DEVELOPING A DROUGHT NARRATIVE RESOURCE IN A MULTI-STAKEHOLDER DECISION-MAKING UTILITY FOR DROUGHT RISK MANAGEMENT
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: Sch of Theatre, Perform & Cult Poli Stud
Abstract
This innovative interdisciplinary project aims to develop an easy-to-use, evidence-based resource which can be used in decision-making in drought risk management. To achieve this, we will bring together information from drought science and scenario-modelling (using mathematical models to forecast the impacts of drought) with stakeholder engagement and narrative storytelling. While previous drought impact studies have often focused on using mathematical modelling, this project is very different. The project will integrate arts, humanities and social science research methods, with hydrological, meteorological, agricultural and ecological science knowledge through multi-partner collaboration. Seven case study catchments (areas linked by a common water resource) in England, Wales and Scotland will be selected to reflect the hydrological, socio-economic and cultural contrasts in the UK. Study of drought impacts will take place at different scales - from small plot experiments to local catchment scale. Citizen science and stakeholder engagement with plot experiments in urban and rural areas will be used as stimuli for conversations about drought risk and its mitigation. The project will: (i) investigate different stakeholder perceptions of when drought occurs and action is needed; (ii) examine how water level and temperature affect drought perception; (iii) explore the impact of policy decisions on drought management; (iv) consider water users' behaviours which lead to adverse drought impacts on people and ecosystems and; (v) evaluate water-use conflicts, synergies and trade-offs, drawing on previous drought experiences and community knowledge.
The project spans a range of sectors including water supply; health, business, agriculture/horticulture, built environment, extractive industries and ecosystem services, within 7 case-study catchments. Through a storytelling approach, scientists will exchange cutting edge science with different drought stakeholders, and these stakeholders will, in turn, exchange their knowledge. Stakeholders include those in: construction; gardeners and allotment holders; small and large businesses; local
authorities; emergency planners; recreational water users; biodiversity managers; public health professionals - both physical and mental health; and local communities/public.
The stakeholder meetings will capture various data including:
- different stakeholder perceptions of drought and its causes
- local knowledge around drought onset and strategies for mitigation (e.g. attitudes to water saving, responses to reduced
water availability)
- insights into how to live with drought and increase individual/community drought resilience
- the impact of alternating floods and droughts
The information will be shared within, and between, stakeholder groups in the case-studies and beyond using social media. This information will be analysed, and integrated with drought science to develop an innovative web-based decision-making utility. These data will feedback into the drought modelling and future scenario building with a view to exploring a variety of policy options. This will help ascertain present and future water resources availability, focusing on past, present and future
drought periods across N-S and W-E climatic gradients. The project will be as far as possible be 'open science' - maintaining open, real-time access to research questions, data, results, methodologies, narratives, publications and other outputs via the project website, updated as the project progresses. Project outputs will include: the decision-making support utility incorporating science-narrative resources; hydrological models for the 7 case-study catchments; a social media web-platform to share project resources; a database of species responses/management options to mitigate drought/post-drought recovery at different scales, and management guidelines on coping with drought/water scarcity at different scales.
The project spans a range of sectors including water supply; health, business, agriculture/horticulture, built environment, extractive industries and ecosystem services, within 7 case-study catchments. Through a storytelling approach, scientists will exchange cutting edge science with different drought stakeholders, and these stakeholders will, in turn, exchange their knowledge. Stakeholders include those in: construction; gardeners and allotment holders; small and large businesses; local
authorities; emergency planners; recreational water users; biodiversity managers; public health professionals - both physical and mental health; and local communities/public.
The stakeholder meetings will capture various data including:
- different stakeholder perceptions of drought and its causes
- local knowledge around drought onset and strategies for mitigation (e.g. attitudes to water saving, responses to reduced
water availability)
- insights into how to live with drought and increase individual/community drought resilience
- the impact of alternating floods and droughts
The information will be shared within, and between, stakeholder groups in the case-studies and beyond using social media. This information will be analysed, and integrated with drought science to develop an innovative web-based decision-making utility. These data will feedback into the drought modelling and future scenario building with a view to exploring a variety of policy options. This will help ascertain present and future water resources availability, focusing on past, present and future
drought periods across N-S and W-E climatic gradients. The project will be as far as possible be 'open science' - maintaining open, real-time access to research questions, data, results, methodologies, narratives, publications and other outputs via the project website, updated as the project progresses. Project outputs will include: the decision-making support utility incorporating science-narrative resources; hydrological models for the 7 case-study catchments; a social media web-platform to share project resources; a database of species responses/management options to mitigate drought/post-drought recovery at different scales, and management guidelines on coping with drought/water scarcity at different scales.
Planned Impact
This research will have high impact in theoretical, policy and practical terms in local/national/international contexts. In policy terms, drought is now one of the major risks facing the UK. The project aims to mitigate drought impacts, and through a new innovative multi-stakeholder decision-making utility, to make different stakeholders more resilient to drought risk and drought events.
The project's impact strategy is driven and strengthened by the engaged nature of the research process. Key target groups/beneficiaries within, and beyond, those immediately engaged within the project have been identified. These include: stakeholders working at local and regional levels in different domains (health and wellbeing, urban design/built environment, agriculture/horticulture, utilities, government, business, tourism and ecosystem services) to manage the impacts of drought and water scarcity in the 7 case-study catchments; educational organisations (formal/informal); wider inter-professional groups in the UK with interests/concerns in drought risk management/mitigation of impacts, including communities and the general public.
Developing organisational stakeholders and communities that are resilient to living with drought risk and water scarcity, and resilient to future drought is of the highest priority. A multi-stakeholder shared recognition of drought risk, and a developing attitude of coping/living with flood events, are vital components of drought risk planning/resilience. This research will make a significant contribution to drought policy discourses and practices in the way it brings different stakeholder drought
narratives into thinking about and developing drought resilience.
The interdisciplinary and narrative based research methods are designed to enhance and dovetail with the impact strategy giving opportunities for new and innovative approaches to achieving impact. This integrates: how mesocosms and social media tools can engage new/different audiences, and how the inclusion of lay voices and narrative data might incentivise the policy process. Policy makers have to balance all these competing interests - so, rather than handing policymakers the
science, the project supplies 'the whole data package'. For further detail on beneficiaries, benefits and methods, see the Pathways to impact document. These include:
- Project partners and stakeholders working at local and regional levels in different domains (water supply, health and wellbeing, urban design/built environment, agriculture/forestry, government, business, tourism and ecosystem services) and the policy/governance communities (Environment Agency, SEPA, National Resources Wales and local/regional/national levels)
- General public and communities (e.g. Local Resilience Forums with responsibilities for community lead adaptation planning)
- Scientists and artists working as part of different professional organisations (e.g. environmental regulators/wildlife conservation)
- Individuals and collectives of creative practitioners and cultural activists whose work focuses on related environmental and sustainability issues
- Educational organisations (schools, further/higher education but also less formal learning).
The case-study based research design will identify 7 catchments with a wide range of physical/socio-economic-cultural characteristics that will form a platform for wider stakeholder engagement across the UK. The project will have an integrated dissemination/impact strategy that targets different stakeholders for awareness, information and action for behaviour change. Impact will be delivered by on-going dialogue/exchange; a culture of co-production of knowledge, and working with key organisational gatekeepers/ communities in catchments and beyond. Impact strategies will include website/social media; open access research outputs for end users; participatory activities (seminars, workshops, conference) and a science-storytelling e-workbook for schools.
The project's impact strategy is driven and strengthened by the engaged nature of the research process. Key target groups/beneficiaries within, and beyond, those immediately engaged within the project have been identified. These include: stakeholders working at local and regional levels in different domains (health and wellbeing, urban design/built environment, agriculture/horticulture, utilities, government, business, tourism and ecosystem services) to manage the impacts of drought and water scarcity in the 7 case-study catchments; educational organisations (formal/informal); wider inter-professional groups in the UK with interests/concerns in drought risk management/mitigation of impacts, including communities and the general public.
Developing organisational stakeholders and communities that are resilient to living with drought risk and water scarcity, and resilient to future drought is of the highest priority. A multi-stakeholder shared recognition of drought risk, and a developing attitude of coping/living with flood events, are vital components of drought risk planning/resilience. This research will make a significant contribution to drought policy discourses and practices in the way it brings different stakeholder drought
narratives into thinking about and developing drought resilience.
The interdisciplinary and narrative based research methods are designed to enhance and dovetail with the impact strategy giving opportunities for new and innovative approaches to achieving impact. This integrates: how mesocosms and social media tools can engage new/different audiences, and how the inclusion of lay voices and narrative data might incentivise the policy process. Policy makers have to balance all these competing interests - so, rather than handing policymakers the
science, the project supplies 'the whole data package'. For further detail on beneficiaries, benefits and methods, see the Pathways to impact document. These include:
- Project partners and stakeholders working at local and regional levels in different domains (water supply, health and wellbeing, urban design/built environment, agriculture/forestry, government, business, tourism and ecosystem services) and the policy/governance communities (Environment Agency, SEPA, National Resources Wales and local/regional/national levels)
- General public and communities (e.g. Local Resilience Forums with responsibilities for community lead adaptation planning)
- Scientists and artists working as part of different professional organisations (e.g. environmental regulators/wildlife conservation)
- Individuals and collectives of creative practitioners and cultural activists whose work focuses on related environmental and sustainability issues
- Educational organisations (schools, further/higher education but also less formal learning).
The case-study based research design will identify 7 catchments with a wide range of physical/socio-economic-cultural characteristics that will form a platform for wider stakeholder engagement across the UK. The project will have an integrated dissemination/impact strategy that targets different stakeholders for awareness, information and action for behaviour change. Impact will be delivered by on-going dialogue/exchange; a culture of co-production of knowledge, and working with key organisational gatekeepers/ communities in catchments and beyond. Impact strategies will include website/social media; open access research outputs for end users; participatory activities (seminars, workshops, conference) and a science-storytelling e-workbook for schools.
People |
ORCID iD |
Joanne Garde-Hansen (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Garde-Hansen
(2020)
Media and Water
Garde-Hansen J.
(2023)
Living with/out water: Media, memory and gender
in Living with Water: Everyday Encounters and Liquid Connections
Title | Drought Animation |
Description | 3 minute drought animation in collaboration with University of Gloucestershire Animation unit. |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Impact | Animation has been used by water stakeholders in the consortium of the DRY project. |
URL | http://www.vimeo.com/224749603 |
Title | Flood Memory App |
Description | During DRY project, used catchment evidence to further develop a Flood Memory App in the Severn Catchment |
Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Impact | Continued beta testing of app with flood and drought prone communities for evidencing as an impact case study for REF |
URL | https://flappy.warwick.ac.uk |
Description | We have discovered that 'stories of drought' and media representations of drought' have an influential impact on how seriously water scarcity is taken by a range of stakeholders and the general public. I have been able to develop my section of the grant into a more fuller appreciation of the role of media (especially TV, film and animation) both historically and contemporary in shaping perceptions of drought, heatwaves and hot weather in the UK and elsewhere (especially Brazil). |
Exploitation Route | Further research by media archivists to bring to the surface the cultural history and memories of drought held within those archives. |
Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Communities and Social Services/Policy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Description | Drought animation has been used by non-academic water management stakeholders in the DRY project consortium. |
First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Impact Types | Cultural |
Description | Amphibious Screens - Sustainable Cultures of Water Seminar Series - international network grant |
Amount | £9,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Warwick |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2022 |
End | 05/2022 |
Description | Research Development Fund |
Amount | £5,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Warwick |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2017 |
End | 07/2018 |
Description | Slow Memory: Transformative Practices for Times of Uneven and Accelerating Change |
Amount | € 125,000 (EUR) |
Organisation | European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) |
Sector | Public |
Country | Belgium |
Start | 10/2021 |
End | 10/2025 |
Description | ACUMEN - Archives for Climate Uncertainty, Memory and Engagement |
Organisation | University of the West of England |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | A collaboration between University of West of England, University of Warwick, Loughborough University, Mass Observation Archive, Modern Records Centre and variety of regional and professional archives to explore uncertainty evidence. |
Collaborator Contribution | Partners from the Afterlives of Protest network (Mass Observation Archive, Modern Records Centre) brought their expertise and knowledge of holding s to the development of a large AHRC grant submitted February 27th 2020. |
Impact | This is a multi-disciplinary collaboration. ACUMEN is exploring reconnecting communities with their cultural memories of everyday uncertainty. National repositories such as The National Archives, Mass Observation Archive (MOA), BBC Archives, BFI, MetLib, British Geological Survey (BGS) Archives and the Modern Records Centre will be mobilised to re-visit their roles and collections for evidence of climate uncertainty experience and adaptation. Regional and local collections (such as the Media Archive for Central England, Gloucestershire Heritage Hub, John Moore's Museum, Tewkesbury) and the informal archives of local flood action groups are being explored to creatively connect to address the need for communities to learn to live with uncertainty in place-specific ways. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Transformative Memory - Confronting the Past in Grand-Scale Socio-Economic Change |
Organisation | Aarhus University |
Country | Denmark |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This project seeks to move memory and heritage studies beyond an exclusive focus on "conflictual pasts" in the traditional sense, while not neglecting the importance of understanding collective responses to historical violence. We aim to bring together scholars to discuss memory from a holistic perspective of large-scale transformation processes. The following areas have been identified as starting points for framing discussions: Post-industrial communities Reconfiguration of welfare and social care systems Post-conflict divisions in society Changing political landscapes Environmental change |
Collaborator Contribution | Researchers of protest memory are contributing in terms of leadership, conference contributions and research meetings across Europe to develop a COST network bid for April 2020. |
Impact | Conference at Nottingham Trent University, 3-5 June 2020 |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Transformative Memory - Confronting the Past in Grand-Scale Socio-Economic Change |
Organisation | Nottingham Trent University |
Department | School of Arts and Humanities |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This project seeks to move memory and heritage studies beyond an exclusive focus on "conflictual pasts" in the traditional sense, while not neglecting the importance of understanding collective responses to historical violence. We aim to bring together scholars to discuss memory from a holistic perspective of large-scale transformation processes. The following areas have been identified as starting points for framing discussions: Post-industrial communities Reconfiguration of welfare and social care systems Post-conflict divisions in society Changing political landscapes Environmental change |
Collaborator Contribution | Researchers of protest memory are contributing in terms of leadership, conference contributions and research meetings across Europe to develop a COST network bid for April 2020. |
Impact | Conference at Nottingham Trent University, 3-5 June 2020 |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Transformative Memory - Confronting the Past in Grand-Scale Socio-Economic Change |
Organisation | Paris West University Nanterre La Défense |
Country | France |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This project seeks to move memory and heritage studies beyond an exclusive focus on "conflictual pasts" in the traditional sense, while not neglecting the importance of understanding collective responses to historical violence. We aim to bring together scholars to discuss memory from a holistic perspective of large-scale transformation processes. The following areas have been identified as starting points for framing discussions: Post-industrial communities Reconfiguration of welfare and social care systems Post-conflict divisions in society Changing political landscapes Environmental change |
Collaborator Contribution | Researchers of protest memory are contributing in terms of leadership, conference contributions and research meetings across Europe to develop a COST network bid for April 2020. |
Impact | Conference at Nottingham Trent University, 3-5 June 2020 |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Transformative Memory - Confronting the Past in Grand-Scale Socio-Economic Change |
Organisation | University of Warsaw |
Country | Poland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This project seeks to move memory and heritage studies beyond an exclusive focus on "conflictual pasts" in the traditional sense, while not neglecting the importance of understanding collective responses to historical violence. We aim to bring together scholars to discuss memory from a holistic perspective of large-scale transformation processes. The following areas have been identified as starting points for framing discussions: Post-industrial communities Reconfiguration of welfare and social care systems Post-conflict divisions in society Changing political landscapes Environmental change |
Collaborator Contribution | Researchers of protest memory are contributing in terms of leadership, conference contributions and research meetings across Europe to develop a COST network bid for April 2020. |
Impact | Conference at Nottingham Trent University, 3-5 June 2020 |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | UK Droughts and Water Scarcity Work Package 4 |
Organisation | University of the West of England |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Submitted Co-Investigator - Developing/ trialling new social networking protocols for promoting on-going inter-professional and public dialogue about drought and water scarcity. |
Collaborator Contribution | Submitted to council |
Impact | Not yet funded, with council |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | 'Collaboration and Social Change' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 10th January 2019. Gallery Talk: Red Chidgey. 'Collaboration and Social Change'. Modern Couples Exhibition, Barbican Art Gallery. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Connecting Citizens to Water Governance workshop (Warwick) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | The event connects a selection of key researchers and practitioners who are exploring a wide range of strategies for engaging the public in issues of water (i.e. flood, drought, scarcity, pollution, management) in the UK and in Brazil. As part of a 'trans-cultural approach' to exchanging ideas, we have been developing a deeper partnership entitled Narratives of Water with colleagues in São Paulo state, and this chimes with RCUK projects on Sustainable Flood Memories; Drought Risk and You, and the Hydro-citizenship project. In this event we will hear about participatory water cultures, citizen inclusion and the functions of 'Water Councils' in Brazil, experimental and creative hydro-citizenship in the UK as well as ideas for 'sensing' water, and ways we could collaborate to connect citizens to water governance. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Invited Conference Panel 'Memory Studies Association' Madrid June 2019 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Development of a new strand of research to the Arts and Humanities based on water and media. A key part of the Memory Studies International Conference June 2019 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://www.memorystudiesassociation.org/ |
Description | Invited Talk: Liquid memory and water environment activism, Memory Studies Association Conference, Copenhagen, Dec 2017 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | The paper offered examples of art/media/memory activism in Brazil and the UK on drought, flood and water management as interventions from the perspective of water itself and its ability to remember where it once was. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.memorystudiesassociation.org/copenhagen-conference-2017-program |
Description | Narratives of Water: An Overview of the DRY Project (visit to UNESP, Brazil) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | Overview of how 'narrative' and storytelling can be used to engage stakeholders in water scarcity and to explore the function and practice of Brazilian participatory water councils as a model for the UK. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/insite/news/intnews2/sprint_fapesp_success/ |
Description | Narratives of Water: Future Collaboration with the DRY project between the UK and Brazil |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | Papers and discussions with UFSCAR, UNESP and USP researchers on the impact on Sao Paulo state being hit by droughts and water scarcity on an unprecedented scale in 2014, wherein many administrative regions of Brazil, particularly in the Sao Paulo state, started to attract the interest of researchers looking into the role of official communications in generating accountability and transparency to water management. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Policy making discussions on the UK Bricks and Water flood policy |
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 | Expert contribution to Policy Connect events Sustainability priorities for the new Parliament All-Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group, All Party Sustainable Resource Group, Carbon Connect, the Westminster Sustainable Business Forum and the Sustainable Resource Forum Feb 2020 Sustainable Drainage Systems and Green Infrastructure (10.03.20, 10.00-12.00) - This roundtable will explore methods for controlling surface water runoff, requirements for SuDS in new development and options for adoption and retrofit of SuDS at the property-level. Chaired by Baroness McIntosh of Pickering. Property Flood Resilience for New and Existing Homes (25.03.20, 10.00-12.00) - This roundtable will review the forthcoming code of practice on property flood resilience and discuss best practice for flood resistance and resilience in vulnerable communities. Chaired by Ruth Jones MP (TBC) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.policyconnect.org.uk/research/bricks-water-plan-action-building-homes-and-managing-water... |