | Attendance at the Ocean and Coastal Futures Conference, London, Prof. B. McDonagh & Prof. S. McLelland, January 2025 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | To complete |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://coastal-futures.net/ |
| Description | Changing Coasts East Riding, Coastal Network Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Offered an overview of the Coast-R programme to a group of 50+ coastal practitioners, local government officers, regional politicians, health professionals and third sector organisations. Contributed expertise and ideas to a scenario exercise seeking to identify how best to engage new organisations in supporting residents who face losing their homes to coastal erosion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Coast-R Network launch event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Network launch event drawing 140+ participants to Hull where they were welcomed by Floods and Water Minister Emma Hardy MP and heard about the aims and deliverables of the Coast-R Network and Resilient Coastal Communities and Seas Programme. Participants took part in a networking lunch where they met the leads of the 4 ReCCS projects, related programmes, and our funders. In the afternoon, they took part in 2 of 3 creative and participatory workshops focused on identifying and developing skills, opportunities and needs across the programme. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.ukcoastalresilience.org/coast-r-network-launch-event |
| Description | Coastal communities workshop: Hornsea (Oct 2024) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Community workshop exploring the challenges and opportunities facing our coastal communities and feeding into discussions around action for UK coastal resilience. Through the session, we brought together people who live, work or visit the Hornsea area, and provided an opportunity to: * Share stories of your experiences of living near and visiting the coast in our interactive and creative mapping exercise * Connect with other residents and the research team, and help shape strategies to address the environmental and social challenges that coastal communities encounter today. * Start conversations, share knowledge, and work together on strategies to address current and future coastal challenges. The conversations and data generated at the workshop shaped the themed addressed at Collaborative Coastal Enquiry session run at the Coast-R launch event in Nov 2024. This in turn will shape the Coast-R Y1 policy output. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.ukcoastalresilience.org/coastal-communities-hornsea-workshop |
| Description | Coastal communities workshop: Hu4 (Oct 2024) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Community workshop exploring the challenges and opportunities facing our coastal communities and feeding into discussions around action for UK coastal resilience. Through the session, we brought together people who live, work or visit the East Coast, and provided an opportunity to: * Share stories of your experiences of living near and visiting the coast in our interactive and creative mapping exercise * Help shape strategies to address the environmental and social challenges that coastal regions and communities encounter today * Start conversations, share knowledge, and work together on strategies to address current and future coastal challenges The conversations and data generated at the workshop shaped the themed addressed at Collaborative Coastal Enquiry session run at the Coast-R launch event in Nov 2024. This in turn will shape the Coast-R Y1 policy output. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.ukcoastalresilience.org/coastal-communities-hu4-workshop |
| Description | Dialogues training workshop at Aberystwyth University |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | 25 people, drawn from academia, professional practice and consultancy met in Aberystwyth for 1.5 days of training and reflection on methods of engaging in dialogues around climate and coastal resilience. The event greatly increased visibility of and engagement with the network plus and its future planned activities, with firm commitments to deliver future events, and active plans for extending the workshop activities via existing parallel networks. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| Description | Expert witness at the opening session of the Flood Resilience in England Enquiry, Westminster, London UK. Prof. B. McDonagh, 22nd January 2025. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Raised awareness of the Coast-R Network and placed it on parliamentary record. Highlighted the importance of community-led approaches to key policy makers. Underlined the need to act now on the data we have, as this provides insight into what the future holds. Highlighted the need to allow the landscape to be dynamic and the importance of designing climate resilience into planned new towns. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://committees.parliament.uk/work/8736/flood-resilience-in-england/publications/oral-evidence/ |
| Description | Flood and Coast 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Attendance and active networking at Flood and Coast by the Coast-R team leading to sign-ups to our network membership list, invitations to meet for further discussion after the event, brokering relationships for future policy and professional training work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Online network plus workshop for ReCCS project teams |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Online workshop with participatory break-out sessions for ReCCS programme projects, sharing learning and shaping future outcomes for the design and delivery of training and facilitation offered by Coast-R. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| Description | Presentation to the Hull & East Riding of Yorkshire Community Water Forum. Prof. B. McDonagh, May 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | To complete |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |